The Lord gave me the word of knowledge “battle ready” that I would like to expound on in connection to the Christian growth cycle and what God has provided for believers for their overcoming in Christ Jesus whereby they take on His image and likeness successfully.

Life in general has its daily struggles for everyone and it’s no different for believers, however they should not still be struggling with sin and doubt, as God promises liberty from this oppression in Christ Jesus. If this is something you struggle with, you’re not alone because in order for faith to be effective and liberty to be your reality, faith has to be equipped with the proper tools and training.

Ephesians 6:11-12
¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This brings us to the word of knowledge “battle ready”

Combat ready: “Sufficiently equipped, trained, and numerically strong to engage an enemy.” (dictionay.com)

In mortal combat such as war, we can see how important it is to be equipped and trained before a soldier goes into battle because his life depends on it. The definition here has a military application but applies to everything that we do when trying to accomplish a task successfully and faith isn’t any different when it comes to serving God acceptably and knowing Him by overcoming your cycles of growth. Your life in Christ depends on it!

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

The purpose of our cycles of growth is to know God through our service in His priesthood.

When you meet someone that you like for the first time you want to get to know them. Our relationship with God is no different. The fact that the Lord says “learn of me” means that we have no prior knowledge of Him except maybe glimpses here and there. We know God through the fruit that we bear unto Him. This is unique in that we reflect the very likeness of Christ which allows us to resource and walk in that power.

Because we are all born into sin, the fruit of that kingdom has to be removed from the soul which is where the conflict and the suffering comes into play (this is the spiritual battle) because these two kingdoms are opposed to each other. We learn of God by molding our confidence with the power of His grace that He supplies for our growth which puts our focus on Him and changes our perspective of life, our faith, grace, our jobs, our problems, relationships and our perspective of God called regeneration and the renewing of the mind.

God is always making the comparison between these two kingdoms (light and darkness) and the liberty gained from it. When this distinction is made by faith, there is liberty, contrast and a separation from the kingdom of darkness. These distinctions are made for the covenant believer each day which is what your cycles of growth are all about. Apostle Paul brought this out in His epistle to the Romans when he said: “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.” (Rom 6:21)

These distinctions are made for the covenant believer each day so you can see why it is important to be equipped with the proper education and tools in order to accomplish this. There’s no worse feeling than not knowing what to do or how to approach a task because it leaves you helpless. Being battle ready means you have been equipped to overcome your first birth and those perceptions that used to rule the mind and keep you in bondage.

2 Peter 1:3
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.

What are “all things” that Apostle Peter is talking about here? It’s everything you need for faith to function and please God. Everything you need to overcome: the tools, the blueprint and instruction (stewardship) by which the life of Christ is birthed in the soul.

We can understand this by looking at the natural through different trades, whether you’re building a house or baking a pie. The blueprints for the house given to you from the architect, tell you how to construct the house and the tools of that trade allow you to accomplish this. The same parallel can be seen when baking a pie. The instructions are the recipe in the cookbook that is written by the cook and the tools (the mixer, the bowel, the whisk and the pan) allow you to produce the pie that is seen in the picture.

The same is also true for faith, only we are not building a physical house but a spiritual one for God and we are not using the knowledge of the world but the holy knowledge of Jesus Christ that is delivered to the church through His stewards, the covenant apostles.

The holy knowledge of Jesus Christ is God’s truth that prepares the heart to overcome. You can think of truth as the instructions you receive from God’s sanctified stewardship of how to function in God’s kingdom and how these instructions show you how to take on the image and likeness of Christ successfully.

Each trade (like the builder or the baker) has its own framework of knowledge and language that is used to identify its own activity and the kingdom of God is no different. This is an important distinction that God is making because we can’t have the expectation that what we have learned or suffered up to the point of coming into covenant with God will carry over into His kingdom. A believer expects things to change when they serve God, so that means that the knowledge that they used to live by has to change as well. It has to reflect the author they are joining themselves to, just like the house a carpenter builds reflects the owner and the pie a person bakes reflects the pastry chef. So an adjustment is made to live by and understand the terms and conditions which God has set for faith, seeing we are joining ourselves to Him.

I remember another word of knowledge that I received in connection to faith that fits nicely here. The word was intrepid, which means: “Resolutely courageous; fearless. synonym: brave.” (wordnik).

When we think of Jesus, isn’t this what we think about and desire for our faith?

Hebrews 12:2-3
² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

As a Christian you should be walking in this strength because this is what Jesus Christ promised. It’s frustrating for Christians to read of this in the bible and not have this translate to their faith but that’s because they’re in the wrong house. It really is as simple as that. God is calling you into His house, into His covenant. It’s like finding the missing piece to the puzzle. In addition to the covenant, we also can see the necessity of stewardship and truth.

Stewardship and truth speaks of our equipment and the experience that we gain from faith’s sanctified activity (your cycles of growth which only takes place within the covenant) that allows us to enter into that experience. So not only does God prepare you for the battle so that you are battle ready, you learn to stand in the strength of that power, fearing only the Lord. This is what Apostle Paul learned that he shared with the saints.

Romans 8:35-39
³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

³⁶ As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

³⁸ For I am persuaded [this was his experience], that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

By faith we take on the likeness of Christ. Therefore His strength is our strength!