from my prayer time: with our weapons restored
Posted by:
SeLahGirl on
August 16, 2008 at
8:04PM EST
with our weapons restored
one more thing to add to the post above...
I was praying yesterday and God put a couple things in my heart. The first was Ephesians 5:7-14,
"3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or
of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for
God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or
coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of
this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is
an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things
God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as
children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all
goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the
Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but
rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the
disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes
visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why
it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
I felt like the Lord was saying to be discerning, to realize that not
all that calls itself Christian is, and not all who claim to work for
the Kingdom of God are working for Him. Consider the fruit, not the
title that they have given themselves. I felt that he went on to say
for his people to not be afraid, to not feel so small. It was as though
he was saying that...
You are not going into battle alone.
Remember the vision I gave you long ago of the Shepherd as he walked.
One sheep heard his voice and began to follow him as he led it along.
Then other sheep, one by one, also heard him and began to follow as
individual sheep. Suddenly the vision was a whole flock of sheep that
followed him as individual sheep, but who became a body of sheep in the
process. That is us. That is the church. That is the gathering process.
Following the shepherd is the key for each sheep, as we follow him with
our whole heart, he will form and fashion a body of believers committed
to following him above all else. That is our common bond. That is
unity, and the affection that causes us to love one another... our love
for Him.
Follow the shepherd into battle. Go and there will
be others there with you, walking beside you, meeting you along the
path, appearing from within the flock though you were never even aware
of their presence until the right and perfect moment.
You are not going into battle alone.
Then he took me to I Samuel 13:16-22, as I continued in prayer and worship...
"
16 Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in
Gibeah in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Micmash. 17 Raiding
parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One
turned toward Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual, 18 another toward Beth
Horon, and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of
Zeboim facing the desert.
19 Not a blacksmith could be found in
the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, "Otherwise
the Hebrews will make swords or spears!" 20 So all Israel went down to
the Philistines to have their plowshares, mattocks, axes and sickles
sharpened. 21 The price was two thirds of a shekel for sharpening
plowshares and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks
and axes and for repointing goads.
22 So on the day of the
battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his
hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them."
It's as
though the enemy has worked an intricate and clever plan to disarm the
people of God. Our weapons are unprepared and we stand on the
battlefield vulnerable and wondering how it happened. Let me make it
clear.... prayer removed from school, the ten commandments outlawed and
forgotten, the holiness of the marriage bed defiled, the blood of
Christ removed from our hymnals and our politically correct pulpits,
our hearts lusting after all the stuff the world says we should have,
our eyes lusting after the flesh that surrounds us and seeps into our
homes thru every form of media, the pastors and denominations that we
have come to worship as though they are God, the word of our testimony
silenced because of our guilt and our shame and our sin and our
pacifism...
We finally stand and go to battle, only to try
to face a deadly enemy, armies and armies that have organized and
plotted against us, who have used our own weaknesses to set us up as
easy prey... but the story of Jonathan goes on, just as I believe that
our testimony will go on to bring God even greater glory. Faith pleases
God always, in every situation. That's the key we must remember as we
read the rest of the story. Israel remained stuck for a time and unsure
what to do, sound familiar? But then we read I Samuel 14...
"1
One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor,
"Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But
he did not tell his father.
2 Saul was staying on the
outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were
about six hundred men, 3 among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an
ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the
son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan
had left.
4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended
to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called
Bozez, and the other Seneh. 5 One cliff stood to the north toward
Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba.
6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows.
Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."
7 "Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul."
8 Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let
them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we
will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come
up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the
LORD has given them into our hands."
11 So both of them
showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. "Look!" said the
Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were
hiding in." 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his
armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson."
So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel."
13 Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer
right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his
armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. 14 In that first attack
Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of
about half an acre.
15 Then panic struck the whole
army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding
parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.
16 Saul's lookouts at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the army melting away in
all directions. 17 Then Saul said to the men who were with him, "Muster
the forces and see who has left us." When they did, it was Jonathan and
his armor-bearer who were not there.
18 Saul said to
Ahijah, "Bring the ark of God." (At that time it was with the
Israelites.) 19 While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the
Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest,
"Withdraw your hand."
20 Then Saul and all his men
assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total
confusion, striking each other with their swords. 21 Those Hebrews who
had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to
their camp went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
22 When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of
Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the
battle in hot pursuit.
23 So the LORD rescued Israel that day, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven.
There were hundreds of men there that day ready to fight for Israel...
but only one that put his faith in God. Jonathan's comment in verse 6
reminds me so much of a couple chapters later when David would meet
Goliath on the battlefield.
" 45 David said to the
Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but
I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand
you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I
will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air
and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there
is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not
by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's,
and he will give all of you into our hands." (I Sam 17)
Faith. Confidence. Trust in God. Risk...
And God honored the faith of one man as Jonathan put his trust in who
he knew God to be. The victory was granted to a nation, because one man
trusted God and convinced another to trust God, and it was that Faith
that led an army into battle despite their vulnerability, despite the
intricate plans fashioned against them by their enemies.
Will we be a people of Faith?
We have allowed ourselves to sleep, we have allowed our weapons to grow
dull, we have followed eccentric/arrogant/unskilled voices to the
battlefield and arrived unprepared... depending on someone/anyone to
step up and tell us what to do. We fail to think and to ready ourselves
and we allow ourselves to be slaves and robots without purpose or
passion or vision... that is not God's plan for us. That is not who he
fashioned us to be... When we obey voices that tell us to let our guard
down, rather than the voice of God that says to be diligent in guarding
such things... we die.
But when we choose to be a people of
faith, no matter what the enemy has schemed... when we choose to seek
God despite our weaknesses and our failures, when we call upon him and
look to him with contrite and repentant hearts, when we continue to
fight for the good of the whole, for his people and for his perfect
will... God is pleased. When we trust him and act with courage, with
humble hearts, acknowledging our sin and our shortcomings and our need
of Him... God will act on our behalf. He will not remain silent. He
will forgive, and speak and guide and confirm and restore our strength.
God will confuse our enemies and he will grant us victory by his grace
and his mercy.
God will get us thru this battle. We will
win this ground somehow as we put our trust in him. And then as the
battle moves forward to the next territory that he leads us to
reclaim... we will move forward with the Lord... wiser, and with our
weapons restored.
