In less than fifty days the Women of Proven Path Ministries will be offering our very first women’s conference. Saturday, August 20th we are praying that many ladies will join us as we dig into the word of God together and seek His face. If you are a woman reading this, I implore you to attend. You won’t regret it!
As we prayed over this conference and sought what our focus should be and what the Lord wanted to use us to share with the women who would be attending we were pressed to focus on faith. Not just any faith, but unwavering faith, as the Holy Spirit confirmed when He brought Hebrews 10:23 to my heart and had Bridgette and I in agreement.
Then we needed a one word title for the conference. As we pondered unwavering faith and how and why we can in a nutshell have it, the word Relentless is what came to mind. This word began to play in my heart through the lyrics of a song… “Your love is relentless.” So I did what we do in our modern day, I googled it.
Relentless:
adjective * re·lent·less * \-ləs\
Definition of relentless:
showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace
Yes! This was it. Relentless. This world, this life, wants us to be the very opposite of this word. What are the near antonyms of relentless? They are: slackening, softening, yielding; impotent, invertebrate, slack, spineless, weak; complaisant, obliging…
Our God has not called us to be slack, or impotent, or spineless, or weak. Nor has He called us to be complaisant. No He has commanded us to “bestrongintheLord and inthe strength of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). “For God has not given us a spiritoftimidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). It doesn’t matter the situation or the circumstance we are not to oblige fear.
This morning the Lord brought Psalm 112:7-8 to my heart…
He will not fear evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld, he will not fear, Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.
Neither shall she who has become a woman of unwavering faith. She will not fear evil words, fearful news, discouraging information, or despairing communication. Her heart will remain steadfast, RELENTLESS, trusting in her Lord. She will know that her God will uphold her heart and she will not fear, but with her face set like flint she will press on determined, unyielding, and unflinching knowing that her victory is the Lord’s!
The question beloved is how? How shall she become this woman of such unwavering faith? Relentless. How shall we attain to this woman that we know God has called us to be?
We have to know Him. We have to know Him in and through the way He commanded us to know Him… and that is through His Word and THE Word. Os Guinness writes in his book The Call,
“With the brief, merciful, and marvelous exception of His Word in human form, God speaks to us in words, and our responsibility, as His creatures is to listen, to trust, and to obey those words… Words are the deepest, fullest expression in which God now discloses Himself to us. So it is in listening to Him, trusting Him, and obeying Him when He calls that we ‘let God be God’ in all of His awe and majesty.
God’s primary call, His address to us, always has two dimensions: summons and invitation, law and grace, demand and offer. Unquestionably the former comes first, yet that side is missing among many followers of Christ today. The result is a casualness in faith and a slackness in behavior that show no sign of having listened to any call from either Sinai or Galilee, let alone Calvary.”
If we are to be relentless we have to “let God be God”. We have to know His word and we have to trust Him. We have to respond to His summons to court and plead guilty as charged and accept His invitation for pardon through Christ as we cry out to Him for mercy. We have to acknowledge His law and our inability to keep it as it so plainly and simply points out our depravity and we must receive His grace through faith in the promises of His Word that in Jesus we will be forgiven our transgressions against our God. We have to bow before His demand for righteousness, justice, kindness, humility, and love and accept His offer to provide those things for us if we will just come to Him through the rent flesh of His Son.
Oh precious one, do you want to be relentless? I do. Oh, how I do. I want to be that woman of unwavering faith. I want my face to be set like flint as Christ’s was as He walked the road to Calvary carrying the cross that would bear my sin on His shoulders. I do not want to be shaken by the things of this world. I do not want to be tossed and driven by the wind (James 1:6). I want to be strong in the Lord as I trust in His relentless love for me, knowing that no weapon formed against me can prosper when I am walking in obedience to Him and His Word, knowing that even in death I remain victorious because Jesus overcame the grave, knowing that I am His and because of the cross nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate me from Him ever again.
As I sat the other morning before the word of the Lord and let my heart ponder the recent shooting in Orlando I prayed, seeking guidance from my God. When things like this happen I try not to respond immediately because if I do, usually it will be in the flesh, and it will be a reaction not a response. So I pray and I wait for the Lord to direct my heart.
This morning in my daily Bible reading the Lord had this verse waiting on me.
He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 17:5
As a Christian how am I to respond to this appearing Islamic terrorist who went into an openly homosexual club and murdered many?
I think Proverbs 17:5 tells us how…
If I am a true believer, if I truly believe that Jesus Christ is the One and Only Way and that those who truly love Him obey Him, then what I just learned from Orlando is that in one moment 50 souls that were created in the image of God Himself, 50 souls that Jesus died on the cross to save, just possibly perished into a Christ-less eternity.
This should break my heart.
This should cause me to look to my own community, my own neighbors, my own family and see if I have loved enough. Have I shone His light in the darkness of the world around me in my city? Have I been about His business or have I chosen to snarl my nose and be repulsed or just flat out afraid of those that don’t fit in my box of approval?
The state of our nation need not cause me to grow hard and angry, but instead ever more soft and pliable in the refining fire of the Lord. This should be, so that I might become even more useful in His hands, to reach this lost and dying world for His glory. I don’t want to be this cold, unfeeling, bitter soul that finds the “I told you so” more satisfying than the grace and mercy of God.
If Jesus could be on the cross and cry out “Father forgive them, they know not what they do…” then who are we to mock or hate anyone. If Paul could be stoned and whipped time after time and still keep coming back for more, then by all means so shouldn’t we who today believe? If they loved people this much because God so loved people this much… shouldn’t we?
Those that perished in Orlando have names. They have families. They have stories. They had hopes, dreams, and plans for their future…
I can’t help but be saddened at what happened in Orlando. I can’t help but be angry… but when I bring my anger to the Lord He reminds me of who I truly should direct it toward. I am not to be angry with man. I am to be angry at the one who put it in the heart of man to do such an evil thing. I am to be angry that so many are so easily blinded and swayed to do his bidding.
During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him…
John 13:2
Who is this one, this devil, that has the ability to put thoughts and intentions in our hearts? He is that very same serpent of old…
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44
I am angry at this evil one who has someone managed to fill our nation with such frustration and weakness and fear. I am angry because we, as a whole, are so distraught and distracted that we don’t understand that the reason why we are frustrated, weak, and afraid is because we have forgotten our God. We have forgotten our Maker. We have forgotten His word.
By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.
Daniel 11:32
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I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:14
Knowing our God is what gives us strength. Knowing our God is what gives us courage. Having His word abiding in us is what keeps us sure and steadfast and able to respond in and with love. Jesus said the world would know that we are His by our love. Love is sure. Love is strong. Love is courageous. Oh, and beloved let us never forget that love is kind. Love is all these things because love knows and walks according to God’s commands.
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.
2 John 1:6
Let us who profess to know Christ never forget who we are really fighting and why we fight. Let us not forget who we ALL are apart from Christ. Let us never forget that we have been called to Christ to call others to Him. Let us never forget that we are the one’s who have the access to the throne of God and are the chosen. We are to be His priests and to declare His excellencies and intercede on the behalf of those who know Him, and those who know Him not, yet desperately need to.
Let Orlando drive us to our knees. When anger rises up in our throat let it not cause us to sin, but let it cause us to cry out to our Holy God.
But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night.
Thus in Judah it was said,
“The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubbish; And we ourselves are unable To rebuild the wall.”
Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work.” When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,”then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows.When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.”
When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.
Nehemiah 4:9-15
The enemy of our souls wants to put fear in us so that we stop our work… don’t let him. The fields are white for harvest but the workers are indeed few.
Yesterday concluded our VBS week at Central. The past couple of years our church has added an event for 7th and 8th graders that coincided with our VBS. This year I helped with this older group. We had over fifty 7th and 8th graders attend a week long event of three Bible studies a day… and they loved it!
Not one time did I see apathy in the eyes of those attending. Not one time did I see boredom. Not one time did I see, “what? another Bible lesson?” Instead those who sat before me were kids with eyes wide open and hungry for truth.
On Thursday we gave those attending an opportunity to make a decision based on what they had experienced during the week. It was the classic decision card asking about more church information, prayer request, baptism, rededication, salvation, etc. Each child filled out a card so that every child could be uninhibited in their answers. I am so glad that we chose this route because on one of these cards I saw one of the most honest answers I have ever read.
One of the kids checked all the boxes and at the prayer request line they wrote, “I want to believe, but I still feel like I don’t” My heart stuck in my throat as I read the words and my mind went straight to the Word of God…
And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
Mark 9:21-24
I told my friend how this was one of the most honest answers I have ever read on a decision card and I have read hundreds. As we both stood there in awe of what God had done this week, her reply was that this one was probably more saved than any of us. (Disclaimer: “more saved” was just an expression to capture the joy of our hearts at this young person’s response to the gospel.)
How many of us hear and read the Word of God and our hearts cry out this very same plea.
I want to believe, but I still feel like I don’t.
I do believe; help my unbelief.
Precious one, if this is the cry of your heart, God is not afraid of it. You are coming to Him just the way He asks you to… honestly.
When Jesus came and taught the disciples they did not understand it all. They really couldn’t process all that He was saying at the time. Jesus was completely aware of this… He taught them anyway.
These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.
John 12:16
The name of our 7th and 8th grade event was “Accelerate”. On our last day I shared with the kids that acceleration, in physics, is the rate of change of velocity of an object. An object’s acceleration is the net result of any and all forces acting on the object.
God’s word and His Holy Spirit are the forces that act upon us, the object. God’s Word never returns empty It always accomplishes the purpose for which God sent it (Isaiah 55:11). It’s living and active (Hebrews 4:12). Therefore when we hear it, we will indeed accelerate. The question is in which direction will we go? Towards God… or away from Him?
I want to believe, but I still feel like I don’t.
I do believe; help my unbelief.
These are both heart cries that are accelerating toward God and that gives me reason to rejoice. We don’t have to understand it all to take a step in faith toward and into belief… even if that step is simply acknowledging that we want to believe, but need help to believe.
Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”
Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate. (John 21:20-24, NLT)
I read this passage in my daily reading this past Thursday and it hit me in two different ways.
The first was the rumors…
Rumors have been floating around in the church since its conception. Words taken out of context. Assumptions made through pieces of overheard conversation. Misconstrued perceptions because of wrong perspectives. Conclusions set in clouds that move off with the wind. Rumors are like a grain of sand made into a mountain that stands on imagination alone.
How do we help to build these mountains on foundations of imagination? Let’s say we have a question, do we go to the source or do we ask someone else that we think might know and simply trust their account and then spread the rumor on? Are we in the habit of talking about others rather than to them? Look how quickly this momentary conversation between between Peter and Jesus spread a misunderstanding and a misinterpretation of Jesus’ words throughout the community of believers.
Think about it. I wonder if John heard this conversation himself or if he heard about it through the rumor of the other disciples? If he heard it through rumor, I imagine that he went straight to Jesus to ask Him if He indeed made this statement. Either which way, in his writings, knowing that he could not chase down the rumor, because rumors are spread with the wind, he made sure to add the correct information concerning the birth of this rumor.
It’s human fallen nature really to misunderstand words and to make something out of nothing. I don’t believe that every person starts purposefully intended rumors, some do yes, but I don’t believe every person does. For example, just yesterday I posted that 900 kids were pre-registered for our VBS. I posted in full faith that I had understood the information correctly. However, I was off a bit. The number actually included both kids AND workers registered. Our pastor commented on my post and I was able to edit it at that point and correct my mistake.
What would look different about the church if we were willing to let people know when they have misunderstood? What if we were willing to simply be bold enough to NOT believe something the moment someone tells it to us especially if it is in any way second hand information?
This is something my husband and I try to teach our girls. They will come to us with information and the first thing we will ask is, were you there? Then we will begin offering up what if’s and alternative scenarios to the situation. We do so to show them that before they take a side, they might need to get a little more information.
Are there things that we hear going on in the lives of the people we know, that we go to church with, that we work with, that we love that are in our family? Have we pulled them aside alone to ask face to face or are we satisfied with the rumor version? What if we talked to the people we have been talking about? What if we dared to ask the hard questions? What if we were willing to feel awkward so that we could live outward?
The second way this passage hit me was the “but that’s not what Jesus said…”
There is a trend in christendom to open up the Word of God and claim there is some secret hidden message behind all the words of Scripture. There are movies made on the seven deadly sins and the number of the beast. There are traveling television teachers that claim they have some hidden insight that has been revealed to them and if you will follow them they will share it with you. We try to dissect blood moons and mayan calendars and Chinese proverbs with the Davinci Code. We let the latest TBN hyped up preacher give us a “word” that ain’t no where in the Scriptures because he told us we just didn’t get it because we haven’t been anointed in the spirit that he has..
What if we just picked up the words of Jesus and took them for what they are? What if we stopped listening to people who say, “I know the Bible says this, but what I believe it means is…”
Beloved before you can know what a passage of Scripture means you have to first just simply believe what it says. What if we just picked up the Bible and read it as a letter from our Father and Brother and Friend and King and took it for simply what it says? What if we just let God speak and didn’t affix an agenda or a mystery to it so that we could act like we have learned some secret that no one else knows? Or worse, so that we could twist it to make it conform to us instead of us being conformed to the Word.
In 2 Corinthians 4:1-4we read,
Therefore, since we have this mystery, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Our first step in understanding is simply believing. Just take God at His Word. Don’t add to it. Don’t take away from it. Just let it be and believe it.
Start there beloved. Plain and simple. Just start there.
Am I then really all that which other men tell of? Or am I only what I know of myself, restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage, struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, hungry for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds, thirsty for words of kindness, for neighborliness, trembling with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation, caught up in expectation of great events, powerlessly grieving for friends at an infinite distance, weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, faint, and ready to lay farewell to it all? Who am I? This or the other? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others, and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling? Or is something within me still like a beaten army, fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved? Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine. Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am Thine.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The last line got me. “Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am Thine.” This last line sums it all up. Bonhoeffer penned these words just a month before he was executed in one of Hitler’s death camps. A man who stood so strong in his faith that he, being safe in the United States, chose to instead return to Germany, had these questions and this struggle within himself.
Bonhoeffer wrote, “I have had time to think and to pray about my situation, and that of my nation, and to have God’s will for me clarified. I have come to the conclusion I have made a mistake in coming to America. I shall have no right to participate in the reconstruction of the Christian life in Germany after the war if I did not share in the trials of this time with my people. Christians in Germany face the terrible alternative of willing the defeat of their nation in order that civilization may survive, or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose. But I cannot make that choice in security.”
He returned to Germany, and not only did he continue to preach truth, but he worked with others to smuggle Jews to safety. For this he was arrested, imprisoned, and executed. While in prison he wrote “Who Am I”
I read these words from Dietrich Bonhoeffner this past Friday. Having asked these very same questions of God, and of myself, as I pondered the future, the state of our nation and the American church, my purpose in it, and seeking His will. Then having him, Bonhoeffner, come to the very same conclusion as I did, that all I know for sure is that I am His and no matter what I cannot help but be His. Be still my heart. This indeed was a touch from my Jesus to encourage me to press on.
Then come Saturday morning as I reviewed my lesson for Sunday School the Lord encouraged my heart with this word from Esther…
And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14
The Creator God formed me in my mothers womb (Psalm 139:13) and He specifically chose me, and you beloved, for this appointed time and this appointed place (Act 17:26). He called me to Himself for Himself at the very time that He desired me to come, and come to Him I did (Revelation 22:17). I fought against Him and His call and struggled between He and the world for more years than I wish I had, yet when He said to my heart, I AM, I could not struggle anymore. I could only surrender, and surrender I did, and I have not turned from Him ever again.
I am currently reading a book by Os Guinness entitled, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life. I picked this book up to read, being drawn to it, because of where I am in my life. Having had the rug snatched from underneath my feet so many times in the past few years, doubts of identity and purpose surely come. Knowing the call that you were so very sure that the Lord placed in your heart, yet being unable to step into it when you think you see the open door… is disappointing to say the least.
As I struggled in my heart with these holy delays our Pastor shared the testimony of Dr. Billie Franks this past Sunday. He shared how Dr. Franks had written a discipleship curriculum that he knew was from the Lord, yet year after year the doors were closed to him. Now forty years later, the Lord has opened wide the door. He also shared of a missionary couple who left the mission field having seen no fruit of their labor. They died thinking they had failed. When in fact not long after their death, their work for the Lord exploded and is still bearing fruit to this day. I took a deep breath of relief as I felt the Holy Spirit whisper in my heart, “See.”
Then the very next morning as I picked up the word of God to read in John 18 – 19. It was here that I read these words from Christ Himself…
For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world–to bear witness to the truth.
John 18:37
I heard the Spirit whisper to my heart again, “A slave is not greater than his master is he? If this was His purpose, then do you not know that it is also yours?“
Perhaps you are in the same place as I am. Perhaps you too are wondering if you are walking in your purpose. Beloved, I pray that the Word of God will minister to you today. I pray that we together, would remember that God determined that we would be here today, in this moment of time, to bear witness to the truth.
We bear witness to the truth through our obedience to the truth. We bear witness to the truth through our steadfast loyalty to our God while still unconditionally loving people, all people, no matter the consequence to our own lives. We are to bear witness to the truth in our own hearts and minds, in our homes, in our jobs and schools, in our church, our community and wherever else we might go. God determined that your soul would live in this day at this time for His glory and His Kingdom. Whether you are kissing a skinned knee, forgiving a spouse, preaching a sermon, or delivering an inaugural speech.
God determined you for this day. He determined you for this day of political upheaval, racial divide, gender confusion, priority misplacing, family destruction, entitlement seeking, and false teaching believing. God did not appoint you for the “good ole days” He appointed you for today. Today beloved, today. He determined and appointed you to bear witness to His truth for this day and these people.
And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
This week in my community it has been graduation season. My social media news feed has been filled with milestones. There have been preschool graduations, kindergarten graduations, elementary school completions, intermediate school completions, jr high completions, and high school graduations. I love seeing the posts of excited moms and dads boasting in the accomplishments of their children.
When I was growing up I don’t remember all these graduations. I think we just celebrated high school. Today it seems that social media has opened the door for us to celebrate every momentous parental accomplish we feel we have seen. All these graduations and completions I believe can be used to help us set up our children stepping stones to get them through life. Which personally I think is pretty great.
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way.
Psalm 37:23
Perhaps it is better that we train our children to focus on reaching just that next step instead of just pointing out to this imagined beyond that may or may not be there for them. After all didn’t Jesus teach us to pray, “Give me this day my daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). I think focusing on the current step and not looking too far past the next step helps us to be present in the moment. Too often we have our minds set on the fulfilled accomplishment of the future plan and we miss the preciousness of the current moment which very well could cause us to miss the very next step and the plan all together. The moments matter.
The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps
Proverbs 16:9
This week I took my middle child to college to take a compass test for dual enrollment and my youngest will be in 7th grade next year. As parents, we have been standing on the steps still with our children. We have gone with them each and every step.
My husband and I have prayed with them and talked with them and studied them and sought the guidance of the Lord for each and every step. We have five more steps until we send them out to steps of their own. Five more steps to make sure they are fully prepared.
The naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps.
Proverbs 14:15
As their parents our job has been to train them to consider their own steps as diligently as we have considered them as we lead them from one to the other. For many years we never even asked their thoughts on the next step. It was our step to make. It was our job to seek the Lord and be careful to obey Him as He pointed the way. It was our job to teach them by example as we taught them through our own obedience to the directed steps of God.
I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
Jeremiah 10:23
Then at some point and time we began to kneel down to them and point out the different paths and ask, which step does the Lord say we should we take? We had trained them. We had walked with them. They were no longer naive. Yet, they still needed us by their side to walk with them on the way to make sure they did not stray.
They needed to learn for themselves how the Lord makes clear the next step if we are willing to be still and wait and listen to obey. Yet they still needed to know that we were there to say, yes I agree, I believe that’s the next step! When it’s the Lord next step for you it is sure and stable even if it has you standing in the midst of a storm.
You enlarge my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped.
Psalm 18:36
The Lord’s next step will never cause you to stray from the path of His commands. Never.
Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way…
Psalm 44:8
That doesn’t mean that the next step will be easy or problem free. It just means that you will have peace. Peace is something that you cannot have unless you are good with God. You can be at odds with man and the whole world, but if you know that you are standing on the step that God provided for you, then you can indeed stand with the gospel of peace on your feet. If we have prepared our children and pointed them in the right direction then we do not send them out to step alone…
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…
1 Peter 2:21
If we have been following in His steps, then we have been teaching them to follow in them as well. We have five more steps and then we send them off to follow Him… trusting God and trusting them.
Indeed, He loves the people; All Your holy ones are in Your hand, And they followed in Your steps; Everyone receives of Your words.
Deuteronomy 33:3
For now we still we walk with them closely, but soon they will begin to take steps that we cannot go on with them. For they are His steps for them alone.
We have already watched one step out on her own. We held our breathe as we saw her stray from His path… but we trusted the God who loved her even more than we could imagine, that He would only allow her to stray so far. He proved faithful. The Word of God poured into her heart in her youth did not return void.
When we stand there on that last step and let go to let them step on their own. We don’t send them out alone. The steps are theirs alone, but God never leaves them to step alone. The great joy and promise that we have as we wave them off and cheer them on is that the steps, though different, if they are following Him, all lead us back to the same place. They lead us all home to Him!
I first wrote this post, Life’s Battle Plan, in May of 2008 in my Facebook notes before I had a website. This post showed up in my Timehop app memories. I found it interesting that it did, because I had just been to hear, Keni Thomas, one of the soldiers that was involved in the Battle of Mogadisho (or more known as “Black Hawk Down”) speak only a few short days before. Keni came to share some things he had learned from training for this battle, things he learned in this battle, and things he learned after this battle. His focus for the group he was speaking to was to train to be prepared for when you were handed the baton of leadership, that really was in your hand all along, because we are all leading someone.
I was trying to take notes in my phone as he spoke. One of the first notes I wrote was “train as you fight, because you will fight as you train”. When I skimmed my post from 2008, I saw that I had written those exact words as I studied from the Word of God in 2 Chronicles as I learned from Jehosaphat. Another note I had taken from Keni’s sharing was the three steps for battle: Plan, Train, Lead. Once again I noticed that back in 2008 from 2 Chronicles 20, the Lord had taught me that very same strategy. I called it, “Life’s Battle Plan” . The word of God remains eternally relevant.
My now edited 2008 post begins below:
David stood before Goliath, his enemy. David stood against the man standing before him in representation of everything that stood against the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. David stood before Goliath in no authority or power of his own, but instead he stood in representation of his God. He stood before Goliath in complete faith and confidence in the ability of the One True Living God. David stood in faith and God delivered as promised.
We all face Goliath. Satan hasn’t given up yet. Our flesh has not been glorified yet. We all face our giants and enemies. If we try to defeat them in our own strength we will be crushed. However, if we stand in faith and in full confidence in the ability of the One True Living God, we will see deliverance.
One of the first truths the Lord led me to as I studied David facing Goliath, was the need to first recognize the enemy. So many times we are in a spiritual battle and we don’t know it. We blame other people. We blame our circumstances. We camp out on bitterness and grudges and pity parties. We hate people, including ourselves and we feel caught in a downward out of control spiral.
We feel the whole world is against us and no one understands. So we go into isolation mode and put on a fake smile and struggle through another day. Never accomplishing the amazing things God had planned for us, because we are to busy fighting the wrong enemy.
John 8:44 tells us that the devil is a murderer from the beginning and a liar. He is the father of lies. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we battle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. 1 Peter 5:8 tell us that the devil is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
If you have ever watched Animal Planet or the Discovery channel you know that a lion lays in wait stalking out the herd looking for the weakest, the youngest, the hurt, the easy prey. Satan is the same way. The next time you are in your worship service imagine Satan and his demons in a corner of the church/synagogue slouched down scoping the crowd looking for his kill.
Would you be an easy target?
Are you trained for battle?
This is next or really first. Training for battle. You have to learn how to use you weapons. Read Psalm 18:30, John 8:32, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, 2 Corinthians 2:16, 1 Peter 1:13-16. You fight only as hard as you train.
The Word of God is your ultimate weapon. Mark 4:24 says “by your standard of measure it will be measured to you.” In other words, you’re only going to get out of the Word what you put into the Word. You can’t fight with weapons you don’t know you have or know how to use. You can’t recognize a lie when you have never read the truth.
When it comes time for battle the first thing you do is pray. Seek His face. Seek His help. God took me to 2 Chronicles 20. I believeit is an amazing example of the truths in this battle plan.
In 2 Chronicles 20 we read of how a great multitude came against Israel. It was actually three nations against one. “Jehosaphat [the king of Israel] was afraid and turned his attention to seek the LORD“(2 Chronicles 20:3). The first thing Jehosaphat did to prepare was pray. Prayer is our direct line to the throne of God. Read 2 Chronicles 20:3-4, Psalm 27:7-10, Acts 16:25, and Ephesians 6:17-18. Prayer is one of your weapons of warfare, use it.
In 2 Chronicles 20 the next thing we see is Jehosaphat and all the people of Israel bowed down and worshiping the LORD. They had not went to battle yet. They had not yet received a victory or deliverance, but they worshiped. We must worship our God because He is God.
Worship is a weapon of warfare. Our God will not allow His worship to be given to another. He is always worthy of our worship, whether He delivers us or not. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember Job as he cried out in Job 13:15, though He slay me, yet will I praise Him.
Read 2 Chronicles 20:18, Psalm 29:2, Hebrews 12:2, 28-29, and Revelation 5:6-14. Our enemy hates it when we continue to worship the One True Living God. Can you just see Satan losing his mind, kind of like the Grinch, when the Who’s sang the song even though he’d taken everything they had?
After the worship we see Israel praise. The Levites stood up and praised God with a loud voice! Oh Praise Him! Praise His Holy Name. God still had not delivered them yet. The battle was still ahead. The enemy was still coming, but they praised the LORD their GOD! Read 2 Chronicles 20:21-22, Psalm 34:1, and Acts 16:25.
After Israel prayed, worshiped, and praised, they stepped out in faith and headed out to face the multitude that had came out against them. God had promised that He would deliver them (2 Chronicles 20:15-17), so they took Him at His word and went to battle. We have to take God at His word and trust Him. He is faithful. We must have faith in Him and in His ability and in His word. Read 2 Chronicles 20:24, Psalm 31:23-24, 1 Corinthians 16:13, and Hebrews 11:6.
Do you know what the awesome thing is? God said that He would fight for them. He said that He would go before them. He said that He was with them. And while Israel was worshiping and praising their faithful God, He turned their enemies against each other. When Israel showed up to fight there was nothing but corpses on the ground. While they were on their face before their Holy God, He was fighting for them!
This One True Living God, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wants to be your God. He made the way for “whosoever will ” through the new covenant of Jesus Christ. Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, female, He wants to fight for you! Read Psalm 27:1-6 and Psalm 111.
YES! READ! READ! READ!
Read of the amazing things He has done. The awesome promises He has given you. Learn who you are in Him and in His mighty power. Learn who He is. He is a mighty and awesome God and holy is His Name. He is Jehovah-jirah, the LORD our Provider and Jehovah-nissi, the LORD our Banner. He is El Shaddai, the God Almighty!
So here is our life’s battle plan:
Recognize the enemy
Train for battle
Pray
Worship
Praise
Go in faith
Keni Thomas had broken down the battle plan into three steps:
Plan
Train
Lead
Those three steps say it all.
There was another profound point that Keni made as he shared. He made the statement, “the enemy always gets a vote.” Think about that one for a bit. When we plan and when we train, we have to remember that the enemy gets a vote. If we expect all to go according to our plan, we are already deceived and defeated. We have to train for the unexpected. We have to train for different scenarios. We have to NEVER stop training.
I am reviewing another book by Gregory Brown from his Bible Teacher’s Guide collection. This book focuses on Ephesians 6:10-20.
“In The Armor of God: Standing Firm in Spiritual Warfare, you will learn how to stand against the enemy’s attacks— protected by the full armor of God. This Guide can be used as a five to eleven week small-group curriculum, depending how the leader chooses to divide the introduction and the ten principles about standing firm. Every week, the members of the group will read a chapter or more, answer the questions, and come prepared to share in the gathering. Each member’s preparation for the small group will enrich the discussion and the learning.” (pg 11)
Brown’s studies are great for a small group. There is no homework involved other than reading the Scriptures involved and a short chapter. Each chapter concludes with four to six “reflection” questions to help you apply what you have learned. These questions are also useful for the small group leader in order to help open up the door for discussion each week.
This particular passage of Scripture is vital for all believers to know and understand. I have Ephesians 6:10-20 written out in my bathroom, kitchen, and office. I keep this passage posted before me so that I can always remember who the real enemy is and how I can defeat him. In our lives it is so easy to be convinced that the fault lies with flesh and blood. Satan wants to make those that God called us to serve, love, and share the gospel with our enemies. He is able to easily deceive us if he can keep us out of the Word of God and distracted from prayer.
Brown writes on page 89 – 90,
“Paul talks about spiritual warfare in this final section of Ephesians. In Ephesians 6:10-17, he details the believer’s need to be filled with the power of God, and also to put on the full armor of God in order to stand against the attacks of the devil. The armor of God represents attitudes and actions that believers must practice to win on the spiritual battlefield. It includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the footwear of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. No Christian soldier can win without them; however, even these are not enough. We must pray in the Spirit.
We can see Paul’s emphasis on the importance of prayer in two ways. First, he writes more about prayer than about any other piece of armor. He uses three verses to teach on prayer in the Spirit. Also, praying in the Spirit is the seventh piece of armor. In Scripture, seven is the number of completion. This means that one can be suited up with every other piece of armor and yet still lose the battle. Praying in the Spirit is a necessity.
Prayer is the energy and atmosphere in which we wage war. Believers must live in prayer at all times in order to win this spiritual battle. It is how we are strengthened in the power of God, and it is how we put on the full armor (cf. Eph 6:10-11).”
It’s not enough to just have this passage of Scripture posted in my house. It’s not enough to just read it and quote it. I must understand the power in the meaning behind this passage. God’s Word is not an enchanting spell we quote and wave over our problems and hope for the best.
God’s Word is life. It is light. It is our only weapon to wage war with the enemy of our souls. To properly use a weapon we must be trained in it. We must have experience with it. In order to have confidence and strength with weapon we must know it and know it well.
When David stood before Goliath, Saul gave over his armor for him to wear. David, however had never been trained in this armor. He was unfamiliar with it. If he had attempted to face Goliath in this armor he would have been defeated. Goliath had been trained in this armor and had been around it for a long time. He knew the armor well. He knew the chinks in the armor and the weaknesses of it. He would have easily been able to manipulate David in and with this armor and destroy him.
I think to many Christians are unaware that Satan knows the Word of God. He has been around it for a while. Just quoting it to him does not deter him in anyway…
But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Acts 19:13-16
David defeated Goliath because he came before him in faith and confidence in a weapon with which God had personally well trained him. Beloved, can you comfortably and confidently wear the armor of God? How well trained are you in the weapons of our warfare?
This Armor of God study is a great tool to help you prepare yourself and to help you prepare others.
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I received this free for an honest review and amazon affiliate links have been used. Purchasing this study through the links in this post help support Proven Path Ministries.
For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
2 Chronicles 16:9
For the past two years I have served as the Weekday Education Director at Parkview Baptist Church. I had no clue that this would be a position that I would hold when the Lord brought it to me. I didn’t even know that it was available. In obedience to God I had resigned months before from a Children’s Directors position with no intentions of seeking another position. Yet, the Lord had other plans.
In his book Experiencing God, Blackaby writes,
“We don’t choose what we will do for God; He invites us to join Him where He wants to involve us.”
I have come to realize the truth in this statement. Serving God is simply being willing to follow Him wherever that might be. Back before this past Christmas the Lord began to impress on my heart that my time was ending at Parkview. I wasn’t sure when that ending time would be, but I knew that the Lord would let me know.
I believed with all my heart that the Lord had used me to bring a new spirit and atmosphere into PromiseLand Preschool and I couldn’t imagine Him just throwing that out. Therefore, I knew that whoever He would bring in to take over this wonderful ministry to the community would have a similar passion and vision for parents and preschoolers. The passion that the spiritual growth and heart of the child is priority and the vision that we partner with parents and have complete transparency and open communication with them concerning their child. I believe the Lord provided that person. Mrs Carla Jackson will be taking on the position of Weekday Education Director for the 2016-2017 school year.
As for me… I am letting go in faith and waiting for my next invitation from God.
In the meantime, the Women of Proven Path, will be working on our very first women’s conference,
If you are a woman reading this, we would love to have you join us! This is your invitation from me… 🙂
In my service to the Lord I have learned that we must walk by faith, live by faith, and obey in faith. When the Lord called out Abraham he didn’t tell him where he was going or give him the details of what he would invite him to do. He simply said “Go forth from… And I will…”
When we study we see that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, John, Paul, and so on and so on… did not choose how they would serve the Lord. They just humbly submitted to His will and trusted Him to use them as He saw fit. Their ministry and place of service was not dictated by obligation to man, but by obedience to Christ. As His servants our job is to simply see that our hearts are fully His.
My Daddy took this picture of me and my mother on our last visit to Cades Cove with him. It’s me and my mother looking at the Word of God under the cross. I see this picture and it reminds me that I am to stay at the foot of the cross. It reminds me that I am to never forget that my life’s purpose is to exalt Christ.
I exalt Him through my love and service to my family (Titus 2:3-5), and His church (Matthew 16:18), and through never forgetting, “but for the grace of God…” (1 Corinthians 15:10) as I share His word and gospel in a dying world to lost and broken people who simply just need Jesus even if they don’t know it. It is God who chooses the how, when, and where I will do these things. I am to just always be ready with my why (1 Peter 3:15).
So here I am once again with arms high and heart abandoned…
What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
1 Corinthians 5:12
I understand that the world we live in is changing. Our nation that once was a shining city on a hill seems to be growing darker and darker right before our eyes. However, I am not afraid. I believe we are right in the midst of the purifying will of God. Nothing that is happening is a surprise to God.
Personally, I believe this has been a long time coming. It’s simply the world we live in. We live in a fallen, selfish, lawless world where the majority of the people have forgotten God… including those who sit in a “church” building every week. It doesn’t do anyone any good to hear the Word if they do not live the Word. It actually just makes that person harder and nastier… like Pharaoh in the days of the Exodus.
The Word is very clear that as a believer I have no business to judge anyone who is outside of Christ. I am not to judge them, but in the kindness of God I am to demonstrate love to them by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. I am to speak and live the truth in love and pray that God would open their hearts and that the Holy Spirit would convict them of their sin and that God would draw them to Himself as I lift up and exalt Christ through a life lived to glorify Him. I am, in fact, to come to them as Jesus came to the woman at the well. He didn’t condemn her. He was probably the first person in a LONG time to treat her like a human being.
Sure it makes it easier to be “a Christian” if we live in a society that allows us to never have to actually choose Christ over convenience and comfort, but where do we read that in the description of following Christ? There are places I do not go and things that I do not participate in because I am convicted about giving God’s money to them or I am concerned about the safety of myself and my girls and feel it unwise to be there. This can be inconvenient at times, but it’s worth it to me.
“Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.”
I really don’t know if these new bathroom laws will be beneficial. Perhaps we should also be focused on laws that allow a doctor to surgically change the sex of someone from what is stated on their birth certificate. After all a person is born distinctively male or distinctively female. It’s in our DNA make up and changing our bodies or clothing can’t altar that. We have waiting periods on divorces and guns, but do we on this? Laws focusing on those who perform them may not change the hearts of those who desire it, but it would restrain the doctors who perform them simply out of greed.
To me the bathroom laws are like when Hercules chopped the head off the hydra, all it did was grow more heads. He had to deal with the body of the beast in order to destroy it.
The purpose of the church is to love all, and the purpose of a member of the church is represent God in every area of our life. It is not the purpose of the church to run the government but it the purpose of individual members of the church to represent Christ in the government. It is not the purpose of the church to force Christianity on anyone, but it is the purpose of the church to represent Christ to everyone.
Jesus never forced anyone to follow Him and God never forces anyone to conform to Him or His will. However, we will experience the full consequences of choosing not to. God can use us to work out His perfect plan for the ages whether we live in rebellion like Pharaoh, live in fear and failure for half our life like Moses, or live in steadfast obedience and faith like Joshua.
I would love to raise my Christian kids in a world full of melodies and butterflies, but it’s not looking to good for that, so my husband and I are preparing them to live in a world that hates them because they love Jesus. But do you know what our current day does for me as a believer? It makes me stand out. It makes me look, sound, think, and act different. In a world that screams hate, when I am found to be whispering sweet words of grace and love that does not condone sin, but instead points people to the reality that they do not have to remain slaves to it, it’s this whisper that catches the attention of the hurting… maybe not the evil… but the hurting. We have a nation FULL of hurting people.
We have a nation full of grown adults that were left to raise themselves. A nation full who were left to be taught their life convictions by the tv (and it wasn’t The Brady Bunch or Andy Griffith that they grew up watching). We have a nation full of men and women who were raised in fatherless and motherless homes by way of the selfish choices of those who were supposed to be willing to love them enough to live and die for them. We have a nation full of grown adults who were taught that they were an accident and nothing more than a glorified ape.
We have a nation full of grown adults who grew up in church being condemned, ignored, talked down to, or falsely hyped up with lies of a prosperity gospel that flowed freely from the lips of selfish men and women who, with a spirit of Balaam, told them what they wanted to hear in order to fill their own pockets and then left them with nothing to deal with the power of sin and the flesh and the deceitfulness of their heart. They either decided the people listening were too stupid to handle the doctrine of God, or they simply didn’t want them to know it, because then they would see them for who they truly were, wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I fear we have spent generations condemning sinners and giving grace to false prophets and false teachers. When we were supposed to be giving grace to sinners and condemning false prophets and false teachers. Our nation is backwards because the light started applauding the dark and we began glorifying the teachings of men and ignoring the teachings of Christ. We have too often put people on pedestals and made Christ an afterthought.
As a precept leader do you know how often I have heard Christians say that they don’t have time to study the Bible?
The world is going to get darker. Jesus told us that up front. He never sugar coated the reality of what it will mean to follow Him to the end. The world gets darker, but in its darkness the light of His church shines ever more brighter so that those who DO NOT LOVE the darkness can find that glimmer and follow it to the gospel of Jesus Christ and be transferred from this kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Light by faith in Him.
In this world we have a bunch of people who are in bondage to immorality because they are powerless to fight against the impurities, passions, and evil desires in their own heart and minds because they do not have the Word of God dwelling in them. Many do not have the Word of God dwelling in them because those who should have it to share with them have not put off anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, and lies from themselves and therefore the message of the gospel is maligned and God is blasphemed among the lost. The true church of Jesus Christ is supposed to be known by our love for one another and our willingness to serve the least of these.
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Colossians 3:12-17
In this short passage of Scripture the word thank is used three times in three different forms. After we are told to put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, to bear one another, to forgive, and to love, we are told to be thankful. This phrase is the word eucharistos and it means well, grant freely, thankful for God’s grace working out what is (eternally) good. As a true believer I am able to put this list of things on and I am able to freely grant grace because I know that God is somehow, someway, at sometime going to work out what is eternally good.
In whatever we do, in whatever we say, we have to remember that if we profess to be a Christian, we are doing and saying it in the name of Jesus. So how are you telling and showing people Jesus through your words and deeds? If you are the only Jesus they ever meet would they be willing to come to Him and lay down their lives and take up their own cross and follow Him?
I understand this world is getting a little scary. I understand the fear that can be placed in our hearts and minds as we watch the news and hear of all the calamities and perversions and simple lack of common sense that permeates the highest offices in our land and the pulpits of many loosely called churches in our midst. However, we have been commanded by our God to not fear, to not be surprised, but to be awake, prepared, and ready to give an account for the hope we have because of the One in whom we have believed.
God specifically chose us for this day and this hour…
He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation…
Acts 17:26
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Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.
1 Corinthians 7:17
Does the Lord assign us to live as a believer in situations such as government and politics? Yes, He does. So if you are there in that position, that situation, then you live for Him. Does the Lord assign us to live as a believer in situations of education and entertainment. Yes, He does. So if you are there in that position, that situation, then you live for Him. Does the Lord assign you to live as a believer in your office or on your job site, every day, before your co-workers? Yes, He does. No matter what, no matter where, we are to live for Him, through Him, and in Him so that others can see Him.
The writing and teachings of Nicole Love Halbrooks Vaughn
