Daily Readings from: The Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall
I have read a good
chunk of the unabridged Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall, it is
very good but HUGE, you kind of need to plough through it. This book, Daily
Readings from The Christian in Complete Armour, was an excellent idea! Breaking it up into small chunks for daily
reading makes it a much easier read, and gives you a good taste of Gurnall's
great skill of teaching and illustrating various spiritual warfare concepts.
The best summary
that I can come up with is that this book is like having a spiritual commanding
officer giving you a rousing speech each day to be ready to fight the battles
to come. Gurnall talks about the armor our
General has provided for us and each individual piece's purpose, he instructs us to keep in mind that we should 'wrestle' with the enemy
in the way our General has instructed us to do so, not merely in the way that
we think we can defeat him, he also
examines the strategy of our spiritual enemy, and gives many warnings about his
tactics
Every day Gurnall
will warn you about the enemy's deceptive tactics, alerting you with statements
like, "When Satan cannot hide the truth, he
works to hinder the practical application of it." and "If you wish to stand firm in the midst
of suffering, forewarn yourself of this fact:
Temptation is never stronger than when relief seems to dress itself in
the very sin that Satan is suggesting." He'll remind you to be ready to follow the
Commander's orders at any moment,
"Sometimes soldiers do not have as much as an hour's warning before
they must take the field. And so you, too, might be called out to
suffer for God …. Abraham, for example, had very little time to deal with his
heart and persuade it to obey God by offering his child. 'Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac,
whom thou lovest' - not in a year, not a month or week, but now (Genesis 22:2). This command came during the night and 'early
in the morning' he was on his way to the mountain (v.3). .....Sometimes God
makes very sudden changes in our personal lives." He will remind you to keep your focus
during suffering, "Let those who will, mock
and scorn your faith. What is Heaven
worth if you cannot bear a little shame?
If they spit in your face, Christ will wipe it off. They may laugh at you now, but not
later. The final outcome has already
been declared, and you have sided with the victor." And reminds us that our Commander is
invincible, "Let Lucifer choose his way;
God is a match for him at every weapon.
If he assaults the saint by persecution, God will oppose him. If he works by a subtlety, God is ready there
also. The devil and his whole council
are mere fools to God. The more wit and
craft in sin, the worse, because it is employed against an all-wise God who
cannot be outwitted."
But remember, this
book shouldn't be used to replace the Word of God, if you are going to ready
any book every day that book should be the Bible.
Like any book, besides the Bible,
this book has its flaws, to name a few,
the author may give a bit too much credit to Satan in our spiritual warfare and
even in this world in general (he seemed to think that Satan can control the
weather), and I don't agree necessarily with all of his advice or application
of certain texts, but overall I thought the book was very good, It's now one of
my favorite books. It is VERY motivating
and thought-provoking, it is a very good sort of 'push' to have in the mornings
to get out and do the work, and fight the battles, that God has ordained for us
to face.
I'll end with one of
my favorite, motivating, go out and fight the good fight type of quotes from
the book:
"You should find great
strength and encouragement in the knowledge that your commission is divine.
God Himself underwrites your battle and has appointed His own Son
"the captain of [your] salvation" (Hebrews 2:10). He will lead
you on to the field with courage, and bring you off with honor.......For
bravery none compares with our Lord. He never turned His head from
danger, not even when hell's hatred and heaven's justice appeared against Him.
Knowing all that was about to happen, Jesus went forth and said,
"Whom seek ye?" (John 18:4). Satan could not overcome Him - our
Savior never lost a battle, not even when he lost His life. He won the
victory, carrying His spoils to heaven in the triumphant chariot of His
ascension. There He makes an open show of them, to the unspeakable joy of
saints and angels. As part of Christ's army, you march in the
ranks of gallant spirits. Every one of your fellow soldiers is a child of
a King. Some, like you, are in the midst of battle, besieged on every
side by affliction and temptation. Others, after many assaults, repulses
and rallyings of their faith, are already standing upon the wall as conquerors.
From there they look down and urge you, their comrades on earth, to march
up the hill after them. This is their cry: "Fight to the death , and
the City is your own, as now it is ours! For the waging of a few days'
conflict, you will be rewarded with Heaven's glory. One moment of this
celestial joy will dry up all your tears, heal all your wounds, and erase the
sharpness of the fight with all the joy of your permanent victory"
Many thanks to Moody Publishers for
sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review (My review did not have
to be favorable).
One of the websites where you may purchase this book is Amazon.com
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