Roots by the River

Concentration was so importan t to Paul that he wrote on one occasion: “When I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia” (2 Cor. 2:12–13). Paul passed by an open door for lack of help. Many of us wish we had an Apostle Paul to travel with, not realizing how much the leader also needs the close follower. Without his helpers, Paul was not greatly used in Athens or Troas. When the earth­quake occurred at midnight in Philippi, it was not Paul alone who prayed, but Paul and Silas. There are many other instances in the Bible where concentra­tion proved important to the gospel ministry. If you find that you are scattering your witness in “dogfights” or the enemy is using concentration on you because you insist on taking the whole ship or base or city alone, then you need a partner. You may be partly effective in your lone w...

  Now let us see how the principle of concentration applies to spiritual warfare. “After these things the Lord appointed other sev­enty also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10:1–2). In the chapter on the offensive, we concluded that the offense in winning men to Jesus Christ is carried out by preaching and prayer. In the Luke passage, we see that Jesus sent His disciples out to preach in concentration. He also told them to pray in concentration: “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:19–20). This is effecti...

  “I git thar fustest with the mostest.” - attributed to Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” – The Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 18:20 General Forrest was neither a West Pointer nor a War College graduate, but he knew the principles of war, and he knew how to apply them. Although it is doubtful that he used the double superlatives in the above quotation, the statement does emphasize several truths. In this one short sentence we find four principles of war, and others are implied: Git— offensive; thar— objective; fustest— mobility; mostest— concentration . The one word “mostest” leads us to the subject of this chapter: concentration. Neither Alexander the Great nor Julius Caesar could have conquered the then known world if he had neglected concentration. Occasionally in the history of warfare a new meth­od comes to light that seems so effective or is such a surprise to the enemy that its users are strongly tempted to depe...

  Giving should not be legalistic (e.g., tithing only). Nor should it be anti-legalistic (anti-tithing). Jesus spoke to both of these when He said in Luke 11:42, "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone." Do not neglect tithing. Tithe lovingly, ungrudgingly, and not legalistically. Consider the tenth a minimum, not even thinking of it as your own money. Take it off the top of your income and give it to one or more of the areas mentioned above. It could be seen as “better stewardship” to give to a corporation which has an IRS-approved, non-profit, tax-deductible status. However, if you are giving in order to get , the blessing of the Lord will not be in your giving. Another difficulty with restricting your giving this way is that the widows, orphans, and aliens may not be approved by the IRS. T...

Love has first priority in the Bible. It is the most important and most comprehensive fruit of the Spirit. It is the first commandment, and it is the second commandment. All the other teachings of the Bible fit into it. God is the source of all love, and He expresses His love to the world by giving. Giving is preached much more than it is practiced. Perhaps this is because the preaching is prompted by the desire to receive rather than the desire to give. Many churches and radio and television programs teach giving by encouraging people to give to their ministry. The emphasis is, “You are to give so that I can receive.” It is a veneer to hide covetousness. Another reason giving is taught more than practiced is that we are not taught how to give lovingly by example. If godliness were widespread, it would not be necessary to teach giving. People would give themselves and their money, rather than giving their money instead of themselves. They would also give their money to the right ...

  False teaching/false doctrine comes up several places in the New Testament (e.g. 1 Timothy 1:18-20 and 1 John 4:1-3). The doctrine Paul talks about in 1 Timothy 4:16 is not false teaching, and it is not the distinctive beliefs of various denominations. This doctrine is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know? It is saving teaching—“You will save yourselves and your hearers.” Obviously our different secondary doctrines and practices cannot all be right. Some are not important. We have used the word “doctrine” and our secondary teachings to create divisions among saved people. To my knowledge, the Bible does not use “doctrine” that way. Read Romans 14. It is the primary doctrine of the gospel that saves and sanctifies and is, consequently, of ultimate importance. "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by...

  What remains if the decisive blow has been struck? We must occupy the land. We must proclaim the emancipation to Satan’s captives. We must declare the means of freedom, the gospel, the defeat of Satan, and the victory of Christ in His death and resurrection. We participate in that ancient victory, for its proclamation is still unfinished. It is still news that many captives have not heard. The offensive in the spiritual war is to be carried out by two very basic means: preaching and prayer. Preaching, when done in the power of the Holy Spirit, is an engagement on the spiritual plane. Other powers are in conflict besides the speaker and the listeners. In 2 Timothy 2 we can see four participants in the conflict: the Lord’s servant, the opponent, God, and the devil. “Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to every one, an apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his oppone...

  Whether the offensive is directed against the whole front or against one segment of the enemy army, “in either case it should be well understood that there is in every battlefield a decisive point, the possession of which, more than any other, helps to secure the victory by enabling its holder to make proper application of the Principles of War. Arrangements should therefore be made for striking the decisive blow upon this point” (Antoine-Henri Jomini, Jomini and His Summary of the Art of War , The Military Classics series, ed. Lt. Col. J.D. Hittle [Harrisburg: The Stackpole Co., 1947[, Article XXXI). There are two things that determine a decisive point. The first is the relative importance of that point compared to the rest of the front. The second is the feasibility of taking that point. If it is not important, it is not decisive. If it is important but not feasible to take, then it is not decisive. This is very important. Be alert for teaching on the decisive point in succee...

  They want war too methodical, too measured; I would make it brisk, bold, impetuous, perhaps sometimes even audacious. —Antoine-Henri Jomini, Summary of the Art of War This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. —The Lord Jesus Christ, Luke 24:46–47 In warfare, the offensive is the means by which one takes the objective. It is an aggressive advance against an enemy to wrest the objective from his possession. An army on the offensive has a moral and physical advantage over the enemy at the point of contact. The offensive is an attitude as well as an action. The attacking general has the advantage of making his decisions first, and then carrying them out. The defender must first wait to see what his opponent does before he makes his decision. The decision he makes is usually forced upon him by the attacker. The aggressor has ...

  The first objective is sowing the seed. The second is reaping the harvest when the seed falls on good ground. If we sow the seed in every heart, but do not reap where the seed prepares a harvest, then we have not reached our objective. We have in effect added to the condemnation of men with the gospel. We have been a savor of death unto death rather than life unto life (2 Cor. 2:16). If, on the other hand, we reap where we have sown, but we do not sow in every heart in our assigned mission fields, then we still have not reached our objective. This is serious. This objective is not a mere psychological goal that makes us feel good when we get there. This is a mission assigned by our commander in chief. Not to get there is failure to carry out the assigned mission: it is defeat. Even if people do not or will not respond to the message of good news, this has no bearing on the objective to communicate the message to them. God assigns the objective; the people do not choose their ow...

  In war then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. —Sun Tzu, The Art of War , 500 B.C. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. —The Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 15:57 When war is declared by Congress, their objective is victory. They pass this assignment over to the commander in chief. The commander in chief, with the joint chiefs of staff, makes an estimate of the situation, comes to a decision, and develops a plan. To oversimplify it, the decision might be to invade and occupy specific nations in Europe and Asia. The plan would be to assign Asia to commander in chief, Pacific, and Europe to commander in chief, Atlantic. These subordinate commanders must then make an estimate of the situation, come to a decision, and develop a plan. They in turn assign objectives to subordinate commanders. Commander in chief, Pacific, orders the commander of the Seventh Fleet to land certain armies and marine divisions in the assigned cou...

  In the decades since my book Principles of War was first published, many changes have taken place in the sophistication of weaponry for physical war. We now have “smart” bombs and guided missiles that are very accurate. If a cruise missile were fired from Boston, it could be guided through the goal posts at JFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The principles of war have not changed. Superior weapons have always had an effect on the outcome of a battle or war. However, superior weapons have not guaranteed the outcome. The morale of combatants, the reason for fighting, and most of all, the implementation of the principles of war, are the main guarantees of victory. The United States lost the war in Vietnam because of the practical disregard of these principles. We had no clear political or military objective. We had clear superiority in weapons, training, and men. But morale was low, and the men did not know why they were fighting. If they did know, the people at home did not know. ...