“The heart has arguments with which the logic of mind is not acquainted.” – Blaise Pascal
The greatest argument you must defeat is your indecision, not to decide. Letting your mind win all the arguments against your heart is no way to live – that’s how a coward lives, and you are no coward. Are you?
A brave soul follows their heart. You know, the place where God’s Spirit dwells.
Okay, I get it. It’s so much safer listening only to your mind. Logic and reason may be safe and comfy, but you weren’t made simply for a comfortable life. And I’m sure all your “what if this” and “what if that” are normal …
… Really?
… Are you just normal, or are you just afraid?
After all, your mind can conjure up excuse after excuse — heck, your mind is an excuse factory. But you know you can’t build a life on excuses. You’re beating down your own heart with excuses! Stop bullying yourself and ignoring God’s call to action, obedience, and adventure.
Following after God requires more than your mind; he also wants your body and heart. It’s a joint exercise of body, soul, and heart. Living that way will prepare you for life now and in the hereafter.
But, living a life stalled on “what ifs” will keep you from a life of what could be. You’ll simply be a person without legend, story, or belonging, which would be a tremendous waste of a life.
The mind lives for knowledge, but the heart, well, it soars on faith.
“There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so that you’re no good for anything else. The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. For this is your whole duty.” — Ecclesiastes 12:12-13
So, don’t! Don’t waste your life. Rather, lose your life with Jesus; your heart will finally win the argument. Oh, and do what He says with all your heart and gusto.
I love the exchange between Rocky Balboa and his son, Robert Balboa Jr., in the film “Rocky Balboa,” released in 2006.
Robert complains to his dad that he’s fed up living under his shadow. Well, in Rocky’s own style, he rocks his son’s world with a fatherly motivational speech:
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that, and that ain’t you! You’re better than that! I’m always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You’re my son, and you’re my blood. You’re the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain’t gonna have a life.“ — Rocky Balboa.
Balboa’s advice is so universal! We all need a motivational “punch to the face” at least once or twice.
Back to reality…
… I’m writing this to you because you’ll need a brave heart and stout mind for what’s coming in the weeks and months ahead. No, it won’t be about you, so don’t worry. Nope, it will be about what you have to offer to others who’ll be confused and afraid. They’ll need your brave heart and clear mind. They’ll also need your motivational speech. So, be prepared.
Decide to be a brave person and lead with your heart and your mind filled with wisdom. Then, you’ll be the person who makes leaders and not followers. Leaders who’ll know how to win the argument and live from their heart.
“Each time we don’t say what we wanna say, we’re dying.” – Yoko Ono
Don’t let silence kill your life, joy, or your future. Speak from your heart and live.
You may agree that the three most powerful words are “I Love You.”
Can these three little words indeed be so powerful and significant?
After all, for many, these words fall from our mouths so casually and regularly that we miss their true meaning and worth. But what happens if, for some of us, we’ve never heard those words from our moms or dads or the most important people in our lives?
Well, that was my story…
I lived through nearly four decades of silence from my father. I hated my father because of his silence and uninvolvement in my life as a boy. His career and extreme work ethic took him from me when I needed him.
When I heard that my dad was dying from esophageal cancer, I initially refused to visit him. My anger held me back for a little while until my siblings ganged up on me.
Four days before my father passed, I had the opportunity to stay overnight with him at the VA Hospital in Martinez, CA. (My father was wounded in action by a missile attack during the Korean War on September 19, 1951). He had served in the Army as a private, 1st class medic.
After the lights went out in my dad’s hospital room, courage rose within my heart, and I spoke the three most important words that I could say to the most important man in my life:
Dad?
“Yes, son.”
Dad, …I love you!
It felt like an eternity of silence orbited the darkened hospital room…
…Then, from my dad’s weakened condition, I heard what my heart and soul had so longed to hear during the 39 silent years I had lived:
“I love you too, son.”
Suddenly, unspeakable joy filled my heart, and tears rolled down my face. I called out to my dad several more times that night, saying:
Dad?
“Yes, son.”
Dad, …I love you!
“I love you too, son.”
I heard my father say he loved me, which washed all the years of hurt, anger, and loneliness from my body, soul, and mind. My father’s words were a healing balm that would change my life from that day forward.
My father’s words also helped me to accept my Heavenly Father’s love for me.
“I am my beloved, and he is mine; his banner over me is love!” Songs of Songs
“See, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreaded day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest when I come, I strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6
Jesus came to me late on October 8, 1998, at night in that VA Hospital room in Martinez, California. He bound up my wounds and healed my broken heart. He freed this captive and released me from a prison of loneliness, despair, and anger. He lifted the curse from my life, and by becoming my father’s beloved son, I became God’s also!
“Come away with me, my love, my lovely one, come. For you, winter is over and gone. The snow has melted, and the flowers are in bloom; the cooing of the turtle doves can be heard throughout the land. Come away with me, my love, my lovely one, come. Your face is beautiful; your voice is sweet. Come away with me, my love, my lovely one, come.” Songs of Songs
My Dad became my hero and went away to be with the Lord of Life on October 12, 1998. I stood at his right side, holding his hand until he breathed his last breath. He looked up to the ceiling, smiled, and then was gone. We all wept so loudly as a family that our cries could be heard throughout the hospital wing.
A few moments later, I stretched my hand over my father’s face, and I closed my father’s eyes.
Yes, words do matter. Be brave, be courageous, and allow your heart to speak its words before it is too late. The “I love you, dad,” unlocked my father’s heart, which echoed those desperately needed words from him into my hungry and hurting heart and soul.
There is unspeakable power in the three simple words; “I love you” or “please forgive me.”” While these words are simple, it takes great courage to say them. Please, don’t be stubborn and don’t be afraid, dare to speak and listen for the reply; “I love you too.”
Scripture says, “If you hear God’s voice today, don’t be stubborn. Don’t be stubborn like those who rebelled in the wilderness.” – Hebrews 3:15
Don’t let silence kill your life, joy, or your future. Speak from your heart and live!
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” Psalms 147:3
“A wound where there is no weeping, writes, John Eldreged, is a wound that can not be healed.” Your wounded heart can be healed. But you must share your wounded heart with God.
Wounds and scars, whether physical or emotional, are essential to being human. It happens to all of us. The following is written on the back of my business card:
“Living a scarless life is not living at all. Sometimes, our greatest triumphs lie in our greatest defeats. In all things, I am a child of God and never a victim. I do not, therefore, interpret tragic circumstances as mishaps, but a divinely scheduled trip to God’s beauty salon.”
If we only see ourselves as victims in every crisis, loss, or betrayal, we deny the very instrument and tool for which God is doing his best work in us. When you refuse to become the victim and instead respond in praise and thanksgiving to God, you, therefore, thwart darkness and defeat the devil.
The devil wants you to wallow in bitterness and anguish. He wants you paralyzed, frozen in time and eternity with a wounded and broken heart. He knows that a heart not healed will keep you from God, keep you from salvation.
The old saying, “time heals all wounds,” is not from the Bible. It’s from the devil!
This is why Jesus of Nazareth read from – Isaiah 61: 1
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal and bind up the brokenhearted…”
As a matter of fact, Jesus’ reading of the Isaiah passage was the official announcement of his earthly ministry.
The Psalmist, King David, penned:
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” – Psalms 147:3
“His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.” – Job 2:9-10
God is in control – He’s not only our Creator, but He’s our Father also. He touches our lives with wisdom and cares for us greater than our earthly fathers. He’s preparing us for eternity with Him, and His actions are always with this in mind.
The devil wants you, if possible, to never meet your Heavenly Father. If he can’t prevent that, he’ll at least pervert it by causing your earthly father to wound your heart and soul. When our hearts bear the scars of father’s wounds, it is so hard, if not impossible, to trust God as our everlasting father.
And this is the central theme of Jesus’ ministry; to rescue you from the penalty of sin and the grip of the devil and to heal your broken heart so that salvation can come to you.
“No one can come to the Father,” said Jesus, except through me.” – John 14:6
Your heart must be healed because it is to become your Heavenly Father’s dwelling place.
He alone is the home for your wounded heart. Trust him, He’s making you beautiful inside and out.
Scars, are for some people, important symbols of heroism, bravery, and sacrificial achievements. But for many, scars are unfortunate circumstances of abuse, violence, rape, and simply being in the wrong place at a wrong moment.
The truth is, scars, whether bourn on or inside our bodies can, become a force for good. We all know and have experienced healing from pain, pain of broken bones, cuts, wounds, and emotional hurt. Thank God that he designed our bodies to heal itself. But not completely, right? Many wounds leave scar tissue. Even emotional wounds, wounds of the heart and mind can leave scarring.
Our scars all have stories behind them. For example, during the years of my youth, I played outside every summer break, doing dangerous stuff that kids do. Falling from trees, crashing bicycles, jumping ramps, doing all sorts of daredevil stuff, had scarred me up from head to toe! But I wouldn’t want to grow up any other way! Many of those childhood scars are still visible and still to this day tell many stories and fond, but painful memories.
Your scars, physical or emotional, also has stories. Some stories, I’m sure you don’t want to remember. But nonetheless, they happened, good or bad. But here’s something to give a little thought to; beneath your scars may be a hidden glory. How can that be? You may ask. Yes, I know you may not be a former all-pro football player; you don’t have to be a sports star or hero for your scars to add glory to your life.
Scars may be indicative of a well lived life or an indication of being human and vulnerable. A mother, for instance, bears the scars of childbirth, and each stretch mark represents the growth of new life within her, which she selflessly endured for her child. Her children, born to her, arrived during painful, agonizing labor, and, are a significant glory to her life. I don’t understand it as a man, but as soon as that baby is born, a mother’s face lights up with joy. Her joy miraculously replaces the pain and labor of birthing.
I’m thinking of a Bible verse, located somewhere, I think, in the book of Hebrews. Okay, I found it…
Hebrews 12:2 tells very clearly:
“… He who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This verse says Jesus focused on “the joy” that was set before Him as He endured the agony of crucifixion. He knew of the glory that was to be set upon him for his sacrifice. And he was crucified publicly. Wow!
I’ve spent too much time and energy trying to hide my scars, especially my emotional scars – scars of inner pain deep within the womb of the heart; scars of hurt, betrayal, and abuse. I’ve learned that healing isn’t the removal of such scars but accepting them and humbly wearing them like chevrons or stripes on my shoulders, indicating my rank and experience with pain.
My scars, hidden or not, are my carte blanche, approved by God. When God permits, my scars allow me to act as someone else’s wounded healer. Don’t be ashamed of your scars. Scaring means that you’ve survived, and maybe your survival and scars have a divine purpose for others. In other words, perhaps God masterfully ordained your hurt and pain so that your body, mind, and heart may produce abundant life and healing beyond yourself.
One day, as we pass from this life, we will see the scars planted on Jesus because of our sins. We will know then the significance of his scars as never before. We will have perfect clarity that our ultimate healing has come from those scars, and all our present pain and tears will be wiped away forever.
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes, we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:5
Have you heard the song, Scars?
Lyrics By: I Am They from the album: Trial & Triumph
“We came up to a new sunrise Looking back from the other side I can see now with open eyes Darkest water and deepest pain I wouldn’t trade it for anything Because my brokenness brought me to You
And these wounds are stories You’ll use
So I’m thankful for the scars Because without them, I wouldn’t know Your heart, And I know they always tell of who You are
So forever, I am thankful for the scars
Now I’m standing in confidence With the strength of Your faithfulness
And I’m not who I was before Now I don’t have to fear anymore
So I’m thankful for the scars Cause without them, I wouldn’t know Your heart, And I know they always tell of who You are
So forever, I am thankful for the scars
I can see, I can see How You delivered me In Your hands, in Your feet I found my victory I can see, I can see How You delivered me In Your hands, in Your feet I found my victory
I’m thankful for Your scars Cause without them, I wouldn’t know Your heart, And with my life, I’ll tell of who You are
So forever, I am thankful
I’m thankful for the scars Cause without them; I wouldn’t know Your heart, And I know they’ll always tell of who You are
So forever, I am thankful for the scars
So forever, I am thankful for the scars.”
Are you scarred body, mind, and heart? If so, you are in good company.
Learn to be thankful for each scar, and suddenly, without notice, what was meant for your harm, will instead produce a harvest of life and healing for others.
When I get strong, I get lost. When I get busy, I get independent. When I get successful, I get lonely.
I was down and out from October 11th, 2013, through mid-January 2014. Life had been hard and painful, but God has never been closer than he’s been with me through those difficult months. I’ll tell you, my dear friends, I’d rather be laid up and laid out with God by my side than lonely but successful in the world any day.
I had gotten to the point in my suffering that I began to thank God for my injuries and sicknesses. I began to see the blessings and the beautiful breaking to my stubborn heart and the fresh and living water flooding into my dry soul. My pain in a miraculous way allowed God’s voice to become magnified, and the whispers of “I love you son” filled my troubled mind in those long and dark, painful nights.
I truly want God, but he’s not necessarily in my busyness, nor is he in my business. He’s not in my self-imposed deadlines, or in the deadlines of others, which weary my body and mind, and cause me to strain and to force my goals above Gods’. He’s not in the coulda, woulda, or shoulda’s, nor is he in my goals of independence and worldly success. God is definitely not in my confused tantrums, my sulking, or complaining.
God is in the midst of suffering; he’s nearby the crushed and the weary, the sick and the lonely. Our God is with the widowed; he’s with the fatherless and alien. He hears the cries and prayers of the broken, the injured, and the weak.
“He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.” Isaiah 42:3 (NLT)
When I get strong, I get lost. When I get busy, I get independent. When I get successful, I get lonely.
I want God, and therefore, I welcome the pain and suffering so that I might gain all that he has for me through it. This is the process that can get us found in God, which can make us strong in the right things and focus on eternal values, which can bring contentment during our seasons of affliction.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not looking for pain and suffering, only that when it comes, the goodness and presence of God is magnified through it, and therefore, I can revel in it and celebrate because of it. Through it, I have learned that our greatest changes can result from what we suffer. Pain and suffering are powerful for our good!
So, while my body was aching and writhing in pain and anguish, my soul was soaring with God. I worshiped God and thanked him through so much of my illnesses and injuries. The pain still lingers, and the scar, which I now bear on my left leg and knee, will always remind me of God’s faithfulness to me all the way through it.
And so, I thank God for all of it.
One day, I was complaining to my wife, Toni, about a difficult client. I was through and ready to cut the relationship and take a significant loss just to get out of the misery.
Then, Toni pulled the “Book of Job” on me:
“Has not God provided through this person?” she said, and then continued: “Do you really to throw people away because they sometimes cause difficulty?”
Wow! I was called out and convicted. Thank you, Toni!
I had set aside, not only heaven’s provision for me, but I had set aside God’s provision of grace and mercy towards the one whom God set up to bring such needed financial provision.
“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not also receive evil?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:10
I am not deformed, but I am being transformed. The more we complain and lay blame, the slower our remaking through our braking goes. In my recent story with my client, God used my wife to get me back on track and with God’s program.
Our complaining always works against God’s transforming work, and so we fail to see how God masters evil for our good. Our complaining and blaming causes us to only see the badness of evil, rather the goodness of God in spite of it and His creative use with it.
“I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I The Lord do all these things.” – Isaiah 45:7
Ha, I’ve not heard that verse preached in Church!
So, if God masters light, darkness, peace, and evil, how can we be destroyed in the day of pain, sickness, and disease? How can we lose if what we fear can not keep us from winning? How then shall we live, if even evil and the day of disaster, is under the control of such a loving and caring Heavenly Father?
I’ll tell ya how we should then live – in Total Victory and with an Overcomer’s Spirit!
Hey, there’s power in what we suffer, no matter how miserable or deadly! But you gotta put away the complaining and start the thanksgiving and praising.
I was just a young teenager of 14 years old when I got a hold of a book titled “By What Standard” by the late Dr. Rousas John Rushdoony, the father of Mark Rushdoony.
Like the late Dr. Rushdoony, the life and story of Job, set the standard of who God is and His power over evil. Page 185 through page 205 of By What Standard is what impacted me most in my life as a teenager. The Book of Job established my foundation for all my understanding of the ways of God and the ability of God. The Book of Job became my standard of biblical understanding and godly comfort.
Like Job, it is blind faith and trust in the Almighty, whereby God shall succeed in spite of our lack of understanding and even confusion. Our suffering is not the end of the means, but the means to an end, forewhich Satan’s must comply with God’s will over our lives and our wellbeing.
So, the key is to invest all of your faith and trust into God’s will, and pain and suffering will become allies to your transformation and glorification.
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.” – Hebrews 2:10
Was it not God who invited Satan to consider His servant Job?
Did not God establish the boundaries after he invited Satan to afflict Job?
The Book of Job, chapters one, and two.
God masterfully controlled darkness, sickness, and disease over His servant Job, but He also displayed His power over the Prince of Darkness.
The Book of Job reveals how Satan must obey the very boundaries that God sets up, leaving Satan and all evil under the power of the God of the Universe and Creator of all things. And yes, including all angelic beings, and even those who’ve failed at the Heavenly coup d’état of God’s throne and power, and dare I say, they failed miserably!
‘God spoke to Cain:”Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you; you’ve got to master it.” – Genesis 4:6-7
We can master sin because God has mastered evil, and his Son, Jesus Christ, has vanquished our sin. He destroyed death and conquered the grave! But tantrums and sulking leave you vulnerable, and instead of victory, you’ll end in defeat.
So, we can thrive in pain and suffering, in loss and betrayal, and evil shall not destroy us. Evil becomes a weapon in the hand of God, disarming our enemy and thwarting evil’s plan for our destruction.
Do you want to disarm the Evil One? Then, praise God in the midst of all that hell has unleashed and bask in the suffering with thanksgiving. Trust fully in the God who knows what He is doing and the limits for which evil must obey.
Can we lose?
“No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
Put your faith and trust in God and become transformed and not deformed by all that you suffer.
Your pain may be your breakthrough into victory and validation that you are a true son or daughter of God and not a fatherless victim.
As a victor, you, too, will see The Miraculous Power of Pain and Suffering.
God Wants Us As We Are And Not What We Pretend To Be.
It’s been a long season of letting go and stripping down. It’s been a time of pruning and preening, until all the old feathers are removed and the old eagle remains perched, cold, vulnerable, and flightless. It’s a time of humility and powerlessness. It’s a time whereby I’ve become blind, deaf, and mute. I long for even the faintest whisper from the Almighty; a glimpse of his existence, and acknowledgement of my prayers.
It’s a time where others are making my decisions, not because I am a king (my time of reigning has deminised) but, because God’s interest are sonship and not kingship at this time in my life. God must have his way, or I will become too strong, too hardened, and too important. While my flesh yearns for such strength, independence, and self-importance; yet, His Spirit calls me heavenward.
So, I am sent back into the womb; into seclusion; into the hands of God to be reformed, kneaded, and made pliable, until my obedience becomes instinct, and my quality becomes refined. The purest gold is crystal clear and what we call beautiful, God calls dross.
In our human fragility and stubbornness, we cease the process of humility way too early. If it’s our own deconstructing and demolition, we blame it on the devil. If it is a friend or neighbor facing such travails, we jump in to save and to fix, and so short-circuit God’s best work in them. As singer/songwriter, Jill Phillips has so artfully penned into song,
“…God is both the builder and wrecking ball.”
And this truth gives good reason I cling to hope; amazingly, through it all, our God is in control. My deconstructing can be a good thing, if it is God swinging the wrecking ball.
Religious-populace thought, has dwarfed my perception and need for God. The extractible biblical principles and acquirable blessings “by cause and effect,” granted me the promised land of goodies without intimate relationship with Yahweh. I have become an idolater and have joined the ranks of “Christians,” who have reformed and refashioned their gold and silver into objects of worship. We call it “Yahweh,” and have found a way to satisfy our itch for deity worship and maintain our addiction to sin.
We’ve even learned to worship our worship! And crave “the anointing” more than the Anointer.
We’ve convinced ourselves and others that God as “Love,” trumps God as Justice, Holiness, and Righteousness. Oh, but how many of us do cry out for true justice, righteousness, and holiness?
Mainstream Christianity has reinvented God. He’s become a benevolent and tolerant God, full of winks, giggles, and thumbs-up at our sins.
So, I’ve been quiet and introspective. I’ve taken a look under the hood and it’s time for rebuilding and rethinking. Twenty-first Century Christianity is finally equivalent to First Century Phariseeism, only without the dark and flowing robes and phylacteries.
We’ve convinced ourselves that observances and the mastering of principals and rote make us acceptable to God. We are all white on the outside, but dead and dirty on the inside. We shut our ears and mouths to our own inner immorality and conflict; we direct the attention of others to our outward achievements and ministry appointments. We protect our own duplicity at the cost of our own identity.
We prefer to live in the shadows; not too much in the light or too much in the darkness. In the end, it is God we must convince, and He sees through our masks and into our hearts. There are no shadows with the Almighty!
We’ve become the generation who’d see to the arrest of Jesus; treat him as an imposter, a fake and a phony; his presence an annoyance, and his outspokenness a disturber of our traditions. We’d cast him out of our carpeted and high-tech sanctuaries and chase him and his homeless faction back to 73rd and West MacArthur.
We simply would not recognize Jesus of Nazareth, nor agree with his lifestyle and “unsuccessful demeanor” and lack of corporate-ness.
I’m on a quest to find the simplicity of what Jesus taught. To archeologically excavate and rediscover what decades of religious debris has covered over, like the sands of time.
So, that’s what has been going on in the inside. The outside is a different story. It must be mastered, or it will become my master. And this is my battleground. It’s an ancient battle fought by many, and won by so precious few. My prayer is to join the few, by relying on God’s grace and power, through Jesus Christ.
Our Sunday morning masquerading must come to an end. The pretense and fakery must be replaced with humility and honesty, or else we’ll become master Pharisees. We must capture our first love again and shed our sophisticated and false adult-selves and become God’s children again.
God wants us as we are and not what we pretend to be. Jesus didn’t come for fakers or liars, but for the broken and humble.
Pretenders pretend that their sins and shame are covered behind their false personas. Their so-called salvation is their masquerade, which, by the way, only assures them a full dance card outside with sweaty dogs and demons.
“Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.” – Revelation 22:14-16
I pray, that we as a redeemed people, can leave all the religious fakery behind and get back true redemption and rejoin God in redeeming this world. Because, if you haven’t noticed, this world is headed full speed towards hell.
Blessed are those that remove their masks and cease their love affair with living a lie.
My prayer is that God will also help you fail at your masquerade. Amen
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
“Where have all good men gone, and where are all the gods?
Where’s the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night, I toss, and I turn, and I dream of what I need
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero till the end of the night
He has to be strong, and he has to be fast, and he has to be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero till the morning light. He’s gotta be sure, and it’s gotta be soon, and he’s gotta be more significant than life…” Lyrics by Bonnie Tyler
“In peace, nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, disguise fair nature with hard favored rage. . .” William Shakespeare
We live to fight for others; there’s no time for the cowardice of heart or the indulgence of sorrow and pity…we have no time for what might have been, but only for what must be done! …Stop licking your wounds, get’m healed, then back into the fight we go!
We men, must, in great haste, understand the times in which we live. It is no accident or coincidence that you’ve been born in such infamous days. You will not survive what lies ahead unless you ready yourself, strengthen your heart, and clear your mind of worry.
Your soul is witnessing your actions; your wife and kids are watching; angels are gathering, and demons are unsettled.
Become the man you’ve been destined and chosen to be, give God his due, or die trying.
Our warfare is not against men and politics; we’re not battling flesh and blood, minorities or extremist; our fight is with spiritual wickedness in high places and unseen principalities; evil puppeteers are preying on the weakness of mortal men, enticing them with absolute power to cause absolute corruption.
Pay attention! If you refuse to battle the spiritual darkness of our time, you’ll be swept up into its evil, neutrality is equality with darkness, and bystanders will soon become backsliders.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
Good men, do something! Doing nothing is an abandonment of your masculine soul and God-given role in this world. There are only two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Darkness and the Kingdom of Heaven. Your convictions and actions dictate which Kingdom you belong to and not your “good” intentions.
Turn your gaming and playtime into the prayers of warriors and saints. Act like the heroes of our ancient faith, who’ve never seen their victories in the land of the living, but gave their lives nonetheless. They are in the heavens, cheering us towards glory and final victory.
“As it goes, everyone will receive what his actions in life have cultivated. Whoever has labored diligently and patiently to do what is right—seeking glory, honor, and immortality—God will grant him endless joy in life eternal. But selfish individuals who make trouble, resist the truth, or sell out to wickedness will meet a very different fate—they will find fury and indignation as the fruit of living in the wrong.” – Romans 2:6-8 (VOICE)
Start doing what is proper; do it with everything you’ve got. What you do, or do not do, has eternal consequences.
Say: “goodbye” to selfishness and passivity, and say: “hello” to glory, honor, and immortality!
Earn your crowns to have something to lay down at the feet of your King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
There is no room for second-place winners in the Halls of Heaven.
“Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually, there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.” 1 Corinthians 3: 12-15 (MSG)
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste death but once.” William Shakespeare
We need men to be men and transition into warriors rather than women.
“Watch and keep awake! Stand true to the Lord. Keep on acting like men and be strong. Everything you do should be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16: 13-14
“If our God, whom we honor, can save us from a blazing furnace and from your power, he will, Your Majesty. But if he doesn’t, you should know, Your Majesty, we’ll never honor your gods or worship the gold statue that you set up.” Daniel 3:17-18
As the banks fail, global economies collapse, and protests around the world turn violent; we believers everywhere must cling to God and His Word and never cease from honoring our God. We must resist men who threaten to seize control over our lives and who are progressively replacing the God whom we worship, with false gods and ideologies increasingly infesting our sacred institutions.
We will never bow to a false president, nor accept fraudulent elections. We will not honor any decrees which dishonor God or the sanctity of life. We will never worship the government or live by every word from the mouth of Washington DC.
We refuse to listen to fakers and thieves, whether in Church or government, cable news, or podcasts.
So, even if our God delays, our most sincere prayers and longing for a New Heaven and a New Earth, we’ll never honor false gods or fake news broadcasts, nor will we honor their czar-gods, or worship “the golden woke programming” that they continue to force upon us!
Why? Because the Church will be too busy searching and for the lost and reaching them in the four corners of this darkening world.
Rise O’ Bride of Christ, your finest hour has dawned this year of tragedy, our window of opportunity to exploit the last rays of freedom’s daylight is closing. Otherwise, the day of our persecution and times of trouble spoken about in the Scriptures will soon provide the contrast which should have been there all along.
Our listening to glorious Sunday morning messages, to talk radio, Christian branding, and marketing of worldly delights have caused us to forfeit the grace and culture that could have been ours. We’ve lost our nation not because we adhered to our Christianity but because we did not preach its redemptive messages outside of our pretty church buildings and corporate structures.
We’re losing our Nation not because we’ve not read enough Christian authors, or followed each crazed Christian fad, but rather because we chose passivity and embellished ourselves on “Turkish Delights” of Worldliness, and gazed too long at the bewitchment of the Queen of Goodies and new Technologies. (For which I, too, am guilty).
Because we used our freedom to form and fashion false gods of tolerance — gods of laughs and giggles -— and thumbs up and “Likes” to our sins and compromises. So, we branded our “Golden Calf” with the name “Yahweh” to ease our guilty consciences and silence the voice of God’s whispering Holy Spirit of repentance.
Our Nation’s ruin is not our failed politics or lack of political might, but rather our refusal to preach the Gospel of a better order and of an eternal and expanding Kingdom. A Kingdom led by the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the Presidents of Presidents, that is Jesus Christ, The Righteousness of God!
But there is still hope. And, the God of all hopes dwells within you. The time is NOW to declare the Hope which is inside of you. For how can it be hope unless you speak it out to the hopeless and the hope-lost?
Put down the false gods of our age, and thus brighten the future of America. Our liberty was won by people whose God is the Lord!
Get your faith and houses in order. Decide now, not later what you will do when the world crashes around you.
“Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you.” – Psalms 91:5-7
Whether God does or does not come through for us and our nation, we will never cease from honoring our God!
President Biden and presidential candidate, Harris, you may be destroying our Great Nation, besmirching America’s great name among the nations, robbing our liberties, destroying our securities, and devaluing our properties.
But, Mr. President, you should know this; as you darken America, even to the point of collapse, we’ll never honor your gods or worship the golden statute of wokeism that you set up. We will never turn our backs against the Lord God All Mighty, Maker and Redeemer of Heaven and Earth!
We will face the coming fiery trials like Daniel and as his friends did. We will obey God and not foolish rulers. We will defy your false gods. We will stand firm in our faith no matter the circumstance.
People of God, be brave, be strong, and very courageous! You have the God of the Angel Armies watching over you!
Call To Courage 