Tag: war

Fighting the Devil one Battle at a Time.

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Fighting the Devil one Battle at a Time.

As a man who has seen war, I myself know the horrors that mankind can create. The sad part is even what I have seen isn’t the worst thing out there. My experiences in war were tame by most standards. The war between men however is nothing compared to the battle going on around us that we cannot see. Every whisper, every pull on a heart to go in the wrong direction in life is part of the fight. The first thing we must understand is no matter what happens to our bodies in this life the true fight is our souls. 2 Corinthians Chapter 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” We all know that the Devil plays games, pulls at our desires, our sinful nature, but what we don’t usually realize is part of the chess match with the devil is also a race against the clock.

Though the end of our life is not known to us, it is to God and we but only one chance to win the war for our very souls. At the end of our life we have only one chance to know in our hearts where our salvation lays. We must lay down our hearts to the lord and protect ourselves from the games of the Devil. Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The Devil loves to bring chaos to order. Heaven was order, it was created as perfection, and the Devil destroyed that direct link with the God almighty. Trusting in the Lord is always difficult and even more so when we can’t understand our own pain, our own suffering. We don’t understand the testing of faith. The Devil prays on our weak points, our weaknesses in our very heart. When we are given the free will of choice and we choose hate, when we choose cruelty over love, we have lost the battle.

The war is not lost but we cannot loose battle after battle. We cannot give in to those desires, we must not walk that path because the longer we’re on it the more likely we are to continue to scrape away those things in our heart that point us to God. We must not let the darkness within take hold. We must take every situation into account and know when to put on the Armor and go to battle. The war ends the day we die for us anyway. The clock ticks on our lives and as a time bomb always goes off and finds it’s target, death always gets it’s prize. How do we welcome death? Is it as an old friend, and enemy, an opponent in a game of cat and mouse? It seems to me we should embrace life to make the most out of it, to spread the Gospel as much as we can, but when the time comes be so comfortable in the life you’ve live, the love you’ve shared, the scripture you’ve learned and used that you welcome death because the juice is worth the squeeze. Heaven is the end of the war, the end for those who live faithfully. The end may come at any time, and as we never know when the battle ends, when the war ends, what side of the war are you on? What team do you play for? As for me, I’m team Jesus.

Finding Courage

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Finding Courage

“It takes courage to look inside yourself and even more courage to write it for other people to see.” Benjamin Sisko. I hadn’t really thought about it before, what making a public website would actually mean, what putting my deepest most intimate thoughts on paper in one blog after another for all the world to see, would actually mean. September 12th of 2004 my truck was ambushed in the downtown region of Ar-Ramadi Iraq. During the 15 minutes of absolute Hades on earth the courage of 7 men would be tested literally under fire. After the first two explosions obscured HQ 25 the first bullet hit my truck HQ 26 on the door right at head level. At that point the feelings of fear and doubt started to creep in. The bullets from the enemy AK’s where striking the truck. One RPG after another was being fired at both of the trucks. An RPG that passed just a few feet from the front of the truck, and hit a barrier near the truck blew out the front right tire of HQ 26. If the truck stops we’re all dead. If we don’t keep up with HQ 25 and were separated we all die. When the MK-19 failed and my gunner Haley had to switch over to his M-16 rifle. With no side shielding he would be completely exposed to enemy fire. The amount of courage he would show under extreme stress was nothing short of a miracle, in fact the courage of Stevens, and Watson the HQ 25 gunner/driver would stand out as heroes. What does it take for a person to show courage? “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” (Nelson Mandela) Many people in their lives are faced with incidences that will test their fight or flight response. For me September of 2016 would test my fight or flight response again. This time, for the first time my flight response would kick in, and alter my life forever. Living it seems is not for the weak. If it weren’t for close calls some people never fully realize their potential, the gift of life. 1 Chronicles 28:20 “David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.” True Courage cannot be had without faith. We must have faith that the situation we find ourselves in is worth courage. Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” When Haley stood up and shot back the faith he would have that the need to survive, to save the lives of his crewman would win out over fear. For me my faith that God was in control is unrelenting. True courage however might be as simple as truly trusting in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” When we give our lives to the Lord we put our faith in Him that we will never be alone. Sometimes God has a plan for us that take us out of our comfort zone. It takes a great deal of courage to follow God. No matter the cost, to have faith, is to have courage, and that courage is the key to everlasting life.

Sword forged in fire

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Sword forged in fire

When a sword is made in the traditional sense it is placed in fire, pounded, shaped, heated, cooled, pounded on more. It’s no surprise that scripture teaches us how our faith is tempered. Just as the sword it placed in fire and pounded, our faith is also tested in a similar fashion. James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” When life is hard, when spiritual warfare is well underway, those of faith are tested on the spiritual battlefield. We don’t always know why bad things happen, we don’t always know why our lives can go from what seems like long stretches of happiness to spin out of control to chaos. Isaiah 48:10 “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” When King David was a young boy he made a name for himself by killing Goliath with nothing but a sling. David would spend the next 20 years running for his life, fighting for it, his faith being tested over and over. Just as David would have to trust in God, believe God’s intentions would always be in the promise that was made to David to be King. The number of times the testing of faith is mentioned in scripture is many. Deuteronomy 8:2-5 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” It’s easy to say you have faith when life is love and roses. When you’re all alone and it seems like tomorrow will never come. When life has you at your lowest, when depression and pain is all you feel, that’s when your faith, when God will peer into your heart and see what’s truly there. 2 Corinthians 11 Paul describes being beaten, shipwrecked, threatened, on the run from those who meant to kill him, and yet while Paul was facing execution during his imprisonment he wrote some of the most influential letters in the Bible. His faith was tested to the max. Job lost everything he held most dear and he survived knowing that God loved him. Gods grace, mercy, and love are all some people have. Through the fire we are forged. Never forget no matter how bad it seems, through the Lord all things are possible and all wounds can be healed. Learn to trust in the Lord and let go of the pain and hate that fill your heart.