In our group last night, we talked about the similarities between a soldier and a believer facing spiritual battles and battles of the mind. There is alot of similarities between the two and I asked our group to list some attributes of a soldier. When I did, we got alot of answers and I thought about for each one, a way that the soldier's attribute translate to spiritual disciplines. I also got some help from a few people and here's what we came up with:
Bravery - like a soldier, believers sometimes need bravery to do what God commands (i.e. Moses facing Pharoah, Joshua and Jericho, etc)
Obedience/Submissive - sometimes God will ask you to do something you don't want to do. But with this trait, you do it anyway.
Trained/Prepared - Reading His Word, implementing it in your life, spiritually exercising what you've learned in your life.
Strength - overcoming difficulties to act anyway. Strength is the first physical and mental element you need to stand. God gives this to those who follow Him.
Giving - giving of yourself to others, not for your glory, but God's. A soldier does this for his country. A believer does this for his King.
Discipline - like a boxer, calculating moves, not losing focus on distractions. disciplined. Effective in battle...
Loyal - Committed to Jesus... You are carrying out His wishes, not your own.
Experience - battle experiences make you a trained warrior. Book smart is a great start, but experience and wisdom fall hand in hand when facing battles making you more effective.
Loud - soldiers bark orders, and also call out status of distress (i.e. "I'm HIT!!!") or location of the enemy. Letting brothers and sisters in faith know your status can help you out of a situation that you could not do on your own. God puts these people in your life to help you.
Humility - for a believer, knowing who God is and knowing who you are. living out His wishes for humility in your life.
Alert/Focused - watching for attacks, analyzing your words to see who you are listening to.
Armed - having memory verses available to deal with situations.. having a Bible nearby to seek guidance... having humility to ask a friend who you know believes in God for an answer.
Team Mentality - knowing that other believers around you in coordinated efforts can do great things... things that would be much harder to do on your own. The purpose of family... one reason why we are the "body of Christ".
Sacrificial - giving of yourself because in doing so reflects Jesus and brings Him glory. Your compassion reflects His.
Communication - having someone or a handful of people in your life to communicate how the battles are going. Talkin g to them about your needs.
Planner - someone who learns from losses, from victories and refines their faith through life experiences... Someone who sees the answers God has for them and plans them into their lives. A planner thinks ahead on how to handle vulnerabilities of themselves or others.
Committed - Loving God no matter what. Even if facing physical or emotional loss, always knowing that God loves you and is with you no matter what life brings.
Honor/Respect - see Humility... Honoring God for who He is... Depending on Him because of who He is, Respecting His answers, even if they are not the answers you like...
Perseverence - When we go through something difficult for us, perseverence developes character in us to face not only that situation but also to face situations in the future. Remember that not only Christians but also those who are not Christians are watching us to see how react to those situations.
I wanted to add this to our blog because I felt like we had some really great input and this is something we could remember every day and it would make us more prepared to live out our faith in Jesus.
God bless,
Dave
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thoughts from Ezra...
In my quiet time, I started Ezra. In Chapter 1, I read this:
2 "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
" 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "
5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.
This doesn't seem like much, but what I have learned is that when God forgives and when God restores, He does it right. With the Old Testament, I used to read it like it was laid out in order. But really, it's not at all.
Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned in Daniel, so my few times through the Old Testament I had a big question mark, or I did not care about the timing, but today I did. Persia did not exist until after the Babylonian Empire was defeated. Nebuchadnezzar had sacked God's temple, but here what we see in this verse, is God restoring the temple.
God is a restorer. He can take something that seems lost and make it new. When Babylon took over, all hope seemed lost. It is amazing that when we see this picture, that we see His faithfulness transcend kingdoms, time and even eternity.
When man fell, all seemed lost, but God sent a Savior, His Son Jesus, to be redemption for us. He is coming again you know? He will make all things new! In a world that seems to crumble more and more each day, our God who restores will never leave or forsake us and He is better and stronger than anything we could possibly face.
God bless,
Dave
2 "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
" 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "
5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.
This doesn't seem like much, but what I have learned is that when God forgives and when God restores, He does it right. With the Old Testament, I used to read it like it was laid out in order. But really, it's not at all.
Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned in Daniel, so my few times through the Old Testament I had a big question mark, or I did not care about the timing, but today I did. Persia did not exist until after the Babylonian Empire was defeated. Nebuchadnezzar had sacked God's temple, but here what we see in this verse, is God restoring the temple.
God is a restorer. He can take something that seems lost and make it new. When Babylon took over, all hope seemed lost. It is amazing that when we see this picture, that we see His faithfulness transcend kingdoms, time and even eternity.
When man fell, all seemed lost, but God sent a Savior, His Son Jesus, to be redemption for us. He is coming again you know? He will make all things new! In a world that seems to crumble more and more each day, our God who restores will never leave or forsake us and He is better and stronger than anything we could possibly face.
God bless,
Dave
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