Bill Perkins - Six Battles Every Man Must Win: . . . and the Ancient Secrets Youll Need to Succeed

A s a child living in New Mexico, I remember looking up at the star-stenciled night sky and thinking, Someone created all of this, and I want to know him. I want to be on his side.

But I didnt know God, and I had no idea how to meet him. Equally troublesome was the fact that my life had no direction. I was only a kid, but I sensed that knowing God would give my life meaning.

Years later, when I met God, he did just that. But like a lot of men, I tend to lose my spiritual focus. I forget the radical changes God brought to my life, and I find it easy to get trapped in an eddy of spiritual passivity. Round and round I go with lots of activity but no direction. At such times I realize Im living with the same purposelessness I knew as a boy.

Do you know what I mean? If so, youre probably as concerned with your bent toward spiritual passivity as I am with mine. This book was written for men who, like me, are tired of living like spiritual weaklings. Its for men who believe they were created to be warriors but arent sure how to fight or what they should be fighting for. Its for men who want to lock onto their purpose for living. And its for men who want to learn ancient secrets from some of the greatest warriors of the Bible: Davids special fighting force, the mighty men.

But wait a minute. Im getting ahead of myself and need to get back to the story of how I met God. Like I said, as a kid I wanted to know God but didnt know how. One day I asked a friend what I had to do to know God and he said, Its simple, really. God is in heaven holding a giant scale. On the left side he places your good deeds and on the right side your bad ones. As long as your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, youre in with God.

Like a lot of men, I tend to lose my spiritual focus. I forget the radical changes God brought to my life, and I find it easy to get trapped in an eddy of spiritual passivity.

While such a religious philosophy may have seemed simple to him, it didnt help me at all. The more I evaluated my deeds, the more I realized the scale wasnt tipping in the right direction.

I had another friend who attended church every Sunday. I asked him the same question. He told me I needed to be baptized. He explained that the water of baptism miraculously had the power to wash away the guilt of my past sins.

And what about those I commit in the future? I asked.

Well, just dont sin after youre baptized and youll be okay, he said. Besides, once youre baptized, you wont want to sin.

I was ten at the time and decided to wait until I was twelve to take the big plunge. As unbelievable as it sounds, I thought that by age twelve I would be through sinning. I looked at adults and naively believed they didnt do bad things at least not as many as I did.

The church I visited with my friend usually baptized by sprinkling, but once a year they baptized by immersion. I figured the sprinkling was for people who hadnt sinned much, so I decided to be immersed. I still remember getting out of the water and thinking, All I have to do now is never sin again. I even managed to make it for several seconds without sinning. However, less than an hour after the momentous event I realized the baptism must not have taken. Nothing within me had changed. I felt and acted exactly the same as I had before.

I told my friend that baptism didnt seem to have had an effect on me. Thats when he informed me that baptism is like a base hit: It gets a person to first base but it doesnt guarantee hell make it home.