I remember seeing a video of a combat veteran loading the magazine of his weapon. After loading the magazine, he raised it up to his helmet and tapped it a couple of times to make sure all the rounds were properly seated. Tapping a magazine removes any gaps and misalignments of the rounds, seating them properly within the magazine. When I was a SWAT officer, I did the same thing tapping my magazines as I prepared myself for an engagement to make sure I did not experience a failure to feed.

Each season of our spiritual life requires that we check and recheck our faith to ensure it will function when needed. It is too late to do this when we enter a spiritual conflict. Assumptions will leave us unprepared for spiritual battles and will place the execution of our faith in jeopardy.

The prophet Ezekial wrote, “Be ready and keep ready, you and all the hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them” (Ezekial 38:7). We get ready for whatever comes by reaffirming how our faith is positioned before a spiritual battle begins. We do this to make sure the fullness of Christ’s love is properly seated in our hearts before we act or speak.  

This readiness is not just for our survival. It prepares us to respond as part of the Body of Christ with those who depend on our faith to function properly in spiritual conflict. We need to be always ready for spiritual conflict by having our faith properly seated in Christ because we never know when the enemy will attack.