Stand
up!
If you know me on a personal level, you know
that I served in the military and later served in the ministry. I am very proud
to say I served this country and not so much about my service to God. You see,
I have made some major errors in my life that have affected my walk with God
and the Godly walk of others. Thank the Lord for forgiveness! Without it, I
would still be in a terrible mess. I spent several years living after my own
heart and not after the heart of Christ. In doing so, I allowed the devil to
walk through my life and the lives of those close to me.
Now that I am back on track, I see the
consequences of my actions. I see how I was so far away from God, even though I
thought I was on track. I was following after my own heart. However, I am not alone. There are many in the body of
Christ who are following after their hearts desires. Within the church there has been a great
falling away from the foundations that the Father would have us base our lives
on. Our country has turned its back on sound principles and values. We are on a
fast track to socialism and those of us who call ourselves patriotic Christians
are more of the problem than the solution. Over the next few blogs I will spell
out in depth how to turn around our families, churches and nation. Here are
some basics to start with.
If we want to ever see our families, our
churches and our nation return to the values that made us who we are, then it
is time to make a stand! How do we make a stand? First, we kneel, 2 Chron 7:14 If
my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Give up our selfish, devilish
desires, humble ourselves and repent!
Next, we need to prepare ourselves.
2 Tim 2:15 Study to shew
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.
We do this by following this
formula:
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. When we arm ourselves as described above, we
can grow stronger.
When I was in the military, I noticed that
the more weapons and gear we had, the braver we became. This is true in our
Christian based lives. The more we equip ourselves, the stronger and braver we
become. Let’s take a look at some of King David’s men.
1 Chron 11:11 Here
is the record of David’s mightiest warriors: The first was Jashobeam the…..leader
of the Three—the mightiest warriors among David’s men. He once used his
spear to kill 300 enemy warriors in a single battle. 12 Next...Eleazar
son of Dodai,...13 He was with David in the battle against the
Philistines at Pas-dammim. The battle took place in a field full of barley, and
the Israelite army fled. 14 But Eleazar and David held their
ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines…..
David and Eleazar made a stand, even when all
their friends fled and ran from the difficult battle. Jashobeam was courageous
and fought off 300 with just a spear. (Hand to hand combat obviously. That means
“in your face” battle)
God asks us to stand up and be strong when
all seems impossible. To do our part, “be strong and very courageous”, and let
Him fight ahead of us. We can’t see God’s mighty work if we don’t get into the
battle.
I have heard it said that “God doesn’t ask
much of us”. I disagree. God asks ALL
from us. Not part way, not on our time, not tomorrow. He wants ALL of each one of us, everything,
right now!
