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Key Bible Verse: "Everyone will hate you because of your allegiance to me. But those who endure … will be saved' (Matthew 10:22). Bonus Reading:Psalm 18:4-15.

John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S, president, was a commissioned naval officer during World War II. In August 1943, the patrol torpedo boat he commanded was rammed and sunk by an enemy destroyer near the Japanese-held Solo-mon Islands. Kennedy and a fellow officer swam from one enemy-occupied island to the next until they found some friendly islanders who helped them get a message to U.S. forces. Years later, Kennedy was regarded as a war hero. His response: "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

So it is with us. We don't have to volunteer to find ourselves in the middle of a war. It's involuntary. The war is raging all around us. We can't escape from the arena of "the world." And we can't run away from "the flesh" within us.

You might be thinking, That doesn't seem right at all! I thought that when you became a Christian, Jesus would set you free from the kingdom of Satan so that he could no longer touch you! I thought conversion would take you out of the battle, not thrust you deeper into the conflict!

If that's your concept of the Christian life, you couldn't be more wrong! When you become a Christian, that's when the battle really begins!

—Ray Stedman in Spiritual Warfare

My Response: I know the Christian life is a battle when …

Thought to Apply: I feel like a hitchhiker on a Texas highway in the middle of a hailstorm; I can't run, I can't hide, and I can't make it go away.

—Lyndon B. Johnson

Adapted from: Spiritual Warfare (Discovery, www.dph.org, 1975) by permission.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

I'm reporting for duty, my Commander in Chief. Grant me the required discipline, passion, vision, and willingness to risk to accomplish the mission You have for me.

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