On the Battlefield for My Lord – Part III

I got your back...

Part III: The Brotherhood (part a)

The last few weeks of Bible Study have been great and one of the reasons is that the guys are growing together and are truly becoming a brotherhood.  When I started writing about being a Warrior of the Lord three weeks ago I intended to write about this particular topic.  I got a little sidetracked but I feel Parts I and II were a necessary starting point for a discussion on being a Warrior.

In Part I we discussed how a warrior of the Lord does not rely on his own strength.  The need for God is clear, but what is often ignored is the need for other people.  Some might even make fun of a man who admits that he needs other people.  Our modern American culture tells us that, “The only thing a real man needs is himself!”, but this is far from the biblical model for how we should live our lives.  In the book of Genesis the Lord says of his newly created man, “It is not good that the man should be alone”, and so he created woman.  While this was good, men need more than a woman by their side.

Men need someone who can understand the deepest core of their being and offer encouragement that can only come from another man.  Men innately understand the weaknesses and struggles of other men and are uniquely qualified to come alongside us and help us through our struggles.  This brings me to an important point.  Warriors need to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity against their enemies and watch each others backs to guard from a surprise attack.  As Warriors for the Lord, we need to be like the Spartans at Thermopylae, standing shoulder to shoulder, shields overlapped, or like the soldiers pictured above, covering each others backs.

This can be accomplished in a number of ways.  First, we can stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight by praying for, encouraging, and building up one another.  When our brothers are struggling, we must come alongside them and help them through their struggles.  When we see our brother down, we must pick them up and help them continue the fight.  Secondly, we can hold each other accountable.  Accountability is very important.  Ask each other the hard questions and be willing to hear the answers.  This is something that will be discussed in more detail later but its important to think about.  Do you have someone that you can trust enough to open up to them about your struggles?  I would encourage you all to find someone to meet with regularly to discuss the things that you struggle with and that cause you to stumble.

By standing shoulder to shoulder and watching each others backs as brothers, we can help prevent stumbling, and even if someone stumbles, we will be able to build them back up again.

On The Battlefield for My Lord – Part I

Part I: The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Last Friday we talked a little bit about being warriors in a specific sense, and Jay brought it up again in his comment on the purity post.  So for this weeks post I decided that I wanted to expand on that idea a little bit and really talk about what it means to be a warrior for God.

Throughout the Old Testament there are many references to the Lord being a Warrior.  There are also many stories of other great warriors and battles, but one common theme that can be found is that these great warriors of old relied on the Lord’s strength for their victories.  One warrior in particular can be found in Judges 6.  The people of Israel were once again being oppressed because of their disobedience and unfaithfulness, this time by the Midianites and Amalekites, when Gideon was called to deliver God’s people.  In verse 12, an Angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and greets him saying, “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor.”  Gideon’s immediate reaction was to question God for allowing the Israelites to be oppressed, but the Angel of the Lord simply responds with, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”  Once again, Gideon questions the angel, this time with doubts of his own ability, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”  The Lord’s response is such a wonderful illustration of what I mentioned before about God giving us the will and the ability to do good.  The Lord responds to Gideon’s doubts about himself by saying, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”  God doesn’t build up Gideon’s self esteem or give him a pep talk.  He simply says, “I will be with you” and that is all that Gideon needs to overcome his enemies.

Gideon’s story continues in Judges 7 where he gathers an army of 32,000 men to go against nearly 135,000 enemy soldiers.  Despite the imbalance, God says to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’”  After sending all but 300 men home, God then tells Gideon, “Arise, go down against the camp [of the Midianites], for I have given it into your hand.”  And the Lord surely did.  In verses 21 and 22 we see God clearly working, fighting the battle for Gideon and delivering the Midianites into his hands.  All Gideon had to do was a mop up campaign, as Pastor Ted so often says.

While this may have been a rather lengthy introduction to the topic of being a warrior of the Lord, it is important for us to remember that we cannot rely on our own strength.  I know this isn’t new or revolutionary for many of you and I’ve talked about it in every single post so far but this is a reality that everything relies on.  If we don’t keep in mind that we are not fighting our battles alone, and that we cannot rely on our own strength, then we become proud, thinking that our own hands have saved us.

Be sure to watch out for part 2 where I discuss the character of a warrior of the Lord.  Also, if you want to get emails when I post a new topic, be sure to subscribe at the top right of the blog.

Purity

Job 14:4

Welcome to the PHD blog! I’ve been thinking about starting this for awhile as an extension of the weekend bible studies that I’ve been hosting for the high school guys.  Earlier this week, I finally had a name and even an idea for a first post. While my book review was necessary (and hopefully informative) it was merely what compelled me to actually stop thinking and start doing. Hopefully book reviews will be a regular feature here but my primary concern is with PHD. This opening post on purity is the true beginning. All the bible study guys know what PHD means, and I must apologize in advance to the ladies but I can’t divulge the full meaning as of yet. It is simply too much fun to keep you guessing. Anyway, this entry is the first installment of a three part series on PHD.

As a warning, this post covers the idea of sexual impurity. I would encourage you all to talk to your parents about this and possibly even read through this with them. It would be foolish to ignore their wisdom and wishes for you in this matter.

Out of all the things that young men struggle with, purity is probably the most difficult. While dealing with surging hormones, the culture around them is screaming sex at every turn. In every aspect of our society, sexually active (and promiscuous) young men are glorified and held up as examples of what a man should be. It is no wonder that 38 percent of teen boys deliberately access pornographic materials on the Internet every year (http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov07/webporn.aspx). This culture of “all sex all the time” has led to an unprecedented desensitization of America’s youth. In 2003, a study found that 62 percent of twelth graders had had sex (www.kff.org/youthhivstds/upload/U-S-Teen-Sexual-Activity-Fact-Sheet.pdf). Obviously there is something wrong here. This is not what God wants from teenagers.

So what exactly does God want? Does he want a guy with “swagger” who bags a babe a week? No! God demands Holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 says, “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.” Now for all of you who may think “well, I haven’t engaged in any sexual activity yet, so I’m doing pretty good,” take a look at Matthew 5:28, “everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  We must remember that purity is not some sort of line or boundary to not cross. It isn’t as if you can still remain pure if you “just kiss but nothing else” or “look but don’t touch”.  Psalm 24:3-4 makes this perfectly clear, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…” What are your intentions? What do you desire in your heart? To worship God, or to bring pleasure to yourself? God wants our minds and hearts to be pure.  He wants nothing short of Holiness, but we are obviously not holy.  The sin of impurity is something that every man will struggle with in his life.  What can we possibly do then?

The story of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 is a heartbreaking account of the fall from grace of a powerful King, a man after God’s own heart. For those of you who don’t know the story, read it, it’s good. What begins as an act of laziness on David’s part, by staying in Jerusalem while he should have been out with his army, quickly devolves into a seedy story of adultery and murder as David steals the wife of another man and has him killed to cover up an unexpected pregnancy. David’s sins built on one another until he violated nearly every one of the ten commandments! After sending Nathan the Prophet (awesome name by the way), David sees his error and confesses his sins.

A beautiful response to Nathan’s challenge can be found in Psalm 51.  Take a moment to read it.  This psalm serves as an excellent model for all who have fallen into the sin of impurity.  David cries out for mercy (1,2), he confesses his sins (3-5), he begs God to cleanse him from his sins (7-9) and finally he humbly requests that God would “create in [him] a clean heart and renew a right spirit within [him]” (10). Rather than a man with swagger, God delights in the sacrifice of “a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart,” (17). To all those who suffer from the guilt of impurity, confess your sins and cry out to the Lord! If you do so, he is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). If you feel that what you have done is far more than God could ever forgive, you’re wrong. God takes the filthiest of rags off of us and clothes us in the righteousness that Christ earned by living a life we never could have lived (Zechariah 3, Romans 13:12b), and dying the death we deserved (Romans 6:23). What a comfort it is to know that, while we were yet sinners, God showed his love for us and sent his son to die on the cross to atone for our sins! (Romans 5:8)  Not only that, but he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is with God the Father speaking in our defense! (1 John 2:1)

Now, you may be thinking, “this doesn’t exactly help me with purity on a daily basis”.  Purity in practice will be the topic of a future post but this is the starting point.  Without this, all the advice and techniques in the world would be meaningless.  If we know and are constantly reminded of all that God has done for us, it gives us reason and purpose.  Because of what God has done for us, we are called to a life in the pursuit of righteousness (2 Timothy 2:22).  Purity, H and D are all vital to this pursuit and all three will be discussed in future posts.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment.  If you don’t want the question to be public, you can always send me a private message on facebook or you can call me anytime.  Also be sure to check out the link to our sister site, the Grace Gurls blog, where my talented wife has her web extension for the girls bible study.