Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Everything For The War Effort - #2887

When World War II began, almost every American's life changed - including my dad's. He wasn't able to enlist because of a medical condition. But he was still involved in the war effort. Everyone in the factory he worked in was. Before the war, the plant had been making some industrial product - suddenly, almost overnight, it became a defense plant, turning out airplane parts as fast as they could. There was a war, and that factory had to be used to help fight it. And if you were one of those who were alive during that war - or if you've heard someone tell about those years - you know that almost everyone's life changed. Suddenly everyone was getting by with less gasoline and rubber tires for their cars, less food, less money. Why the sacrifices? Because everything was needed to fight and win the war against an evil enemy. It still is.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Everything For The War Effort."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Numbers 32:5-6 . It was time for the Jews to go into the land God had promised them and fight for it. A couple of Israel's 12 tribes had already received their assigned land on this side of the river. Everyone else's was across the river inside the land of Canaan. On the eve of heading into the battle for the Promised Land, the people who already have their land raise a question.

"'If we have found favor in your eyes,' they said, 'let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.' Moses said to (them), 'Shall Your countrymen go to war while you sit here?'" Here are some folks who are ready to settle into their comfortable spot. And Moses says, "Don't you realize we're in a war here? And it's your war, too!"

That may be what God is trying to say to some of us who live in relative spiritual comfort. There's a war going on. Satan and his forces of darkness are throwing everything they've got into what may be some of the last great spiritual battles before Jesus returns. Revelation 12 tells us that Satan has gone off to make war. And he is engaged in an all-out, whatever-it-takes battle to capture the hearts of people, to destroy families, to take lives Jesus died for and make them his, to capture the eternal futures of some people you know.

And the Son of God is fully mobilized to fight for those lives, too. Of course, He fights through His people - people like you and me. And the devil is no match for God's people mobilized to fight him in Jesus' invincible Name. But why, then, is Satan winning so many hearts and lives? Why is our world racing in the opposite direction from Jesus and His love? Why, while we've been building our huge Christian subculture, have we lost our culture?

Because the forces or darkness showed up for the battle - and a lot of Jesus' army are acting like it's peacetime! When you realize there's a war going on, you throw everything you've got into the war effort - you use whatever you have to help win that war - your money, your talent, your time, your influence. You sacrifice what you might like to have for yourself for the greater cause of winning this war for never-dying souls. Like Americans sacrificing during World War II, you say, "I'll worry about getting what I want after we win this thing!"

Honestly, are you living like there's a war going on? Does your calendar look like the calendar of a spiritual soldier? Does your checkbook show that you are sacrificing for the war effort? In the comfort of our Christian cocoon, it's easy to forget - and to send a few overworked warriors out to take all the risks, to have all the faith. But God says to you and me as He said to those comfortable believers centuries ago, "This is your war, too."

God's victory strategy is that every Christian sacrifices for the battle. That we each give the best we have, not the least we have, to make an eternal difference in our community or somewhere in a dying world. It's not peacetime! This is war!

In the powerful words of Amy Carmichael - "We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them." We are living in those few short hours.