Bible-believing Christians know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. It’s a spiritual war that every believer gets drafted into. Now there’s a new resource to aid men in this critical spiritual battle—and it’s written by someone who knows a thing or two about warfare.
My good friend, retired U.S. Army Col. Evan Trinkle, has written a Bible study guide titled Making a Spiritual Warrior: Confront the Enemy and Live in Victory as a Man After God’s Own Heart. I’ve read the book myself—in fact, I may have been one of the first people to read it—and I think it contains many important truths that will help men across the country. I interviewed Evan about Making a Spiritual Warrior on today’s episode of my “Strang Report” podcast, available below.
Evan says the study can be thought of as spiritual “best practices” based on decades of experience.
“It’s my life experiences that I’ve learned from the 40 years that I’ve been a Christian,” Evan says. “Plus being in the military—I just retired after 30 years of service. … I’m trying to give the best of all I’ve learned to all the men out there, because we are in a spiritual conflict every day. Our culture is getting worse and worse.”
Evan says he first came up with the idea to write this Bible study while he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.
“When I was at Fort Hood, Texas, I wrote a covenant called the ‘warrior covenant,’ and it addresses our relationship with God, then family, others and self,” Evan says. “I knew someday I would write a study based on that. So when I was in Kosovo, I started writing and completed it. Then the second part of the study goes into what we talk about as the ‘warrior ring.’ The warrior ring is foundational to every man’s life. The whole study’s foundational. As you go through, it’s an engaging study that challenges and develops and molds men to be more than they are right now.”
Evan says this appeal to values is critical for men, given that men are the leaders and decision makers in many areas of culture.
“This study … lays a foundation for a man’s life,” he says. “I wrote it to men. I mean nothing against women. I’ve raised daughters and have women all around my life. But men are the leaders. Men are the leaders of our culture, and men are the leaders of our homes and government. From a Christian perspective, the Scriptures give us a lot of information on how we ought to live.”
During our conversation, one comment of Evan’s really stood out: “Change doesn’t come quickly, but it comes in small steps. So if we apply incrementally small steps, good choices in our lives, we will produce long-term effects that benefit our lives both spiritually and non-spiritually.”
He says those short-term gains are how we win long-term spiritual victories.
“I know a thing or two about warfare and military because I served 30 years, and the Lord has just given me a lot of very, very important applications for how we’re to do spiritual warfare in our daily lives right now,” Evan says. “This is the important thing to the warrior on a daily basis: It’s the awareness that we’re in a spiritual battle every single day.”
If what you read has piqued your interest, email me and let me know at [email protected]. I’ve talked to Evan about doing a podcast for men based on his study, but as it’s never been done before, he’s reluctant to do it without demonstrated interest. When you write in, let me know whether you would watch a Facebook Live of some of his small- group sessions as the groups go through the book. I know I want to watch, and I suspect I’m not alone. If you write in, we’ll make sure to email you any information and add you to Evan’s mailing list.
Finally, have you listened yet to the preview episode of my new podcast? I’m very excited for my show, “In Depth With Stephen Strang,” to premiere soon, but there’s still time to get in on the ground floor. Listen to a preview episode of the new series here, and be sure to subscribe, rate and review the show on iTunes.
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