A word for the Warrior

Have I not called you for a time such as this?

Have I not led things to such a point as to have you right here? 

....To be among those who are called by me who are attentive to my move, who are at the ready, vigilant, humbled and trained?

"What has overtaken you that you have suddenly forgotten what I have brought you through and where I have taken you from?"

Your thoughts and emotions and the situations you are going through right now seek to bring you down. But what are these? You have been through much more than these and come through victorious by my strength. The small trials you are going through now are NOTHING compared to what I have brought you through in the past. The enemy seeks to make you think they are bigger than they actually are and he seeks to blind you to the reality of how powerful you actually are! You are one called to destroy the enemies camp and take back what he has stolen. 

I have taken you through the fire and burned what has been holding you back, so don’t let these minor emotions and petty life circumstances dictate what your path should be, for I have called you to be more than a conqueror, I have called you to leave a righteous raging path of fire in your wake!

My warriors are scattered all over and this is a call for them to reclaim their identity. The enemy has for too long robbed them of what is most powerful - the realization of who they truly are (Sons and Daughters of the Most High) and thus blinded them of the power they posses. He has stolen the knowledge of who they are, of what their true standing is and how favoured they actually are. 

Subconsciously you have played along with this and you have sought to gain your lost identity through all manner of methods, but I am shaking these... I am taking away all that is false and all that is illusionary in your life, I am taking away all that gave you your sense of 'self' for this false self only perpetuates the idea that you exist anywhere but in Me. 

It is a time to stand, for when a warrior is not in battle he is in training and when he is not in training he is standing - at the ready. Be vigilant. Be open. Listen for me and look all around for movement for I want you to pre-emptively act, not react. A season of intense training has finished but you must still discipline yourself and remain ready. 

When a warrior is in a time of peace he does not lay down and imagine vainglory or dream of past victories, relishing in the good feelings that they bring. He is anticipating the next move. His past victories are only for preparation as to what is to come, the next wave of battle, the next skirmish and to foil the next move of the enemy. 

There is a calm but that is ever more reason to stay trained - to be at the ready. It is easy to lose spiritual strength when there is peace for there is no need for constant spiritual exercises. But this is where discipline is most important, in realizing you have the actual time to sharpen your sword, to tighten your bow and to re-leather your shield. Peace is not a time for complacency, it is a time for scouring the horizon as to what is to come, and come it will and I want you to be in a place of strength and readiness when it does.

I want you to face the battle with strength and fortitude, almost in excitement as you scream "Bring it on!!" into the face of the enemy and to strike fear into the heart of what has for so long has robbed YOU through fear. What have I not already brought you through that could now stop you now? Has all this been for nought? For you to skulk away when the enemy seeks to keep you down through emotional manipulation and intimidation? You can laugh in the face of battle, and while in that battle you could be knocked to the ground by the heaviest of blows and lay there laughing at the sky... 

It was once said that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but I would say that to you that if you have already died... then you are invincible. 

Whoever this is read by, reclaim what the enemy has stolen - take back your identity. You a favoured and mightily powerful child of the Most High and this is the call you to be vigilant and to stand ready, for if you are I will be choosing YOU for the next move to come. 

Persecuted

In the dream I was in  a country where a Muslim group were starting at a grassroots level, they began to consolidate and coordinate power. They were then going around searching for Christians... They started visiting houses from door to door searching them out, treating them as sub-human. They pulled them from their homes with evil intent (the dream didn't say what exactly) In their mind having 'the right' to interrogate them. They did this by power of fear, intimidation (not of just the individual group but the larger movement/group in general) they ratted out these individuals or families from their homes. They were mostly individuals though because they were each in hiding after being scattered of sorts.

At one stage I was in one of these neighbourhoods having the sense that this was happening from door to door around me and I knew that I would be next. I knew they were coming soon and the night before they did come I slept peacefully, sleeping in the peace of God.

The next day they came for me.. I remember being at the doorway of the house I was bunkering in and before being taken away I looked at my sister and told her that I loved her - my voice broke with sorrow as I did so as I had no idea what they were going to do with me next or if I would ever see her again. I doubted I would.

The dream changed after this 'rounding up', this establishment of 'their voice' (about what was acceptable and what wasn't in this neighbourhood or part of the country). The dream was in Australia now. The leaders of this evil group began to expound upon what they deemed as right and acceptable and what would not be tolerated. Even though this group was vastly outnumbered by the citizens around them the majority all said in loud unison, 'sorry' at this evil group. I was enraged! and it seemed like I was the only one. Who were these people installing on us their beliefs and doing it so with a fearful and bloody hand, no questions asked?? There should have been an uprising, people being incensed that their rights, freedoms and very choices were being taken away from them.

I have felt (although in no way comparing it to the real life situation) that I have a detached sense of what is going on right now in other parts of the world, some idea of what thousands are going through right now. Where Christians such as myself are literally being hunted down and rounded up and slaughtered, for no other reason than being Christian. Much like the Jews of WWII, who were rounded up and slaughtered in similar fashion for no other reason than being Jewish.

It wasn't a pleasant feeling knowing that there is an evil out there in your immediate vicinity, growing momentum, one that is totally intolerant and unyielding in its goals. One that is seeking you out as an individual, heard you then parade you as some sort of sub-par criminal for no other reason than identifying yourself to be associated with or following Christ.

Instead of Nazism it was now being a Muslim brand of evil. Different brand, same evil spirit behind it. My heart goes out to the thousands slaughtered, dispelled or on the run in the middle east right now because of the undeniably evil Islamic group ISIS. And if I was living there, I WOULD be one of these people. The only reason I'm not being herded up, killed or beheaded RIGHT NOW is one of location. That is a very sobering thought for all if us. That could very well be us but due to the fact we were born here it is not.

We have to pray for these people in the Middle East, not only the Christians but all the minority groups that are being persecuted and killed. Even if our prayer is to simply weep for the dead we don't even know and to ask God to begin to turn back this tide of evil that is now sweeping parts of the world and now actually horrifically seeping into our own.

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. 

John 15:18-20 

In fact, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 

2 Timothy 3:12 

Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 

Luke 6:22

Born with a sense of entitlement

No one sits us down at the beginning of our lives and tells us how many years of this strange thing called 'life' we are going to get. But somehow and from somewhere, we have a preconceived notion that we automatically have been given an allocated amount of years and comforts, such as money, friends, a house even the creature comforts... like its our 'right.' And woe betide anyone who gets in the way of these rights - God included. 

A lot of us often go through life totally ignorant of its purpose. Instead of finding our true purpose and identity in God and in turn loving each other, we seek material gain, we search for what makes us feel better either materially or emotionally. We live selfishly, sometimes even blindly hurting others in search of our own immediate needs and concerns, after all, "Isn't it my right to feel good?" 

And then suddenly when the cold hand of tragedy strikes and this gift of life seems to be 'cut short' (if there is such a thing), we get angry and upset and we shake our fist at God for robbing us of our own fabricated and imaginary entitlements.

We get at angry at the one who graciously gave us this gift of life. The One who continually gives us our existence moment by moment, through no effort of our own.  

Who sat us down at the beginning and said we are all entitled to live 80 - 90 - 100 years? Who sat us down at the moment of consciousness and said to us, "You will be allocated exactly 85 years, you will be given a good job, the ability to own your own home, you will have 4 children allocated to you and will then live relatively comfortably for the next few decades. Although there will be some difficult times, you will mostly enjoy friends and family till the end, and when the end does come it will be sweet and soft."? 

Who has told us the lie, that a long life is equal to a good life? When did the meaning of life, the quality of our character and how we treat each other get trumped by length of life? Some children who have died have certainly lived more fruitfully and loved their neighbour with more of a pure heart than a lot of us. Is that to mean their life meant any less because of it's brevity? 

Life no matter how short, be it years or even months it is a miracle. Because instead of life there could have been nothing in it's place. Life is something where there was once nothing and that in itself is a cause to celebrate. And the experiences gained in that life (no matter how short) are all a blessing. If an infant lives for but a day, yet in that day has felt the kiss of it's mother, or the warm embrace of it's father and has felt the golden rays of the sun on it's face even for a moment, hasn't it lived it's one day on earth in full?

I'm no sadist and I am not ignoring the tragedy of death nor the undeniable pain, hurt and loss it brings, but our lives cannot be judged by their length as some kind of measuring rod that ascertains it's meaning or it's fullness. 

In days of old, the most noble of young warriors would rise to the call for battle - for king and country and in the bravery of battle they would be slain - all for the protection and love of their families. Though painful, there was a certain glory in their death. They lived for something, and they died for that something, and that something was usually bigger than themselves. There was no shame, no quiet mourning, their bodies were set alight and paid homage to by the mourners who were warmed by the flames of their departing glory. Their lives stood for more than just their current and immediate needs and what they died for was more valuable than a long and healthy life - more than waiting for a juicy superannuation plan and a house. It's meaning and it's substance carried more weight than all of these.

If we are faced with tragedy, we must think back... how often did we thank God for the company of that individual who has now died, or even now lies dying? How grateful were we that the their existence and presence in our lives was a gift of grace given to us totally undeserved? Or did we take that individuals existence and presence in our lives as a 'given'? Something to be taken for granted. Did we realise that the love of a friend or a family member or even the care of a nurse in our dying hours is a gift? Something we have done absolutely nothing to deserve, or are all these things just our 'right'? 

There have been millions on earth who have never experienced the love of a true parent or even the companionship of a single true friend. There have been countless numbers who have been born and raised in slavery (and still are). There are many this very day who sift through garbage dumps daily for food and live short and sick lives. Where are their rights? Where is their comfy warm house, meat and two veg on the table, their 90 years and their soft retirement package? 

We are so quick to ignore God, ignore his gracious gift of life to the extent of being so busy with life's interests, lusts or greed that we forget why we even have been given life in the first place! God has given us our very life. After all, in the darkness of non-being, did we suddenly conjure our own will from nothing, and cause ourselves to 'be'? But in realising this, how often do we ponder and thank him for it? How often do we softly speak a 'thank you' during those gold moments of joy with our families? How often do we ask ourselves... How blessed am I? To have the gift of existence - where there could have been no existence at all. And in that existence, have the blessing of even one person who LOVES me for no other reason than because I exist? 

We can get on our high horse and while we are shaking our fist at God and bellow, "If only He was in MY shoes he'd understand! If He got of his cloud and lived my life I'm sure he would change things!". What most people don't realise is that he did! God DID get off his cloud, God in Christ did become a human being and he was born into a poor family, in a dirty stable no less, surrounded by animal dung. He also lived a life of selflessness, he lived a life of love, he was called the 'suffering servant'. But also in his life he had peace, he had assurance and joy despite his trials - because he knew who he was, he knew who's he was and in that he knew his purpose and lived it to the full. 

And what was his reward for living such a holy, selfless and giving life? He was betrayed by a friend, abandoned by his closest companions, falsely accused, whipped, beaten, cut, bruised, spat on, then tortured on a cross util he died. That was HIS reward for his 33 years (not the full 85 mind you). But he did it all for love, he did it because he knew his purpose, and that was to redeem humanity. To cure us of this sickness called sin that blinds us and robs us of our true purpose and our real identity and finally to bring us back home to Him and the Eternal Father, the King of Love.

You have been given life through no power of your own, so the question is... "what are you doing with it?"