Shedding your armor as you go

I’ve made a discovery this week about myself but only because I believe my spirit heard the Lord speaking in that small still voice (1Kings 19:12). Most of you don’t know this about me but I am a perfectionist and though I was much worse in my youth parts of it remain even today. That doesn’t work out well for me being just a man, as I am broken and often I struggle with my lack but God’s Word tells me that is why He sent His son Jesus to die and that’s a good thing, still I struggle. If I could step back far enough I would see my life do something like this – God places a dream in my heart, I am awakened to it and move passionately towards the fulfillment of it, the enemy attacks, and I miss the mark. It is at that moment I come to a fork in the road and often I become distracted from God’s purpose. I am now forty; soon to be forty-one but I still remember a song from my teen years. It was by a group called Harvest and though I don’t remember the title I do remember the chorus. “Are we walking into the enemy’s camp laying our weapons down, shedding our armor as we go and leaven it on the ground? We’ve got to be strong in the power of His might to prove to the enemy that we are the army of the Lord and we’ve won the victory!”

Examining the situation now I’m left asking myself why is the enemy allowed to attack while the dream is still tender within me? God says, “Because child I have called you by name and have prepared you for such a time. This battle is yours and though I am with you, just like I was with David as he faced Goliath, it is your feet that must step onto the field.” My childhood has been catching up with me (read perfectionist), as I walk onto the battlefield I stub my toe then I become so disheartened that I begin to shed my armor but God all along has been calling me to stand and keep moving forward. I have been forgetting something very important. It is not about how prepared I am, though that is important, it’s all about me getting out of the way and letting God have His way through me. David was just a shepherd boy without training for battle yet the God of all splendor had prepared him for a purpose beyond what David understood at the time and though it was David’s hand that delivered the fatal blow to the giant before him it was the God of Israel that was bringing deliverance to His people! Still David didn’t stand a chance had he faced Goliath on his own. How many times do we face giants on our own strength? I don’t know about you but it never works out well for me. In my mind I can see only a few moves ahead, how this victory would bless those around me but God has a purpose beyond my comprehension! The more I allow God to use me the more I become what I could not be on my own.

God, you are glorious, who is like you! I am amazed and humbled that I get to be part of your plan. You know me intimately and see each move I make still you say that I am yours! Could it be that my efforts limit what you want to do through me? Though it seems my plans would work out well I acknowledge that I do not know the way. Holy Father, I ask you now to consume me and lead me unto righteousness, for your glory. For your kingdom illuminates the darkness and has no end! As I am here with you my heart is overwhelmed with joy, the world outside fades away, and your peace surrounds me. Lord, I don’t ever want to leave this place but I know there is a battle raging and my heart is at stake not only that but the hearts of my children and wife and those I don’t even know. Because You have allowed me to hear your voice I ask that You strengthen me now and when I take that step onto the battlefield it would not be mine but Yours. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Strides of purpose

As you get closer to the person God intended you to be the resistance you encounter becomes greater. Whether it is your own flesh warring against the Holy Spirit of God within you or it is circumstances that seem to set themselves in opposition to the path Christ has shown you or it is the enemy himself. Remember what Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:24-25 we, the students of Christ Jesus, should expect the same opposition as he faced the closer we get to him but we have a promise - (Romans 8:35-39 MKJV) “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For Your sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep of slaughter." But in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Do you see it? No matter what we face in this life something better awaits us! Not all will be called to die for Christ’s sake but some will. Not all will face a deadly illness but there are those who will. What about fear, complacency, or pain we all have our battlefields. We cannot choose our giants but God promises to be with us and when the race is run, if we hold tightly to Him He will call to us by the very purpose He has placed in each of us – for God says we are more than conquerors! One day, though it is hard to imagine, we will look back and say it is worth it all! The saints of God will have stories to tell through out eternity still our purpose will not be over even then. So run this race with all that is within, not looking back set your gaze on Him who gives you the strength to do the impossible. We know not what God has in store for those He calls His own but knowing Him I know He is good and I am hopelessly desperate for more of Him in me. (1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV) “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

With that in mind we should make every step count, every time we move it should be towards Him. May your strides be filled with His purpose and your heart overflowing with surrender to God’s Holy Spirit within you.