Stop Cowering Behind Your Shield

A long time ago a pastor in Ohio told Todd and I that we had a warring spirit. Now at first I thought that just meant that we would fight a lot, but over the years I have learned that we are in constant spiritual battle over something.

Do you ever feel that as the church body all we do is hide behind a shield, cowering in fear of the enemy?

Well I will tell you, fellow followers of Christ, no more for me. I am taking the offensive, I am charging full force toward the enemy with my sword in my hand and the war cry on my lips. I am tired of feeling beat up and heavy with situations and circumstances that are hard to bear. I am sick of waiting for the bottom to fall out. How many of us say, “what else could go wrong?”

Well the first thing we have to do is stop talking that way. Warriors do not sit back and wait for the enemy to find them, they go out and fight. They don’t sit back and cry in their barracks about how defeated they feel. Heb. 10:39 says “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” . Soldiers work out, they muscle up, they practice, they train. We have allowed our faith muscles to become flabby, sitting around filling our heads with negative thinking. We have got to build our faith by the hearing and studying of the Word of God. It is too late to train when the battle comes, you must be ready, fully armed and very dangerous. 2 Timothy 4:2 says to be ready in season and out of season.

The Bible tells us to put on the full armor for a reason, we are warriors. The Bible does not say take the shield of faith and hold it up in front of your face and run, run, run man. NO! It says put on the FULL armor of God. ( Eph. 6:13-17 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[a] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ) Have you ever noticed that the armor that covers us is for frontal attacks? The breastplate, the shield, the shoes, the helmet; God doesn’t instruct us to cover our backs--we are never meant to retreat! We are to go forth, God didn’t instruct us to leave the battle, He has empowered us to fight the good fight of faith. We do not go in alone, Jesus covers our backs.

We cannot be passive, meek and mild Christians when it comes to spiritual matters. We Stand Firm, we cannot waver, we have to know and understand the authority we have in Christ.

We have spiritual authority, Christ took it from satan and gave it back to us. We do not have to be subject to fear, we need to take back dominion, dominion that was given to us by Jesus himself. Col. 2:13-15 “13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” and Heb. 2:14-15 14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

Even if you have a “Warring Spirit” remember who you are warring against and don’t take out innocent civilians. “We battle not against flesh and blood but against powers, principalities”

We cannot make the battle about those who God loves. We are not fighting those individuals who disagree with us, oppose us, or cause our walk to be more difficult. We fight the one who is using them as his puppet. We have to remember to separate the puppet from the puppet master. Even fellow believers can be used if they do not have their mind it the right place. Understand that they are not the enemy they need love, understanding, and lots and lots of prayer.

I used to sing a song called “The warrior is a child” and in this song it talks about how we go running home when we fall down, that God picks us up when no one is around. We do stumble but Heb. 12:3 says “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Christ has paid the price so that we do not have to even grow weary. We need to continually take time to read the Word and spend time in Prayer. This is our training ground, this is how we become strong and able to fight the fight before us. We need to watch what we say, even our words can make us tired of fighting. Continually stir yourself up in your time with the Lord; praying, reading, and seeking His voice to become the Fully trained, Fully armed warriors of God.

Get Motivated Seminar--My Notes

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a leadership conference with several of the Pastors and staff from our church.  I didn’t know what to expect but was looking forward to seeing individuals such as Laura Bush, Bill Cosby and General Colin Powell.  Surprisingly I ended up enjoying those whom I was completely unfamiliar with and being only partly moved by those I looked forward to hearing.

Laura Bush was wonderful, please don’t misunderstand me, her presence alone was enough to fill the coliseum.  Bill Cosby was funny, as he usually is, however he left much wanting as he misquoted the Bible and treated those in service to him with disregard.  You observe more of an individual by the way he treats others when he thinks no one is watching then from the words that he shares.  

To briefly recap the day I would like to start with a quote from Dr. Schuler, “Impossible stifles creativity ”.  Although only on the stage for a few minutes Dr. Schuler revved the crowd with his famous words “Nothing is impossible”,  I then inserted “with God”.  He stated that words are power,  Christians know this because God created all things by speaking them into existence (accept for man who he molded with his hands).  Jesus healed with his words and the Bible tells us to tame our tongue for it is a rudder for our lives.  Dr. Schuler went on to say that the word “impossible” will kill our dreams.  He said be creative and challenge an impossibility!  I most enjoyed his story of when his daughter lost her leg and went on to be a home run hitter on her softball team.  When her dad told her that she couldn’t play softball anymore she came back with one of his very own quotes, “Never look at what you have lost, look at what you have left.”  In closing his moments with us he said “turn your problems into possibilities, your obstacles into opportunities.”

Unschooled in the world of finance accept by Dave Ramsey, the Bible and my husband (not necessarily in that order) I was not familiar with who Steve Forbes was, okay stop gasping, it’s just not my area of expertise.  I was pleasantly surprised by his words and pleased that he encouraged those of us who aren’t exactly short in the tooth, as they say, that it’s not over 'til it’s over.  He brought up one of the greatest food chain originators of all time, Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds.  Ray Kroc didn’t start McDonalds until he was in his 50’s.  It doesn’t matter how late we get started as long as we get started.  Don’t do it like everyone else, take chances and do things differently, see common things in new ways, use something someone else invented to further your visions, ie. the computer, the camera, even your every day appliances.  I will venture a step further and say that you should pray and believe God to give you creative ideas and witty inventions.  Allow the Lord to speak to you about what that thing is that He wants you to step out in.  Say “Yes Lord” and walk in the blessings of His plan and purpose for your life.

....to be continued.....

Broken

When I would need to know how to fix something I would always call my dad.  Though he was thousands of miles away he would walk me through the process of fixing whatever might have been broken. 

Now he is gone and there is so much that is broken and I don’t know how to fix it.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Maybe I don’t need to fix all that is broken, maybe I just need to rest in the one who knows how to heal every pain, mend every broken heart and give peace to all who need peace.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.”

Even during this very sad time of my life I know that God is still God, He is still in charge and He loves me enough to help me get through the sadness.  My earthly father is no longer on this earth but my Heavenly Father will never leave me nor forsake me.

Good Gifts

Have you ever received a gift from your parents?  I mean a significant gift that was unexpectedly terrific?
Maybe they gave you a car when you were 16 or maybe they paid for your college.  Maybe they gave you money for the down payment on a house or helped you finance an entrepreneurial pursuit.
My father in law has financed several vacations for us and we are about to embark on the largest one yet, a cruise to Bermuda.
As an adult it’s a wonderful thing to have parents that will do things like this to bless your life.  They do so much when you are growing up and we expect it as kids.  But when you are grown and they continue to bless your life with unexpected, amazing gifts it puts you in such a humble place of thanksgiving.
Last night as I was reading before bed a scripture came to me in the text on this very thing.  Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”  And then it happened, that strange and wonderful moment when you know God is trying to get something across to you that you just have not been getting.  He showed me that if my father in law can give us this wonderful thing how much more should I be expecting my Heavenly Father to give to us.  After all, doesn’t He love us so much more?  Isn’t He the giver of all good and perfect things?  Is He not LOVE itself?
I had been trying not to concern myself with some financial shortcomings we were having and as He showed this to me I realized, all I need to do is ask Him and it will all be taken care of.   I need to believe, just as a child does, that my Father is going to make everything okay.  That my DAD is going to meet my needs.
I will repeat it from my last blog, Trust God!!  Come to him as you would your own dad and just simply ask.  He loves you so much; He wants to give to you.
On the flip side, as a parent, I love to give my kids things.  From their favorite breakfast food to the coolest birthday gift ever, I just love to see the look on their face and get that “Thank you, thank you, thank you mommy!!!”  It is just so much fun.  I can imagine how fun it is for God to give gifts to His kids and see their eyes alight with thanksgiving over His generosity and abundance!  

Don’t Loose Heart, Don’t Loose Hope, Trust God

I had the opportunity recently to fellowship with a wonderful individual from our church, a Godly woman who has been through a great deal.  We discussed the things in our lives in which we have had to wait.  Months and sometimes years pass as we wait on something we know God has shown us.  We wait on promises, on provision, on healing, believing that we will see it come to fruition.  We try not to become discouraged as time seems to drag on.  We try not to doubt but we grow weary and we start listening to the voices that lie to us about our blessing.  We start to wonder what we could have done wrong in order to miss the blessing.  We wonder what we need to do to open the door for it to finally come about.  We sometimes start to make plans, “just in case” plans, or “what if” plans.  What if we didn’t hear God right, what if we missed it, what if our timing is off, maybe we should try this other way “just in case” that is not what God meant.

 Faith is not enough to get through; you have to couple faith with trust.  “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding.”  We have to trust that what God said is His very word and since He cannot lie it will happen.  We can examine the promise we feel that God gave us and if it doesn't contradict the Word of God than we can rest in knowing that what God promised He will supply.   

 I had been feeling like the waiting was just becoming too much but what is my waiting compared to that of Abraham and Sara or Joshua and Caleb or Joseph or Moses or Job.  We have to hold on to God's promises and trust Him.  Trust that He will always bring His promises to manifestation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA3MSqufJP4&feature=related 

The inconvenience of parenting

I had a situation occur tonight that was not new to me.  As a matter of fact it has happened more frequently than I would like to admit over the past 5 years. 

It was late and I figured I would be off to bed in a timely fashion, without mishap, but I was wrong.  Instead a found myself cleaning up after an accident and thinking to myself, “How inconvenient”.   I stopped there.  Did I really just indicate that parenting was inconvenient?  

How many of you have thought that?  You had your plans, you had ideas of how things were going to work out and then “BAM”, inconvenience strikes.  Is life ever so easy as to  have no obstacles or hurdles?  Well, I guess tonight, I thought so.   If parenting is anything it’s inconvenient, it’s difficult, it’s unpredictable, it’s unrewarding, it is such a tough job.  Why do you think God wanted to start over so many times, His children drove him to annihilation.  Thank you Jesus for Grace and Mercy.  

Where is my grace and mercy on nights like tonight.  Nights when I was so tired and had to deal with unpleasantness to the degree that it has kept me up even longer to write about it.  How can I extend my arms of grace to my child when they have done something to disturb my schedule, my plans?  I must look to the loving Father who used sacrificial love to extend His grace to me.  My love must be sacrificial, I must crucify my inconvenience on the cross of mercy and let it flow through everything that I do.  So what if I go to bed 45 minutes later than planned if I can lovingly tuck my child in bed after a most unpleasant episode and wrap my arms around his little body and tell him I love him even in the midst of my frustration.  Isn’t that what the Father did for us?

God sent His son in the midst of our sin and He required a sacrifice to save us.  It wasn’t the original plan and I would say it was most inconvenient for Jesus to leave heaven, become a man, live among us, be betrayed, beaten and hung to die.  But He did it, because He loves us.  What is our inconvenience compared to His?

The Blessing of Working with Children

This past Sunday a parent of one of our two year olds came to me with a report that blessed me so much I had to share it with all of you.

First, I want to say that every one of my volunteers needs to understand the important role they have in the little lives that they spend one Sunday with each month.  Be encouraged that the work that you do is going much further than you think.

Here is my confirmation:

This parent came to us with a praise report like I have never had before.  They started out by saying that we may not think a two year old understands what we are teaching them (by faith we believe that they do understand).  They went on to say how their child shares what they've learned that Sunday, not just with the parent that is at church, but with the parent that is unsaved at home.  This little evangelist goes straight to it's parent and retells each story, shows the craft completed and (this is my favorite) expresses that Jesus is in their heart.

That's not all though, this child has family in another country and when talking to them on the phone tells of Jesus and the heart that He filled.  This little one talks about Jesus all the time, constantly ministering to that unsaved parent and extended family.

Friends, please understand, you are not just teaching children, you are raising up evangelists, teachers, preachers, prophets and the like.

You are so important to the lives of the children you touch.

May God continue to bring the volunteers like you, who have a heart to share the love of Jesus with all the little ones in our congregation.

I love and appreciate all of you so very, very much!