The Battle Has Already Been Won

I am feeling once again a transition a new season of what God has for me.
As much as I am excited there is something inside of me that I cannot quench.
It is the desire to do it on my own. In other words how much, when, where and frantic like.
Looking for direction. It's not honestly because I do not know the direction. I know the direction. It is more that I am afraid of what lies in the direction I must go. Like approaching a dangerous part of the jungle but knowing it is your only way out. You would rather at time wonder about the wrong direction to delay what you must do. This battle can be difficult. Sometime paralyzing.

Many times we forget that the battle has been won. Over sin, Over our lives and ultimately over our destiny. If that is what you would say. In Isiah. The lord says. I knew you when you were in your mothers womb I knew you.

Jeremiah 1:5

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew ^[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

If the Lord knew us before we are born does not he also know use thereafter. After all the lousy decisions, after the storm of the war. God sees us as the Conquerer. Because this is how he made us. His children. We conquer with love, with grace and many times by war.

Across the pages of the old testament we see battles that rages where even the young and innocent are slaughtered. The truth of all of this is that as much as we want to deny the truth of it. The clear picture is one that is spoken in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 9

So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. 2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, ^[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good man,
so with the sinner;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.

3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.

It is a bleak picture that at first glance seems to have no real hope. No matter who we are or what we are there are the guarantees. There is one definite Guarantee. He will not leave or forsake us as well as the Guarantee of Salvation. This is something in this dreary and sometimes unfortunate world that we live in that you can bank on. God will be there. He is the overcomer. He is the ruler over all. As many times we feel our drama deserves the center stage. It is Gods purpose this is ultimately the most important. We do it Gods way and not always is clean, not always is it peaceful,not always is it what some might call a "Spiritual Decision" but it becomes a Godly one. our fallacy of thought comes when we take the warrior out of the God that we serve and place him with a peaceful and cute baby Jesus. If we do not see the Complete Jesus Christ in our lives we will tend to be weighted too far on either side. We must be balanced knowing we are making a decision out of Christ purpose and not our own. Then we will indeed know going into the battle that we win. If our heart is in Christ Jesus and we are walking the spirit we too like David can Claim the victory as being Christ alone and we won't take credit for our own kingship when and if we are promoted.

Men's Advance 2007

Over the weekend I attended a Men's Advance. We call them Advances instead of retreats. mainly because men advance and do not retreat. The words mean a lot. Sometimes we don't realize just how much they mean until we are in need of something more than just a retreat but change. When we want to push the envelope of what God wants for us this usually happens. Sometimes is takes a long time. Kind of like a an incubation period of what we heard and now what are we going to do about it?

The main topic of the weekend was being a priest in your home. I thought it was a very impacting time that had me asking questions of how I priest-ed in the home before. I know that sometimes we don't necessarily think of ourselves as priest of the home but God intends men to be the priest of the home. Not Lording over but carefully being the head point, the cutting stone and being fully accountable for our actions with our family. This picture is far different from the sometimes glossed over and pitiful men depicted on prime time TV.

Shows like Everybody loves Raymond. Where the wife is leading the man around and the grandparents have a large say in the family. It is fitting cause I do enjoy everybody loves Raymond. But clearly though there is comedy which is tragedy you will find this is indeed the outcome of these types of relationships. Shows are made to eliminate the true consequence for if the actual consequence of those relationships were played out they would not be on prime time but cable and they would not ultimately be a comedy; but a sad and dark drama.

The world and Men in general have no standards to look at for men. Especially men who are living in and for the world today. Our best examples (best being worst) Homer Simpson, King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, and well this one's old but Married with children.

The only closely relate-able to what a husband wife relationship should be as Priests would be the Bill Cosby Show. He spoke with his wife, discussed matters. Did not make taboo subjects taboo with his children, He was transparent, communicative, bold (Sometimes). They worked as a team and it was Bill's responsibility to lead the home properly. There will probably not be a show like that again (though I hope there might).

I am not trying to get off track. I am simply trying to be understandable. Our example "today" of what a man should be in the household is deeply clouded and the only real examples are from the bible. People like Abraham, David, Isaiah, They were men of Valor. That would be the best way to explain them. Men not afraid to go Gods way and be fully responsible for their actions. They were not passive. They were not setting on the sidelines having the wife make the decisions and shouting "Honey that will never work...but do what you may." instead they were saying I will take the lead with my father in heaven to raise this family and I will look to my wife for support but I will not throw the burden upon her alone. I will share the burden and we will work together I will treat her with respect knowing that if I am treating her in haste the lord will not answer my prayers and my pursuits will not be "ultimately successful" because God will not bless them.

Its simple really. So simple we miss it. I missed it. I missed it royally. Unfortunately I cannot change the tides of time. I can simply not make that same mistake again. And I can remain as a warning for others. I will do that since I do not wish others to go through what I did. Though I know others have been through worse. I am determined of one very important fact. It is not what you go through or even what caliber you go through it. What is important is what you learn from it.

The battle of being passive as a father, friend, and husband (though I cannot claim that any longer) is ongoing. It should be. It is perfecting us everyday. And though we may not be perfect we are striving for perfection. Not in the unending run for and carrot. But a continual growth towards what God wants to make us. A reflection of him.