Skip to main content
Tag

battle

Looking Ahead

By Envision, Headfirst

What does God have in store for you this year?  And for His Kingdom?  Are you anticipating it?

The Scriptures are filled with the historical accounts of His supernatural intervention in history and thoroughly documented.  The Bible is complete, but God’s work is not.  What could be written about how He will work in and through you in the year to come?

  • In the year King Uzziah died…  (Isaiah 6:1)
  • In the 480th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel…  (1 Kings 6:1)
  • And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus…  (Daniel 1:21)
  • In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar…  (Luke 3:1-2)

Will you look ahead in faith and anticipation?  Will you follow the King into battle?

How will you use your freedom?  How will you use your resources?

As you welcome the New Year, as you hear the trumpet blow, join us in running headfirst into God’s calling on our lives!

Vulnerable

By Headfirst, Personal
John Eldredge

John Eldredge, courtesy of Ransomed Heart

John Eldredge posted an article last month in which he unpacked the connection between the pace of life and our weakened resistance to spiritual attack.  “The world is utterly draining,” he wrote, “and when we are drained, we are vulnerable.”  He also offered eight suggestions for drawing close to the Lord and building our defenses against the adversary.

I agree with John in his assessment of my vulnerability.  Whether it’s a direct spiritual attack or just the barrage of the world system, my defenses become worn down by the distractions and pressures of life.  Like all believers, I need to refresh and refocus on Christ through prayer, study of the Scriptures, solitude and the practice of other spiritual disciplines.  The power of God in answer to prayer cannot be overstated. Click for my prayer needs

Shell shock

By Headfirst

As the church leadership team gathered for a meal, planning and prayer, someone asked about my recent return from Haiti.  I’d been having a bit of trouble knowing how to answer some of the questions this past week.  Joe turned to me and asked, “Do you have PTSD?  I fought in Vietnam and I know what you’re going through.”  I thought a little bit and nodded my head.  Joe continued, “Seeing death, seeing the casualties – we can talk, okay?”  The confirmation was helpful – why I’ve resisted looking at my photos and have felt awkward summarizing the mission.  Joe fought in a real war – with bombs and shelling and shrapnel.  It didn’t seem like my experience with the devastation in Haiti was on the same level.

I was on a different battlefield – no question about that.  But we were also at war.  The spiritual battle and oppression, the Haitian practices of voodoo and the occult, the political corruption, and yes, the death and destruction.  Port-au-Prince is a war zone, with every other structure reduced to rubble, and refugees clamoring for aid – seeking shelter under tarps in every open space in the city.

I am grateful that Joe had the insight and the openness to connect with me, and help me step out of the mental fog of war.  When we run headfirst, we must be cognizant of the cost of battle.  It’s not an excuse to escape from doing what God calls us to do.  But it’s the recognition that fatigue, heartbreak and trauma come from being at war.  I am taking time to mourn, to process, and to re-gear.  Because we know the battle is won, but the fighting isn’t over.