Armed Warrior For God

Spiritual Boot Camp The Making Of The Soldier

Spiritual Boot Camp
The Making Of A Soldier

We find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane about to be crucified.  What is the purpose of the garden?  We find Gethsemane means "the oil press", a place of pressing, a place of bruising.  This bruising is an injury without skin breakage, to crush.  God wants from us pure oil...which comes forth in the crushing.

The children of Israel were commanded to bring forth pure oil into the tabernacle of God, or into his presence.
Ezekiel 27:20    and thou shalt command the children of Israel that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

Ezekiel 27:21    in the tabernacle of the congregation
without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute forever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

We find in this instance that the olives were beaten and bruised in a bowl or with a millstone; which represents a heavy burden, or a heavy stone for crushing. All of this crushing was to be done without the application of heat.

Inferior oil could be made under stronger pressure and with the aid of heat. Heat here refers to the application of stress and strain in the fire or in the midst of a fiery condition.  This fire if applied conveys the idea that this particular form of bruising can produce unwanted results or inferior conditions.  We must know that whatever God is forming it will always produce superior results, not inferior.

This is a place of process.  You see many of us are in the process of the processor our Heavenly Father, and though it doesn't sound like a pleasant place to be.  It is the right place to be. 

The oil was for the light. God wants to bring light into our dark situations.  It is a director of our path and a light to show direction. 

We need to say as David said,

Psalms 27:1    The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

                 27:2    When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

                 27:3    Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

                 27:4    One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.   

                 27:5     For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

So Israel was commanded to bring the pure beaten olive oil for the light.  They were to cause the light to burn always. They were to put the lamp in the holy place, and the priests were to order or service the light from evening to morning.  The light was never to burn out. 
Leviticus 24:3 says, the light was to burn before the Lord continually.  It was to be a perpetual light. 

In the tabernacle or in the place that stood before the Lord, items were placed on a table covered with pure gold.  Also pure frankincense (in a gold dish) was to be burned upon the pure table. This signifies that all things connected with Jehovah and his worship is to be pure, thus typifying the purity of life and the conduct of the worshippers who come before him. This has not passed away for the word of God says this was to remain forever unto the following generations.
Purity is a set standard in worshipping the Lord.
Job 14:4           Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?  Not one
Matthew 5:8   Jesus said, in his famous sermon on the Mountain Of Olives. (Of all places, olives, maybe this place or name had some deep meaning...or well maybe not.)

But his words were:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

A soldier of the cross must be pure before God, and proven to be blameless warriors. 

Samson was a mighty warrior when the Holy Spirit came upon him. However, his character weakness and the desire for the impure was a great defeat in his life.

His being set aside made him different and this evoked the curiosity of many.  He knew he was different because we found him saying at one point,
"I shall be like any other man." Judges 16:17

This we see demonstrated after Delilah had deceived him:  He lost his:
1.)    Might- his strength was gone       
2.)    Sight-    his eyes were burned out
3.)    Liberty- he was chained to a wheel going in circles for years.

The word of God said that he (Samson) wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

That word wist means without inkling,
no form of disclosure.  He had no idea that the spirit of God had departed from him.

Psalms 115:1-2
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? 
Who shall dwell in thy holy hills? 
None but the pure in heart...

He that walked uprightly, and worked righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart.

The Holy Spirit cannot abide in an unclean vessel. 
The secularist and modern churches are teaching a false doctrine when they allow you to believe that you can do and say anything and the Holy Spirit will remain in the midst of that lifestyle. Wrong buddy, you will be like Samson and wist not that the Lord was and is gone.

You can't fight this war without the Holy Spirit as your captain and guide.  You are lost and will soon be found among the captives without your guide.  In the darkness, He is your light. 

"Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God."