Do We Know War?

Jdg 2:20-23
(20) And the anger of Jehovah glowed against Israel. And He said, Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,
(21) I also from now on will not dispossess any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died;
(22) so that by them I may test Israel, whether they are keeping the way of Jehovah, to go in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.
(23) And Jehovah left those nations without dispossessing them quickly. And He did not deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
Jdg 3:1-2
(1) And these are the nations which Jehovah left in order to test Israel by them, all who did not know all the wars of Canaan;
(2) only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, only those who did not before know them:

We talk a lot about Promised Land Living... walking in faith, and walking in victory.
Isn't it interesting to look back and see all the battles we fought to get that victory? I'm not saying we can claim any credit for the win, but we did have to fight, didn't we? Paul says, "We war not against flesh and blood..." So we are warring, right?

What happens when we stop fighting and just give in? Over time we become like Israel was after the death of Joshua. Our generation had it all handed down to us - all the vineyards we didn't plant and the wells we didn't dig. We tend to take it for granted, and we forget the battles our fathers fought to bring us up in the Promised Land.

Notice what happens to those who feel as though they deserve the peace and safety they live in (America): God ordains war for them, just so they'll know it. It's about fighting for the ground you take, and then maintaining it under the rules of God. Israel would not have needed to re-fight all those battles had they simply remembered God's commandments and that they owed everything to Him.

So, for my own children, I have the responsibility to teach them how to maintain and live under the leadership of God. If I fail to teach them this, I'm most-assuredly dooming them to re-fight many of the battles that got us to the Promised Land in the first place. Keep fighting the good fight, and teach your children to do the same.