What is a police officer‘s most important piece of equipment? Is it his gun? No. His badge? No. A vest or perhaps a notebook? Still no. It is his radio. He could be the most effective and conclusive officer on the force but without his radio, he’s dead. Furthermore, he is sure to keep the radio active.

Let’s take an example. He and his partner are patrolling without checking in routinely and they see 4 guys and a girl acting in an unruly manner on a corner, with one of them reaching for and adjusting their pant waist often. They decide to inspect the scene and one of them is shot. They’ll need assistance from central but they have to tell the whole story from scratch while one bleeds out…

However, if they were checking in routinely, dispatch would immediately know where to send help. This is why frequent prayer is so important, coupled with frequent reading. God, being a person, would like for us to ‘radio in’ often enough so that if something occurs He is keen to send help more succinctly. It’s frankly more appropriate/appropriated because He is essentially already there. Us being in the field and never checking in can lend itself to feeling like we’re asking for help from a stranger.

God has been known to save in this way, many of us are familiar with the “God, if you’re real…” prayer and it is a Glorious testimony, but this testimony is for the newly saved. If we are saved, then we know He’s real so we should not be held to this category.

The Field

We are absolutely at spiritual war. I would love to say that it’s an unseen war but it’s quite visible except that we see its outcomes well after the battle was won or lost. We can start with the knowledge that no Earthly Warfare comes close to Spiritual Warfare (whereas again, a secular person my raise an eye brow). But when considering social ills such as prostitution, gang warfare, drug use; spiritual warfare has everything to do with personhood and belief. The aforementioned social ills contain individuals who do wish to be there, individuals who do not wish to be there and everything in between. God is just to rescue any individual who asks from these things.

I bring up the topic because spiritual warfare has far-reaching consequences which the secular world can only (with all earnest intent) treat with a Band-Aid; community centers, outreach etc. But again the battles were fought in the spiritual world well before the outcomes were visible. So us being officers, who perform our own kind of outreach need an equipment check starting with the armor of God of course.

But that’s not all: The Radio. Our Armor is meant to protect us from our own temptations, however; without constant prayer we cannot drink of The Spirit and therefore we are prone to grow weary from well doing (Galatians 6:9). This is extremely dangerous because without the strength to hold up the armor, it falls away.

Many of us are already on the righteous path concerning this, but if you are new in your walk, the first thing I will do is welcome you. The Second thing I will do is say to you not only will He introduce you to your new self but you are deputized; you will begin to believe you are a force for The Kingdom soon. In this regard it is important to know that with God, you must put relationship over everything. The greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) is to Love God, self and neighbor, and a person cannot love or be loved without a relationship.

Start this practice early. Dive in as much as possible because He is alive. It may or may not take long to understand that He is a person who is alive and what that means, but it will happen. The commitment is very much like (and actually is) committing to a new relationship. You can do this viscerally. He will show you. He has his way of showing you what he’s put inside of you and therefore it is good to be interested in this; some of the things we think belong there don’t and some of the things we think don’t belong there, do.

The best part is Him showing you what’s in His Heart. No one has a clue until he reveals it, but it’s a wonderful experience. He will teach you things you never knew you could learn but what is key in this area is to honestly treat him as a person. But because He is so high above us, use your Radio.

For now, take care.

Gregory Longmore, LMHC is an online-only Christian Professional Mental Health therapist based in NYC.