Preparing for Christian Warfare: Ten Principles That Will Take Your Faith to the Next Level

By Gary Panzer

Have you ever felt that your faith life is in a rut? That you have hit a plateau in your Christian walk and just can't seem to push past it? Preparing for Christian Warfare gives you ten principles that US Special Operations warriors use to give them the mind-set they need in order to do their jobs and be the best in the world at what they do and shows you how to apply these principles to your Christian walk. No matter where you are in your walk with God, this book will help you propel your faith to the next level. Preparing for Christian Warfare will challenge you and inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and up your game in preparation for the spiritual battles that lie ahead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098044077

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Preparing for Christian Warfare

Ten Principles That Will Take Your Faith to the Next Level

Gary Panzer

ISBN 978-1-0980-4406-0 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-0980-4407-7 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Gary Panzer

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

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www. zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Foreword

You're Built for Opposition

Introduction

How This Book Came About

Special Note

A Perfect 10

A Declaration of War

Preparing for Christian Warfare

A Dove, a Dawn, a Declaration

1

Tier 1 Operators All Have a Compelling Why

2

Tier 1 Operators Train Themselves for War

3

Tier 1 Operators Wake Up Early, They Set Goals

4

Tier 1 Operators Have a Definite Purpose

5

Tier 1 Operators Cultivate Strong Bonds with Their Teammates

6

Tier 1 Operators Take Extreme Responsibility and Ownership

7

Tier 1 Operators Pay Attention to Details

8

Tier 1 Operators Push Their Comfort Zone and Expand Their Capacity

9

Tier 1 Operators Use Extreme Violence of Action to Achieve Success (Being Intentional)

10

Tier 1 Operators Refuse to Quit

References

About the Author

Foreword

You're Built for Opposition

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne.

—Revelation 3:21

Ever been in the middle of something tough, prayed for rescue, and heard nothing? Ever questioned God in frustration, Why won't you answer?

Could it be that God doesn't always answer because, sometimes, he wants us to stay right where we are and learn there how to fight? Could it be that God sometimes allows trouble and pain to train us, to build our maturity, and to make us more reliable conduits of his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? We often consider trouble and pain as unnecessary, to be avoided, and hindrances to ease and happiness. Might it make more sense to consider trouble and pain as opposition as a mountaineer views the pitch and the altitude or as a linebacker views the block and the fake?

We aren't meant to be those who avoid opposition—numb it or deny it. We aren't meant to run from battles, to hide, and to let others fight. We're built for opposition. Truthfully, we'd probably wither without it. We must see it, though, for what it is: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). Our struggle is against being lured into selfishness, indifference, impatience, rage, resignation, or sin in the face of problems at work or in our finances or relationships or families. These are epic struggles—battles worthy of any man or woman.

God doesn't always take opposition away because he's built you to conquer, not to cower. And he's given you everything you'll need.

—Justin Camp, WiRE, Gather Ministries 2023

Introduction

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

—Romans 12:2

Welcome to the second edition of Preparing for Christian Warfare. Before I get started, I need to say this: This book was written for anyone who desires to take their Christian faith to the next level in preparation for what lies ahead. The purpose of this book is twofold. The first is to equip you to be able to take your faith to another level, to up your game, if you will. The second is to help strengthen your mindset. We now live in a time that many will say that mental illness is the cause of so much of our problems in society today, when in reality, it is really just mental weakness. There is a difference. Many of our problems, both personal and collectively as a nation, are because of a lack of discipline and accountability. We live in a time where everyone gets a trophy for just participating.

White privilege; diversity, equity, and inclusion; toxic masculinity; safe spaces; the mass confusion about how many genders there are; men playing women's sports; her truth, his truth, no truth at all—these are just some of the lies being lived today by people who, in my opinion, are weak-minded for a variety of reasons. These problems, and the many more not mentioned, eventually make their way into the church. We have seen this play out when the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, recently blessed same-sex unions. In case you haven't noticed, Christianity is at war in America, and we have to prepare ourselves for the spiritual war that is before us. Not only are we at war with the secular world, but we are constantly battling ourselves, our flesh, and our inner demons.

If you are a practicing Christian who takes your faith seriously, Satan has painted a target on your back. Maybe things are going well for you now, but you feel you've been stuck in a rut. Or maybe you can't seem to shake the feeling that there has to be more to the Christian life than going to church, paying your tithe, singing hymns, and listening to a sermon every week. Well, you're right. The Christian life is much more than that. I used to say that being a Christian is the hardest thing in life to do, and to a degree, I'm right. It is hard. To not respond to people like we want to respond when they wrong us is hard. I get it. And I could give many more examples, but you understand where I'm going with this. If we want to call ourselves Christian, then we must take seriously that which Christ calls us to do. And that is to be Christlike in all situations and to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

In his book Kingdom Man, Dr. Tony Evans writes, We should approach the Christian life as a challenge and a quest to conquer. Being a Christian can be as adventurous or mundane as you decide to make it. It all starts with a mindset. And in life, your mindset is everything. A strong mindset is the ability to find positive in a negative situation or circumstance. It will determine how you respond to a crisis and will help you accomplish more than you think you can. The mind controls everything. It has been said that every sin begins with a thought. No action is taken until the thought of said action crosses the mind first. The problem with so many people today is they let their minds control them, instead of them controlling their minds.

There have been a number of studies done among elite military units and athletes to determine what sets them apart from the rest of us. How can they endure so much more pain and punishment to their bodies than we can? What is it about them that when pushed to their ultimate limits, they are able to reach down and find a little more to keep going? The answers all point to the same conclusion: it's simply resilience. When you want something bad enough, you will do everything you can to obtain it. You will let nothing stand in the way of you reaching your goals.

The Navy SEALs have a 40 percent rule they live by. In an online article by Forbes.com, Chris Myers writes, The 40% rule is simple: When your mind is telling you that you're done, that you're exhausted, that you cannot possibly go any further, you're only actually 40% done. He also states, "The human mind is an amazing thing. It both propels us forward and holds us