The question is “what hill will you die on?” In every battle in life whether in war or in our own personal lives there is one side holding the ground and the opposing side is attempting to take that ground. Could be a hill, a castle, a city, a town or a bridge. It could be a million things in our personal lives. Your flesh versus your spirit for example. No matter, in these battles there is the one holding on and the one attempting to displace and take.

Now, it does not really matter what position you are in, the fundamentals are the same whether you are holding the line or attempting to take a stronghold. For instance, if you are defending a village then you have a line and you are holding the line.It is very important that you hold the line. When the enemy is advancing and your line begins to break then you would scatter and retreat in chaos and the enemy advances and takes his objective.

Now, if you were attacking, attempting to take the position, the principal would be that you have to keep moving forward and put your enemy back on his heels. If you do not keep moving forward as an attacking force and get bogged down in an open position, then the defenders will be able to zero in on your position, rain fire down upon you and you have to scatter and retreat in chaos and the enemy comes out of his defensive position and comes after your retreating forces and cuts you down.

Now these principals work. Hold the line, hold the objective. Move forward and keep moving forward and take the objective. Yet like everything in life they are not hard and fast. For any plan to go awry the battle must merely commence. Once the battle begins, you have to be able to adapt to the changing conditions on the ground. The great leaders of every battle can see the battle-field and can adjust as the circumstance warrant. So, although the principle of keep moving forward is a good one, sometimes we may have underestimated the enemies strength and depth of forces. Under those circumstances do we keep moving forward?

What about holding the line? Perhaps you have a limited amount of men and ammunition and the force that is attacking you is just too great and if you continue to try and hold the line the you will be overrun and wiped out. In each case strategic withdrawals are warranted. The man who would die on every hill may have some momentary zeal and glory, but he will die and he will likely get everyone else killed. So the wise man knows when to stop, retreat, regroup and reconsider his options. Whether defending or attacking the wise man, if the situation warrants it shall sound the retreat, then regroup and the reconsider. The unwise man is not capable of this.

In the Christian world we need to understand the battles that we are involved in. Is this a hill we are going to die on? Can I suggest that we as Christians are involved in a constant war that rages on many fronts. We have been called to the battle-field not the play ground. And in the midst of these battles we already have a commander in chief who directs the battle. It is vital that we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. We can know our war manual back to front but if we cannot be directed in the heat of the battle in real time, since almost every single situation unique to you, then we shall be defeated.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a hill out there with your name on it, maybe more than one and these hills were built for us to stand or die while never retreating. But we must be led by the Word of God and His holy Spirit and not by the zeal and the passion that arises from our own desires and wisdom. So, the Holy Spirit will give you the wisdom on when to hold the line or when to retreat, regroup and reconsider your strategy.

There are the big battles in our lives and there is also the every day battles with our flesh and with our sanctification. The principles from above may be real war battles from battle-fields but they apply to our spiritual lives as well. You must have a trustworthy commander. You must be able to fight as a unit. You must be able to hear your commander so that you are able to respond to His directions. Obedience is key. Whether we understand or not is not the issue, it is whether we can hear and whether when we hear we shall obey.

This is how we win the battles whatever position we are in. Taking down strongholds or holding the line, if we follow these fundamental we shall glorify the the Lord on the field of battle. Warriors for Christ, soldiers of the cross, desiring to fight and die for the glorious cause of Christ.