put a little chicory in it.: many aspire, few attain

in light of the experiences and emotions i have been dealing with lately, reading this yesterday was a huge comfort... encouragement... well i'm not sure what the right word is, but anyway, here ya go, from "many aspire, few attain":

"involvement in this spiritual warfare is a voluntary thing. it's our choice. in ancient israel, before going to war, the officers said to the people, "what man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart" (deuteronomy 20;8). involvement in spiritual warfare is voluntary as well.

the apostle paul writes that a soldier must endure suffering and hardship if he plans on getting into battle (2 timothy 2:3). the spiritual battle is a battle for keeps. don't enter it unless you plan on winning. don't enter it unless you plan on giving your life totally to it. don't enter it unless you plan on suffering and enduring hardship because your adversary the devil and his legions of demons play dirty. they fight rough. they give no quarter.

but christ in you is greater than he that is in the world (1 john 4:4). and you are on the winning side. you can take refuge and consolation in that, but it is dirty, rough warfare - and the deeper you get into it, the meaner and nastier it gets. men come and go, and the attrition rate in the christian life is absolutely horrendous. in the final analysis, many aspire but few attain. many begin well, but precious few end well." -walter a. hendrichsen