Ready for Battle! - Father Dave's Blog

“Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12)

“It’s a spiritual war, Father!” I was speaking to Dr Peter McCullough shortly before he gave his address at the Sydney Entertainment Centre a year ago. He was referring to the battle over COVID, lockdowns and mandatory vaccination. The battlefront may have shifted somewhat since then, but I think more and more people are realising that our struggle is indeed “not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12).

It’s hard to make sense of our world at the moment. I believe that’s because there are global forces at work that are not rational (in any human sense of the word). What rational person would want to escalate the violence in the Middle East, and yet the ongoing massacres and assassinations seem designed to eliminate all other options and lock us all into a spiral towards our own self-destruction! We are dealing with principalities and powers, and we must resist them. Paul points us to the image of the Roman Legionary for inspiration.

Paul may have been chained to a Roman soldier as he wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus, and it would be a Roman soldier who would soon put him to death. These people were not Paul’s friends, yet he chose the Roman legionary as a metaphor for the spiritual life. Why? One word … ‘discipline’.

The 1st Century Jewish writer, Josephus, wrote instructively about the Roman army in his “Jewish Wars”:

Anyone who will take a look at the organization of their army in general will recognize that they hold their wide-flung empire as the prize of valour, not the gift of fortune. They do not wait for war to begin before handling their arms, nor do they sit idle in peacetime and take action only when the emergency comes – but as if born ready armed they never have a truce from training or wait for war to be declared.

Their battle-drills are no different from the real thing; every man works as hard at his daily training as if he was on active service. That is why they stand up so easily to the strain of battle: no indiscipline dislodges them from their regular formation, no panic incapacitates them, no toil wears them out; so victory over men not so trained follows as a matter of course. It would not be far from the truth to call their drills bloodless battles, their battles bloody drills. (Josephus’ Jewish Wars III, 60)

The Romans were brutal in their efficiency, highly disciplined, always ready for action and merciless in battle. Josephus sums it up well – that the only difference between their drills and the real thing was that there was a bit more blood in the real battle!

Paul envisages these soldiers when he urges us to, “put on the whole armour of God”, and the various pieces of armour Paul lists parallel the legionary’s kit:

The buckle of truth
The boots of peace
The shield of faith
Etc.

The focus on the armour reminds us that this is a defensive battle. Even with the sword of the Spirit that Paul speaks of (Ephesians 6:17) is not the broadsword used for attack, but the short dagger used for close-in defensive work. Stand firm’ he says (Ephesians 6:13), and the exhortation to ‘stand’ occurs three times in this passage. This is not a crusade. We just have to hold the line. We just have to survive!

It seems appropriate that I focus on this martial imagery as I make my preparations for my boxing match tonight. Paul may have boxed. He certainly knew how to take a hit. Even so, Paul knew too that the real battle lay beyond the boxing ring, and beyond even the battlefields of Gaza. For we battle “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” May God strengthen us and equip us for the battle.

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated another wonderful Eucharist last Sunday, and it was great having my friends, Karyn Hemming and Andrew Madry, with me on the panel. Once again, I’ve extracted lots of ‘shorts’ from our Bible Banter, two of which are featured below. I’ve chosen two that focus more on the Gaza catastrophe rather than the Scripture readings, but you can see more at the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page.

This coming Sunday I’m looking forward to having Andrew Logan back with us after his rather auspicious trip to Belgium. We knew that Andrew and his partner, Gigi, were heading there to set up a university, which was exciting enough, but something else rather wonderful happened while they were there!

Sorry. I’m not going to tell you what it is as I’m not quite sure whether I’m supposed to be broadcasting it at the moment BUT … all will be revealed on Sunday. 😊

Our dear brother, Doug Pyeatt, should be with us this Sunday too, and he is always full of surprises. It should be quite a session!😊

Join us this Sunday from noon via TheSundayEucharist.com or via Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Streamyard.

I look forward to sharing this Eucharist with you.

Let me work your corner

If you’d like to see my work continue, please click here to make a one-off donation, If you can afford a monthly contribution, sign up at Patreon.com and choose either:

Middleweight – $10/month (community mentoring)

Enrol in the Fighting Fit training program
Access member-only training videos
Publish to the members-only blog
Get free access to silver level membership at SurefireWealth.com

Super-Middleweight $50/month (remote mentoring)

All of the above +
One-on-one mentoring via email, phone, or Skype

Heavyweight – $100/month (in-person mentoring)

All of the above +
Training with Father Dave’s Old School Boxing Academy

Superheavyweight – $200/month (intensive in-person mentoring)

All of the above +
One weekend per month at Binacrombi Bush Camp.

Every dollar helps keep the wheels turning – the websites, the newsletters, the broadcasts, the boxing club and the bush camp. Even so, it’s not a one-way process. I want to support you in return, so please fill out the Physical and Spiritual Fitness Assessment form and get it back to me, and then sign up at Patreon.com.

What’s On?

Friday, August 23^rd – Father Dave vs Brad Glen @Gold Coast Croatian Club.
Sunday, August 25^th – Our Eucharist from midday @thesundayeucharist.com (or through Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Streamyard.).
Tuesday, August 27^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
Thursday, August 29^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Friday to Sunday, August 30 to Sept 1^st – @Binacrombi. Please join me

I’m currently on the Gold Coast in Queensland, preparing for my fight tonight. My opponent has been changed and I’m not sure what to expect. Even so, if you’d like to tune in, I’m the first fight of the night and should be on at around 6.45 pm. Here’s the link. I’m staying with my good friend, Grant Chapman, who is also working my corner. As you can see from the above pic, I’ve weighed in, and I came in light!

In making weight, all credit goes to my mentor, Nathan Nicholas, who showed me how to lose more than 5 kilograms in 5 days. Last Sunday I was weighing about 80 kilograms. Four days later I weighed in at 74.6! That’s certainly the most weight I’ve ever lost in such a short period of time, and more than I thought possible.

When Nathan outlined the plan for me, I didn’t really believe it could work. It did. I’m not going to give you all the details of the diet here as it’s not something designed for long-term health. It involves water-loading and carb reduction for short-term weight loss. I’ll probably return to my normal weight within a week or so. Even so, I haven’t lost any energy over the period of this diet. I feel strong and am ready to rumble. 😉

Your prayers are appreciated – for the fight and for my future as a boxer. As you probably realise, my goal has never been to win the world title, and certainly not at age 62. Even so, I owe much to boxing. It has given me a platform and has connected me with many wonderful people whom I otherwise never would have known. It has also helped me finance most of the work we’ve done over the last 35 years, and still has the potential to keep us moving forward.

Having said that, the real battle, as we know, lies beyond the boxing ring. It’s our battle with “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This greater battle is raging all around us now and we need to equip ourselves. May God strengthen us.

Your brother in the Good Fight,