The Battle-Tested Believer

By Carl Mimms

The Battle-Tested Believer was written for all age groups of people in Christianity. This book is a testimony of some of the most powerful experiences that I have experienced as a believer in Christ. This book is designed to motivate, educate, and help believers live a more informed and productive Christian life. I am very transparent about different areas in my life that I have struggled and still struggle with and want readers to come out with an understanding that this battle we are engaged in with the forces of evil is real. I want young believers to understand that the word of God is quick and powerful and that they can always use God's word for their offense as well as their defense. I want more seasoned and older saints to see this book as a conformation of God's goodness and to encourage them to continue to fight the good fight of faith. My overall desire in writing The Battle-Tested Believer is to see the body of Christ strengthened in these unprecedented days of evil before the second coming of Christ!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638441731

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The Battle-Tested Believer

Carl Mimms

ISBN 978-1-63844-172-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63844-173-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Carl Mimms

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Unless stated otherwise, all scripture references come from the King James Version (KJV) translation of the Bible, copyright 1995 (year), __Zondervan________________ (publishers).

Edit & Reviewed by Rodney Barclay

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Friendly Fire

Learning from Your Mistakes

Fighting the Good Fight

Fighting Against the Empire of Darkness

Fighting Spiritual Battles with Fleshly Weapons

Armor Up

False Doctrine

The Ambushes of Satan

Battle Worn

The Battle for Your Joy

The Battle Against Condemnation

The Weapons of Satan

The Lack of Knowledge on the Battlefield

How to Become the Champion of Your Fears

The Battles in Our Relationships on the Battlefield

The Reward of the Battle

Sources

I dedicate this book to believers everywhere who are on the battlefield for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I dedicate this book to all my teachers at Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, Indiana, especially Mr. Mike Smith, one of the greatest teachers in the world, and my spiritual father, Pastor Elder Donald Hubbard, and to all the brothers and sisters in the Middle East who have given their lives willingly for Christ's sake.

Preface

Iwas inspired to write this book to help the novice in the faith as well as the experienced in the faith. I desire to see Christians grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We are living in what the Bible calls perilous times. Christians need to be more aware of the spiritual battle we are in—from the time we open our eyes from sleep until the time we fall asleep again. Every believer will be tested on the battlefield. We will win some battles, and we will lose some battles. There will be days on the battlefield when the sun will shine, and there will be days when the sun will refuse to shine.

This book was not written to be compared to the Holy Bible or to be a substitute for the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible is the supreme source of spiritual battle tactics for Christians. One of the things that inspired me to write this book is the need to encourage believers on their journey and to give them awareness of the battle we are engaged in. Awareness is key on the battlefield. We cannot be ignorant of Satan's devices. We must be soldiers who know what our enemies' methods are and be ready at a moment's notice to counter his attacks on us as believers.

Too often, as believers, we are on the defense when we should be on the offense. We are fighting against an enemy whose only plan is for the destruction of our lives. We are a threat to his kingdom. We have the power in Christ Jesus to stand in these seemingly last days and make war against the prince of darkness and his evil empire. We must stay focused on the mission that we have been given by our Lord Jesus (Matthew 28:19–20) and try to win every soul we can before our Master returns.

Acknowledgments

First, I want to acknowledge God, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who is my keeper until the day of redemption; my beautiful wife of thirty-eight years, Diane Mimms; my three daughters, Trinia Partee, Taneisha Mimms, and Teora Mimms; my son-in-law, Quinton Partee; my three grandsons, Quinton Partee Jr., (deceased), Quin Partee, Josiah Partee.

To my father, Carl Joseph Mimms Jr.; my mother, Aurelia Alice Artis Grimes; Pastor Darrell Grimes; my three sisters, Carla Smith, Michelle Mimms-Duchan, Khisha Grimes; and James Duchan, my brother-in-law; my pastor, Calvin Harlin of Solid Rock Missionary Baptist Church; all the preachers on staff; Pastor Van Wilson; Reverend Walter Sanders; Reverend Michael Hill; Minister Cody Miller; and Evangelist Roselyn Harris; Bishop Odell Mayberry; Elder Raymond Jones; Elder Donald Hubbard; Mike Smith, professor at the College of Biblical Studie; Dr. Marcus Sharder, dean of acceleration studies at the College of Biblical Studies; Dr. Charles Ware, former president of Crossroads Bible College; and all my aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and friends.

A special acknowledgment to Pastor Dewayne Barclay for his editing skills and the entire Barclay family; Reverend Thomas Redd Sr.; all my deceased family members who will never be forgotten: Harold Artis; Minnie Alice Artis; Lorette Webster; Barbara Gorman; Edna Cowherd; Owen Cowherd Sr.; Donald Webster; Charles Gorman; Mark Dewayne Hodges; Sandra Hodges, aka Dee Dee; Betty Robertson; Glenda Robertson; Rodney Robertson; Donny Webster; Owen Cowherd; Bobby Cowherd; Michael Artis; Charles Pearson; Jaun Charles Jr.; and Reverend Perry Carter.

Chapter 1

Friendly Fire

The term friendly fire comes from the military—meaning, an attack by a military force on friendly forces while attempting to attack the enemy, either by misidentifying the target as hostile or due to errors or inaccuracy.

Fire not intended to attack the enemy, such as negligent discharge and deliberate firing on one's own troops for disciplinary reasons, is also called friendly fire. As believers, we should never let friendly fire be named among us in any capacity. It has been said that the Christian army is the only army in the world that injures and destroys its own soldiers. In the heat of the battle, the last thing that a soldier wants to hear and/or believe is that his fellow soldier would try to intentionally hurt him. It would be easier to die at the hand of the enemy than to be wounded by someone who is supposed to be there to support you while the battle is raging.

Some Christians spend more time judging and condemning other believers than trying to support and encourage them. When believers fall short of the glory of God, the Bible tells us how to restore them. We do not restore them by getting on the airwaves, phone, or social media and being heartless about their situation like the world does. It is not our job to convict anyone of their sin; the Holy Spirit can handle this. Our job is to compassionately understand the weaknesses of our flesh and encourage them in the loving spirit of our heavenly Father.

From time to time, we must be reminded my brothers and sisters that we have all fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23), and it's by God's grace we are saved. The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sin.

Nothing is worse than fighting against the world, the flesh, the devil and then having to deal with a group of self-righteous people in your local church who are not in the battle with you. Yes, they may come to your local assembly, but they never wage war against the devil. In this walk with Christ, I have accumulated many scars, some self-inflicted and some straight from the pits of hell. And in the middle of the battle, the last thing I want to hear when I fall short is some self-righteous people in the church who have never been engaged in spiritual warfare looking down on me or spreading rumors about things that they just heard. God, have mercy on their souls.

The enemy loves friendly fire. God hates friendly fire. What happened to the brotherhood of believers? I'm not talking about any brotherhood outside of Christ. However you want to slice it, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death (1 John 3:14). Saints of God, we are in the ultimate battle for our souls.

Jesus commanded us to love one another. It doesn't matter what ethnic group you belong to, what country you live in, if you're rich or poor, educated, uneducated, democrat or republican, independent, native-born or foreign-born. If you have been born again and washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, if you have accepted Jesus, the Son of the Living God, you are my brother and my sister. That's the brotherhood that the Bible conveys to the world.

We will all be challenged by friendly fire in the midst of battle, but we have to learn to bear some things even when it's not our fault. God has given us power to endure. We are soldiers in the most elite army in the cosmos. We fight an enemy that can't be detected by radar, sonar, satellite, or any other man-made instrument. We fight against an enemy that is very cunning and very crafty. The Navy SEALs are the elite soldiers along with other special forces in our nation, the best of the best in the world, but they fight an enemy that they can see. They have night vision and probably weapons and equipment that the public has no idea they have, and that is fine with me. I thank God for them because they are keeping America safe and free. But we, as soldiers of the Lord, fight against an enemy in a world we have never seen.

As soldiers in the Lord, we will be tested on the battlefield. The enemy will use friendly fire to try to destroy our walk with Christ. He knows how damaging friendly fire can be to a believer, so he will use believers who are not really grounded in Christ to attack another believer with friendly fire. Any person in the church who purposely attacks the believers with friendly fire, I have to question their salvation.

The church is the most powerful organism on earth, full of love and compassion. Yes, we have disagreements with each other, and yes, we have problems sometimes getting along; but we never should purposely try to hurt one another in any circumstances using friendly fire. Friendly fire is a devastating reality of war. In the velocity of action and unrelenting conflict, battlefield weapons can be redirected toward the wrong target with unforgiving consequences. The trauma and scars of physical combat are compounded for everyone involved when the source is someone wearing the same uniform.

When the church realizes that we are the most powerful when we work together and not against each other, then and only then will we be the light of the world. Jesus told us that a kingdom divided against itself won't stand (Mark 3:24). Why is the church so divided? Well, that's another book. Nevertheless, in America, the church is divided. Just for a moment, think of how powerful the church would be if we all worked together. No matter how big or how small your church may be or what ethnic group your church may be, if the church gathers all its resources together and attacked the kingdom of darkness and operated as one, we would literally take over the planet! The enemy knows this. That is why one of the most powerful weapons he uses against the church is the church.

He uses friendly fire not only to destroy the church but to divide the church. When Christians default to sinful assaults on other believers, the glory of Christ is dismantled, and everyone gets hit. Anticipate that your most scathing, personal assaults will often come from those you partner within ministry—those you learn from, recruit, hire, mentor,