2009 – Day 157.June 7 – Our Obstacle Course
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 5 – 7 … 2 Then the word of the LORD came to him [Elijah], saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
My Journal for Today: Today I read Chuck Swindoll’s devotional for this day in his book, Great Days with the Great Lives; and normally, I just use this as a guide for what God, the Holy Spirit, gives me to share as my devotional journal entry. But today, I was touched to the core by what Pastor Swindoll had to share; and I would discredit this fine teaching effort to do anything other than just quote what this faithful shepherd has to share. So, I quote this dear servant exactly as he has written the following about Elijah’s bootcamp experience.
Chuck Swindoll: Part of every boot camp experience is the grueling, grinding, and sometimes daunting obstacle course. It is neither fun nor easy, but its demanding discipline prepares the recruit for whatever situations he or she may face in the future, particularly under enemy fire. In the spiritual life, before we can truly benefit from “the hidden life” that God uses to prepare us for whatever future He has planned for us, we must overcome at least four major obstacles. I think of them as four rough membranes of the flesh: pride, fear, resentment, and long-standing habits. Conquering these layers of resistance will prepare us for the future and harden us for combat with the adversary.
In a very real sense, God has designed a boot camp for His children; but it doesn’t last just eight or ten weeks. Nor is it a weekend seminar we can take or a day-long workshop we can attend. God’s training course takes place periodically throughout the Christian life. And there, in the very center of obstacles and pain and solitude, we come to realize how alive God is in our lives – how alive and in charge. He will invade us, reduce us, break us, and crush us, so that we will become the people He intends us to be.
No matter how many years we walk with the Lord, we must still, at times, pass through our own Gethsemane. It happens every time He sends us to the brook to live the hidden life. It happens every time He disorients us as He displaces us; every time He pulls out all the props; every time He takes away more of the comforts; every time He removes most of the “rights” we once enjoyed. And He does all this so that He can mold us in the person that we otherwise never would be. He knows what He’s about.
Elijah went to Cherith as an energetic spokesman for God – a Prophet. He emerged from Chrerith as a deeper man of God. All this happened because he was left beside a brook that dried up. Alone, but not forgotten. Tested, but not abandoned.
Wow! What could I add to that? Nothing, I assure you; but I pray that, like me, you are enlightened by Pastor Swindoll to realize that God is giving us all our boot camp obstacles, as He did with Elijah, to prepare us for what lies ahead and to prepare us to be his witness in this world, … a witness who can shine His light and glorify the Holy Father.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank You for the obstacles You put us through to shape our witness for You. Amen
Showing posts with label boot camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boot camp. Show all posts
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Saturday, June 06, 2009
2009 – Day 156.June 6 – Laying A Foundation of Courage
2009 – Day 156.June 6 – Laying A Foundation of Courage
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 1 – 7 … Linked for study …
James 5: 17 – 18 … 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
My Journal for Today: As I’ve been reading that passage in 1st Kings the last few days, I’m getting the idea that God has to put His army through spiritual bootcamp before they can become seasoned and disciplined and dedicated – TO GOD - and not to self.
Swindoll points out that Robert E. Lee’s biographer wrote, “Had [Lee’s] life been epitomized in one sentence from THE BOOK he read so often, it would have been in the words, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ “ [I hope you recognize that immediately as Luke 9: 23, a verse I repeat often in my devotional entries.]
Robert E. Lee was a man who recognized that to be a follower after God, one must be disciplined in godliness. And that’s what makes praying and living toward Christlikeness so challenging. Elijah prayed a tough prayer … that God would stop the rains; and then he had to live through the outcome of God answering that prayer along with all those who denied God. Yes, when the drought came for three and one-half years, Elijah had to live trough the extended drought just like the rebellious Hebrews did.
Have you ever prayed a prayer, asking God to make you a more Godly man or woman? But in the back of your mind, you were praying silently, “But, Lord, please don’t take away my creature comforts.” Or maybe you were afraid to pray for humility or patience because you knew what God might have to do to develop those Christlike qualities in your life. In today’s MacDonald’s mentality, self denial is not a popular virtue. In fact we’re being given all kinds of tools to promote instant gratification. The I-Phone generation has an “APP” for everything. We simply don’t honor the truth that God must lead us though the valley of the shadow of death to do what He promises in Phil. 1: 6 [linked], … and that is, to complete us into the image of our Savior. [Notice - I just hyperlinked you to Phil. 1: 6 to save you the time and effort to go get your Bible, look up the passage, and study it. Shame on me! ;>) ]
Are you praying that God will turn around the evil in the world? That’s a good prayer; but do you realize what it’s going to take in terms of our own lives, as followers of God, to rid the world of the evil that is growing ever darker day-by-day? It’s going to take a major spiritual earthquake [what we pray for as “revival”] to get the attention of the unGodly in this world. And in case you haven’t noticed, when an earthquake hits, the believers as well as the non-believers suffer.
By nature I’m a “chicken.” I don’t like pain; and I don’t like to suffer. But I’ve come to realize that my only way to Christlikeness is to bring myself – INTENTIONALLY – to surrender to God’s Luke 9: 23 bootcamp. It means, like Elijah learned, I must deny myself and take up the disciplines of the faith, and follow my Lord – NO MATTER WHERE HE GOES. If that means, getting in to His word daily, then that’s what I must do. If it means developing a deeper prayer life, then that’s what I must do. If it means suffering in the heat and pressure of life, … well, you’re getting the picture.
I hope you’re praying for a better world; but I hope you don’t shy away from that prayer because you don’t want to experience what is going to be necessary for God to rain down His revival of His plan for mankind.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I’m a chicken; and I hate to see my loved ones suffer. Come quickly! Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 1 – 7 … Linked for study …
James 5: 17 – 18 … 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
My Journal for Today: As I’ve been reading that passage in 1st Kings the last few days, I’m getting the idea that God has to put His army through spiritual bootcamp before they can become seasoned and disciplined and dedicated – TO GOD - and not to self.
Swindoll points out that Robert E. Lee’s biographer wrote, “Had [Lee’s] life been epitomized in one sentence from THE BOOK he read so often, it would have been in the words, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ “ [I hope you recognize that immediately as Luke 9: 23, a verse I repeat often in my devotional entries.]
Robert E. Lee was a man who recognized that to be a follower after God, one must be disciplined in godliness. And that’s what makes praying and living toward Christlikeness so challenging. Elijah prayed a tough prayer … that God would stop the rains; and then he had to live through the outcome of God answering that prayer along with all those who denied God. Yes, when the drought came for three and one-half years, Elijah had to live trough the extended drought just like the rebellious Hebrews did.
Have you ever prayed a prayer, asking God to make you a more Godly man or woman? But in the back of your mind, you were praying silently, “But, Lord, please don’t take away my creature comforts.” Or maybe you were afraid to pray for humility or patience because you knew what God might have to do to develop those Christlike qualities in your life. In today’s MacDonald’s mentality, self denial is not a popular virtue. In fact we’re being given all kinds of tools to promote instant gratification. The I-Phone generation has an “APP” for everything. We simply don’t honor the truth that God must lead us though the valley of the shadow of death to do what He promises in Phil. 1: 6 [linked], … and that is, to complete us into the image of our Savior. [Notice - I just hyperlinked you to Phil. 1: 6 to save you the time and effort to go get your Bible, look up the passage, and study it. Shame on me! ;>) ]
Are you praying that God will turn around the evil in the world? That’s a good prayer; but do you realize what it’s going to take in terms of our own lives, as followers of God, to rid the world of the evil that is growing ever darker day-by-day? It’s going to take a major spiritual earthquake [what we pray for as “revival”] to get the attention of the unGodly in this world. And in case you haven’t noticed, when an earthquake hits, the believers as well as the non-believers suffer.
By nature I’m a “chicken.” I don’t like pain; and I don’t like to suffer. But I’ve come to realize that my only way to Christlikeness is to bring myself – INTENTIONALLY – to surrender to God’s Luke 9: 23 bootcamp. It means, like Elijah learned, I must deny myself and take up the disciplines of the faith, and follow my Lord – NO MATTER WHERE HE GOES. If that means, getting in to His word daily, then that’s what I must do. If it means developing a deeper prayer life, then that’s what I must do. If it means suffering in the heat and pressure of life, … well, you’re getting the picture.
I hope you’re praying for a better world; but I hope you don’t shy away from that prayer because you don’t want to experience what is going to be necessary for God to rain down His revival of His plan for mankind.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I’m a chicken; and I hate to see my loved ones suffer. Come quickly! Amen
Saturday, May 30, 2009
2009 – Day 149.May 30 – Cut Down To Size
2009 – Day 149.May 30 – Cut Down To Size
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 2 - 6 … 2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll, from his experience in Marine boot camp in his years past, has an interesting take on this short passage in 1st Kings about Elijah after his confrontation with Ahab. Elijah is taken away into the wilderness; and his willingness to surrender to His Lord is tested. Swindoll likens this to his own former time in boot camp where the Marines did exactly what was needed to insure that the younger Swindoll would be cut down to size and reshaped into the soldier he needed to be to face his future in military service.
As Swindoll relates, the Marines used “… the isolation of the location, the absence of all creature comforts, the relentless, monotonous drills and demanding repetition of inspections, [and] … the constant harassment of the drill instructor;“ … all designed to reshape the naïve and untrained recruits into soldiers who could meet any type of warfare, knowing that they could follow their commanders into battle. And according to Swindoll, that’s essentially what we’re reading in today’s passage where God used solitude and surrender to focus His man, Elijah, and to prepare him for the battles he would face ahead.
What has God put you through in life to prepare you for the battles we must face in spiritual warfare? Do you have a “battle plan” which has been forged out of the boot camp of life? Are you focused in faith and ready to follow your Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus, just as He has commanded of His disciples (see Luke 9: 23 - a verse you should have burned into your life from the boot camp of scripture memorization). You know, that verse says we, as Christ’s soldiers, must deny ourselves, take up the crosses of life daily, and follow our Lord anywhere He leads. Have you been reshaped into the surrendered soldier in God’s army who is willing – AND ABLE – to do just that?
If not, my friend, you need a drill instructor (i.e., a mentor) who can take you through a boot camp of Spirit-led preparation, reshaping you into a hardened and ready warrior. I lead a ministry called BattlePlan Ministries [link provided to website]; and that’s part of the training we try to impart to men who have been in bondage to habitual and selfish sinful living. We try to get them to become self-disciplined warriors who are surrendered to God and willing to follow the lead of their Commander, Christ, anywhere He would lead them.
And when the bootcamp of life has reshaped them, they are self-surrendered soldiers who have been armed for battle with God’s full armor (see Eph. 6: 13-18 - linked). They know how to carry a well sharpened and practiced Sword of the Spirit; and they know how to take the high ground of prayer in the daily battles they will face.
Are you ready for battle today? Do you have a well formulated and written battle plan? Are you wearing God’s full armor? Do you carry a sharpened and practiced Sword of the Spirit? And are you disciplined to go to the high ground of prayer every day, preparing for the battle’s you will face TODAY?
If you are not, you are naked and vulnerable to your spiritual enemies. I pray that God is preparing you and reshaping you, as He did Elijah, for the battles you are going to face.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, You have prepared me for battle; and I choose to follow only You. Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 2 - 6 … 2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll, from his experience in Marine boot camp in his years past, has an interesting take on this short passage in 1st Kings about Elijah after his confrontation with Ahab. Elijah is taken away into the wilderness; and his willingness to surrender to His Lord is tested. Swindoll likens this to his own former time in boot camp where the Marines did exactly what was needed to insure that the younger Swindoll would be cut down to size and reshaped into the soldier he needed to be to face his future in military service.
As Swindoll relates, the Marines used “… the isolation of the location, the absence of all creature comforts, the relentless, monotonous drills and demanding repetition of inspections, [and] … the constant harassment of the drill instructor;“ … all designed to reshape the naïve and untrained recruits into soldiers who could meet any type of warfare, knowing that they could follow their commanders into battle. And according to Swindoll, that’s essentially what we’re reading in today’s passage where God used solitude and surrender to focus His man, Elijah, and to prepare him for the battles he would face ahead.
What has God put you through in life to prepare you for the battles we must face in spiritual warfare? Do you have a “battle plan” which has been forged out of the boot camp of life? Are you focused in faith and ready to follow your Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus, just as He has commanded of His disciples (see Luke 9: 23 - a verse you should have burned into your life from the boot camp of scripture memorization). You know, that verse says we, as Christ’s soldiers, must deny ourselves, take up the crosses of life daily, and follow our Lord anywhere He leads. Have you been reshaped into the surrendered soldier in God’s army who is willing – AND ABLE – to do just that?
If not, my friend, you need a drill instructor (i.e., a mentor) who can take you through a boot camp of Spirit-led preparation, reshaping you into a hardened and ready warrior. I lead a ministry called BattlePlan Ministries [link provided to website]; and that’s part of the training we try to impart to men who have been in bondage to habitual and selfish sinful living. We try to get them to become self-disciplined warriors who are surrendered to God and willing to follow the lead of their Commander, Christ, anywhere He would lead them.
And when the bootcamp of life has reshaped them, they are self-surrendered soldiers who have been armed for battle with God’s full armor (see Eph. 6: 13-18 - linked). They know how to carry a well sharpened and practiced Sword of the Spirit; and they know how to take the high ground of prayer in the daily battles they will face.
Are you ready for battle today? Do you have a well formulated and written battle plan? Are you wearing God’s full armor? Do you carry a sharpened and practiced Sword of the Spirit? And are you disciplined to go to the high ground of prayer every day, preparing for the battle’s you will face TODAY?
If you are not, you are naked and vulnerable to your spiritual enemies. I pray that God is preparing you and reshaping you, as He did Elijah, for the battles you are going to face.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, You have prepared me for battle; and I choose to follow only You. Amen
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