Training Like A Navy SEAL For God

The Navy SEALS are arguably the world’s greatest fighting force. SEALS are often tasked with the most difficult and important missions. Yet, they are very small in number compared to the rest of the American military power. There are only eight SEAL teams and each team consists of sixteen men.

Why are the SEAL teams so effective and vital in our military operations? The answer is simple. They are the best trained. To receive the Trident badge that a SEAL must earn, he must pass five training courses that involve seventy-one weeks of training and testing. Upon graduating as a SEAL, there will still be another eighteen months of pre-deployment training before they ever deploy. They only do six-month deployments, so the other half of the year is more training, more practice, more experience with using their weapons. I read a book about the SEALs that said they expend more ammunition in training in a year, then the entire Marine Corps does. Put that in perspective; the 186,000 active Marines use less ammo practicing, then the 128 men in the SEALs do. The result? SEALs don’t miss their targets. They are deadly with their weapons.

The life of a Christian is the life of a warrior. The Bible is replete with analogies of war. In scripture God is called the “Lord of Hosts” some 242 times. The word in scripture used for hosts means army of war. The references to war and battles in our life are clear. Ephesians 6:10 – 19 tells us the battles are spiritual in nature and instructs us that we have been provided with everything we need to fight against the devil and his schemes. We are commanded to put on the full armor of God.

The armor of God allows us to stand in the battle and protects us. Most of it is defensive in nature. But there is mention also of a sword and that sword is the Word of God. It is the Bible, God’s Holy Scriptures. It is always to be used in conjunction with prayer, making it the only weapon provided in the equipment God gives us to fight with. It is called the Sword of the Spirit.

Jesus has won the war. It was fought at Calvary where He gained complete victory over Satan and the forces of evil. But there are still many battles to fight until the day Jesus returns and completes the destruction of the devil. Until then, we must fight.

How proficient are you with your weapon, your sword? Have you trained like a Navy SEAL with your sword? Can you accurately wield the Sword of the Spirit? Can you use it to defend against the attacks you come under in your daily Christian life? Do you constantly train and retrain with it between your battles? Do you understand that your sword is like a rifle that also needs the power of the ammunition as a rifle or pistol does? That power is prayer. Sprit led prayer. It is the gunpowder that provides the power behind the weapon. Or have you allowed your sword to get rusty? Or have you never even gotten to know your sword and learned of its power and its effectiveness?

We need to be Navy SEALs for God. We need to live as they do, with a complete commitment to training ourselves to be masters of our swords. We must wield it with the power and authority God has given us, when and wherever. We must use it to fight and when we are not fighting, we must be ever training with it until it becomes an extension of our bodies.

We must become master swordsmen.

I close with two scriptures that instruct us on the importance of training ourselves.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

1 Timothy 4:6-10
 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.  Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.  For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Godliness and Righteousness. We must be God’s Navy SEALs, trained in godliness and righteousness.