Equipping Our Children With Combat Skills Part 1: A Good Soldier Of Christ

How do we prepare our children to resist the enemy when he attacks? It starts by teaching them spiritual combat skills. Just as military recruits are trained to identify their enemy and equipped to defeat him, Christians must recognize that we too have a real and powerful enemy—Satan—who desires to destroy us. See my blog post on identifying our enemy here. Thankfully, our God is stronger than the enemy, so we don’t need to be afraid. Instead, we can trust Him and learn the ways He has given us to stand firm and fight against him.

In the next few blog posts, I will be discussing several combat skills we can teach our children to ready them for the spiritual battles they will face in this life. Today we will examine 2 Timothy 2 to see how God defines what it means to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Here are a few key principles we can take from it:

A Good Soldier of Christ...

1. Endures suffering (v. 3). How do we teach our children to endure suffering? We do so by reminding them of what Christ endured for us on the cross and helping them understand that even in times of persecution, we can rejoice because great is our reward in heaven. (see Matthew 5:11-12, Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 4:13, and more).

   
   

2. Does not get caught up in the affairs of civilian life (v. 4). How can we help our children avoid getting caught up in the affairs of civilian life? By helping them learn to be eternally focused (see 2 Corinthians 4:18, Colossians 3:2, and Matthew 6:19-21). We do not need to worry about the things of this life (see Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:6-7, and 1 Peter 5:6-7) but rather trust in God to provide. We should focus on the things He would have us do each day. We can encourage our children in this by teaching them to pray every morning that God would direct their day and use them to further His Kingdom.

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. -Colossians 3:2 (NLT)

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

3. Follows the rules (v. 5), or in other words, obeys God! How can we teach our children to obey God? By teaching them what His Word says and what He requires of us - to love God and love others. How can we love God? By getting to know Him and understanding what He has done for us, by worshipping and serving Him. How do we love others? By serving them, by praying for them, by telling them about Jesus, by giving generously, and more. Verse 6 states: "And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor." This is a great reminder that when we work hard to serve the Lord and further His Kingdom, we will be rewarded for it in heaven someday.

Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. -Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NLT)

4. Works hard (v.15). It's important that we instill strong work ethic in our children. We can do this by giving them meaningful responsibilities and teaching them the value of perseverance. These skills can be practiced in both physical and spiritual areas of life. For example, we can assign daily chores while also encouraging consistent Bible reading and prayer. In doing so, we teach our children to persevere in their daily tasks and to work as if they are working for the Lord.

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. -Colossians 3:23-24 (NLT)

5. Correctly explains the Word of God (v.15). A soldier cannot explain the Word of God correctly if he does not know what the Word of God teaches. This means it is vital we teach our children the Word of God and help them develop daily habits of Scripture study. We must lead our children to the Lord so that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit who will help them correctly interpret Scripture. Then we can teach our children about Biblical hermeneutics - how to correctly interpret Scripture. We can help them memorize verses that will help them witness to others and not fall for the enemies lies. We can teach our children how to avoid logical fallacies and teach them apologetics (why we believe what we believe - we will discuss more on apologetics in part 3).

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. -1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)

6. Avoids worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior (v. 16, 23). It is easy to get sucked into worthless arguments in today's world of social media. One way to help our children avoid this trap is to set boundaries and not allow them to use social media until they are adults. When we hear them arguing with a sibling we can ask them if they are using their words to build one another up or to tear each other down. Are they encouraging one another or engaging in worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior?

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. -Ephesians 4:29 (NLT)

7. Does not quarrel but is kind to everyone, able to teach, and patient with difficult people (v. 24). Again we can remind our children of the truth found in Scripture when we find them quarreling with a sibling. Remind them that a servant of the Lord does not quarrel but is kind to everyone. We can teach our children about the fruits of the Spirit and the importance of being kind and patient with others. And we can help our children develop leadership skills so they will be able to teach others. See ch. 10 in my book Training Godly Warriors for more on leadership training.

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. -Ephesians 4:32 (NLT)

8. Gently instructs those who oppose the truth (v. 25). This one can be difficult especially when dealing with willingly ignorant people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness as Romans 1:18 describes. However, gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit and a requirement of a good soldier for Christ. We can help our children develop gentleness by modeling it for them. Let them hold a newborn baby or a puppy and show them how to sit down and gentle support the baby's neck. We can teach them to be gentle and respectful of God's Word by taking good care of it and not cramming it on a shelf or dropping it on the floor. Teach them how to carefully hold an egg without cracking it. We can use these physical illustrations to teach the spiritual. For example, we can ask our children what might happen if we were not gentle with the baby and help support her neck? She could get hurt.

   
   

   The same is true in our conversations with others. If we are not gentle with our words and approach, we could end up hurting someone. Then we should teach our children how to use gentleness in conversations. We can train them how to actively listen, how to season their conversations with salt, and how to boldly speak the truth in love. We do not need to raise our voice to make a point. We should stay calm and pray throughout our conversation. We should never attack a person's character but stick to the facts. An understanding of logical fallacies will help here as well. We need to help our children learn to leave their emotions out of the conversation because strong emotions squash critical thinking skills (we will discuss more on critical thinking skills in part 2). And we should not act above our listener but remain humble, kind, and gentle.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. -Proverbs 15:1 (NASB)

How will you begin to teach your children to be good soldiers for Christ? Read more about these ideas in my book, "Training Godly Warriors"

Buy Now

Don't have a relationship with the Lord or want to learn more about who God is? Visit NeedGod.com now to learn more!

Pin to Read Again Later!

Onward Christian Soldiers!