Five Things We Will Learn
- God’s “special forces” are believers willing to accept a greater measure of obedience, discipline, humility, and dependence on Him.
- Gideon’s army demonstrates that God is not looking primarily for numbers, but for people who are courageous, disciplined, alert, and ready to obey.
- Fear itself does not disqualify a believer; refusing to obey God because of fear is the greater danger.
- The foundation of effective ministry is remarkably simple: hear God and obey what He says, even when obedience is costly.
- God may lead one believer differently from another, requiring a personal surrender that cannot be measured by what He allows others to do.
God Has His Special Forces
There are people whom God calls into an unusually demanding life of surrender. Ken Sumrall described them as God’s special forces—believers who understand that the Lord may require something of them that He does not appear to require of everyone else.
Sumrall illustrated this principle with a piece he had kept in his files for years, Others May, You Cannot. Its message is that when God calls someone into a deeper life with Him, that person cannot continually measure his obedience against the lives of other Christians.
Others may promote themselves, seek recognition, pursue financial opportunities, or receive credit for their work. God may deal differently with the person He has drawn into a particular place of surrender.
The question is no longer, “Why can they do this when I cannot?”
The question becomes, “What is the Holy Spirit requiring of me?”
For Sumrall, that was part of belonging to God’s special forces: accepting the Lord’s personal direction without demanding that His dealings with everyone else look the same.
Gideon’s Army: When God Said There Were Too Many
Judges 7 provides Sumrall’s central picture.
Gideon began with 32,000 men, but the Lord told him there were too many. If Israel won with such a force, the people might take the glory for themselves and say their own strength had saved them.
First, those who were fearful were permitted to leave. Twenty-two thousand departed, leaving 10,000.
Yet God said there were still too many.
The remaining men were brought to the water, where God reduced the force again. In the end, Gideon was left with only 300 men for the battle.
Sumrall saw something important in the reduction. God was not necessarily rejecting everyone else from His army. Rather, He was selecting a particular group for a particular assignment.
“God is looking for special forces,” Sumrall said.
The 300 represented the kind of people needed on the front lines: courageous, disciplined, alert, and prepared to follow instructions.
Courage Does Not Mean Never Feeling Fear
Sumrall made an important distinction about fear.
Everyone becomes afraid at times. Soldiers facing battle can experience fear. The issue is what they do after fear comes.
“It’s not wrong to be afraid,” he explained. “It’s wrong not to do what He says because you’re afraid.”
Courage therefore does not require the absence of fear. It requires obedience that moves beyond it.
Fear can also spread through a group. Someone who continually speaks gloom, defeat, and impossibility can weaken the faith and morale of everyone around them.
Sumrall remembered a woman in the early days of Liberty whom they jokingly called “Sister Gloom.” During one difficult prayer meeting, he spent considerable time singing with the congregation until their faith had begun to rise. Then he invited testimonies.
She immediately began describing something terrible she had seen that day.
Sumrall stopped her. He had spent nearly an hour building faith and did not want the gathering immediately pulled back into gloom.
His larger point was serious: people assigned to difficult spiritual work must guard what they allow to shape the atmosphere around them.
Be Sober and Alert
Sumrall connected Gideon’s men with the biblical command to remain spiritually alert. First Peter 5:8 warns believers to be sober and watchful because the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
The believer is therefore not merely courageous. He must also be disciplined.
Sumrall also pointed to the instruction to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, one who does not become entangled in the affairs of ordinary life.
That principle became personal for him.
During the early years of Liberty, there often was not enough money to pay his salary. A Christian doctor approached him about entering the nursing-home business together. The doctor could serve medically, while Sumrall could serve as chaplain.
It seemed like an excellent opportunity. They investigated the idea, talked with people already operating nursing homes, and began considering practical matters such as zoning.
Then the Lord brought the principle of the soldier back to Sumrall: a soldier must not become entangled in something that keeps him from his assignment.
Sumrall did not interpret that to mean Christians should never work. His issue was personal. He already had more ministry than he could do, and he believed God was telling him not to pursue the business.
So he withdrew.
For God’s special forces, even a good opportunity can become the wrong opportunity when God has given different orders.
The Requirements of a Soldier
Sumrall compared this spiritual calling to the requirements placed upon elite military personnel.
A special-forces soldier must function under pressure. He must be willing to enter dangerous territory, operate behind enemy lines, follow leadership, and complete difficult assignments.
Sumrall summarized the demands of military service in terms that also illustrated his spiritual point: a Marine must be willing to face combat, prepared to give his life, unwilling to negotiate with the enemy, accountable to leadership, and qualified for the responsibilities entrusted to him.
The parallel was clear.
Following Jesus requires more than enthusiasm. There must be commitment.
A good soldier cannot decide that obedience applies only when the assignment is convenient.
The Secret Is Simple: Hear and Obey
For all his discussion of courage, discipline, sacrifice, spiritual warfare, and special assignments, Sumrall reduced his philosophy of ministry to two words:
Hear and obey.
He pointed to the wedding at Cana. When the wine ran out, Mary gave the servants a simple instruction concerning Jesus: whatever He tells you to do, do it.
They obeyed, and Jesus turned the water into wine.
Sumrall believed this principle characterized Jesus’ own earthly ministry. Jesus did not attempt to address every possible issue around Him. He listened to the Father and did what the Father directed Him to do.
That became Sumrall’s model.
“You don’t have to be anybody special,” he said. “You just have to hear and obey.”
This also shaped his understanding of how Christians should engage people. Jesus loved people. He did not behave obnoxiously or attempt to force every encounter into a religious confrontation. He waited upon the Father.
The believer’s weapons are not carnal. Therefore, spiritual effectiveness cannot be reduced to noise, confrontation, visibility, or human activity.
God’s special forces must first know their Commander’s voice.
Obedience May Cost You Something
Sumrall knew that personally.
He had pastored Boulevard Baptist Church, where the congregation numbered in the hundreds. Then obedience led him toward something much smaller—a storefront church.
“Don’t consider the day of small things as bad,” he recalled.
The beginning was hardly impressive. The storefront sat beside a liquor store. The rent was more than the small congregation could comfortably afford. Their first Sunday drew only 28 people.
But Sumrall believed God had spoken.
That mattered more than appearances.
He remembered another moment when the Lord told him to give someone $10. It was the only $10 he had, but he gave it. Later that service, a woman handed him $100.
These experiences reinforced the lesson that had shaped his ministry: God’s servant must learn to act on what God says rather than waiting until obedience becomes financially comfortable or naturally explainable.
God Can Build Something Great from Something Small
The storefront congregation began growing.
By the fall, it had reached about 100 people. Yet another test came when Sumrall believed the Lord was requiring something from those serving as Sunday school teachers. When he announced it, roughly half the congregation left.
The church went from around 100 people back to approximately 50.
Once again, obedience appeared to be subtraction rather than growth.
Yet Sumrall continued.
The church entered a bond program to purchase property, even though people doubted whether anyone would buy the bonds. They sold them and secured property.
His story was not presented as evidence of his own exceptional ability. In fact, Sumrall repeatedly emphasized the opposite. What happened, he said, was not because of him but “in spite of” him.
The decisive factor was obedience.
Special Forces Live Under Different Orders
The central message of Sumrall’s teaching is not that some Christians are more valuable to God than others.
It is that some assignments demand unusual preparation, discipline, courage, sacrifice, and obedience.
Gideon did not need the largest army. He needed the people God selected for the assignment.
In the same way, believers cannot judge their calling merely by numbers, recognition, comfort, financial reward, or what God appears to permit someone else to do.
“Others may; you cannot” describes the deeply personal nature of surrender.
God may keep someone hidden while others receive recognition. He may require one person to walk away from an opportunity another Christian could accept. He may correct something in one believer that seems to go unnoticed in another.
The special-forces believer settles the matter: God has the right to give the orders.
Rededicate Your Life to Serving Him
That brings Sumrall’s message back to where it began: dedication.
God is looking for people who will not allow fear to dictate their obedience. He is looking for believers who remain spiritually alert, who refuse unnecessary entanglements, who accept discipline, and who are willing to go wherever He sends them.
They do not have to possess extraordinary natural talent.
They do not have to begin with impressive resources.
They do not need the largest organization or the greatest numbers.
They need to hear God.
Then they need to obey.
That is the heart of God’s special forces.
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Related:
- The Nature of True Apostleship. A Burden to Bear, not a Position to be Sought.
- Healed from the Orphan Spirit: How Family-Sized Churches Restore the Heart of Sonship
- The Father’s Role in Shaping the Identity of His Children Including His Adult Children: The Power of Approval
- We Have Not Many Father’s | Spiritual Fatherhood as a Biblical Model