Getting Up and Staying Up
Chris Adsit, Associate National Director of Discipleship, Military Ministry

Shug Jordan, former coach for the Miami Dolphins, once asked linebacker Mike Kollin if he would do some recruiting for him. Mike answered, "Sure, coach. What are you looking for?"

"Well, Mike," Jordan said, "you know the kind of guy that gets knocked down and just stays down?"

"Yeah--but we don't want him do we, coach?"

"Correct. We don't want him. But you know the guy who gets knocked down and gets back up, and then gets knocked down again?"

"We don't want him either, do we?"

"No, we don't. But Mike, there's this other guy that you can knock him down, and he gets right back up. Knock him down again, and he gets up again. Knock him down again, he gets up again. You know that kind?"

"Yeah, coach. He's the guy we're looking for, right?"

"No, we don't want him either. We need to find that guy who's knocking everybody down! He's the one we're after!"

There's a lot to be said for resilience. Persistence, endurance and hard-headed stick-to-it-iveness are great assets for both athletes and ministers of the gospel. In both pursuits, you can count on being knocked down from time-to-time. If you don't possess the heart to get back up after having assumed the horizontal position, your usefulness in either discipline will be limited.

But have you ever known anyone who was content with being a punching bag with good bounce-back ability? A boxer may proudly say, "He hit me 458 times in 15 rounds, and I went down 27 times--but I went the distance!" A key objective in boxing, however, is to hit the other guy and make him go down. How many of your punches landed? How many times did he go down?

When it comes to dealing with our adversary, the devil, too many Christians tolerate a victim mentality within themselves. We do have a spiritual enemy who is constantly working to cut our legs out from under us. Some people only require a slight shove, and they're on their face in the mud, savoring their favorite whine: "Waaaah! Life is too haaaard!" Others may take a header, but they're right back up in a flash. They are invigorated as they declare along with the Apostle Paul, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…" (2 Corinthians 4:8,9)

This is a good thing--but it's not enough! The Bible says that "in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37) We don't stop at mere endurance. God's intention for us is that we fight back! We are empowered to resist the devil, not avoid him and hope he doesn't bother us. God has given us armor and weapons and expects us to use them! In 2 Corinthians 10:4,5, Paul speaks in aggressive terms when he says that our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. Defense is good, but without an offense, you'll never win the war. Can you imagine an army whose greatest and only asset is that they are real good at hunkering down and surviving enemy attacks?

It's not advisable to go out and look for trouble from the devil, but when he dares to fool with those who are redeemed and indwelt and empowered by Almighty God, he needs to know that he's about to be knocked down! And you are just the man or woman to do it--not because of your own resident strength, but because you have been given power and authority that is greater than that of our adversary (Luke 10:19; 1 John 4:4).

In 1 John 2:14, John commends those who are spiritual adolescents ("young men") because "you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." It is God's will that you would grow up, become strong through a steady diet of his Word, and dwell in a state of persistent triumph over the enemy!

Dr. Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary once greeted a student with a cheerful, "How are you?" He was answered drearily, "Oh, OK I guess, under the circumstances." Hendricks looked at him quizzically, "Well, what are you doing under there?"

It's time to stop dwelling under the circumstances that Satan has introduced into your life! It's time to fight back, regain the ground that the enemy has taken from you, and perform the ministry God has given to you! Satan is the greatest loser of all time, and we are the winners--let's start living like winners!