by Marilynn Chadwick
I echo nineteenth-century, Yale-educated scholar and theologian R.A. Torrey when he said, “There is a devil. That’s why we pray.” And if you ask me why it’s important to bring order and discipline to our lives for the purpose of prayer, I would add, “Because we are in a spiritual war.”
The Bible admonishes us to live daily as sober-minded and watchful, because “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ESV). Anyone with combat experience will tell you that alertness and preparation, along with mindfulness to details, can make the difference in victory or defeat, life or death.
Our oldest son attended a military academy in Virginia for one year after high school to play for their top-ranked prep basketball team. He and his teammates banked on the fact that though it was sure to be tough, this experience would help them become bigger, faster, quicker, and stronger ball players. The school’s success in launching Division One college players spoke for itself.
But life at a military academy is not what you’d call fun. Our son would never tell you he liked being in full dress, at attention, and ready to march by 6 A.M. Nor did he enjoy the strict discipline and freakish attention to detail. His shoes had to be lined up to an exact inch from the wall. The sink could have no toothpaste traces, and his bed had to be made with absolutely no wrinkles—all before the sun came up. Some cadets even slept on top of the already made beds, and threw an extra blanket over them at night, rather than face an imperfectly made bed, subsequent demerits, and the hours of marching around the “bull ring” that were sure to follow. Oh, and did I mention the “buzz cuts?”
At the year’s end, our son headed off to fulfill his dream of playing Division One college basketball. Other cadets headed for West Point or the Naval Academy, and eventually to combat. Over its one-hundred-plus year history, the school has sent scores of young men off to fight, and some to die, defending our nation’s freedom. A sign on their campus wall prominently displays this Revolutionary War quote, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
The Bible encourages us to be similarly vigilant in guarding our spiritual freedom. We are told to always be alert and to “pray without ceasing.” Yet life moves at such a fast pace—sometimes we forget to guard that line of communication with God.
A person who decides to follow Christ will face struggles with the world, the devil, and our own human nature or what the Bible calls “the flesh.” Paul knew that the battle had to be fought on all sides.
Our human body is still earthbound and subject to all kinds of desires and propensities to get off track. We must take charge of it, so it doesn’t control us. I’ve discovered that some of my toughest spiritual battles have been the battles with myself.
That’s why the Bible teaches that self-discipline is important to the believer who wants to win at spiritual war. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful,” the writer of Hebrews tells us. “Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11 NIV). As someone wisely said, “Peace, like war, must be waged.”