Headlines

I think this is pretty relevant to anyone who has been through something in the past that happened to them or that they wished they could have changed or done differently. There’s a saying, ‘You can’t escape the past’ and to that I would say, ‘With God, all things are possible.’

I think the Devil’s job is to try to figure out in your life, “What can I put in big, bold letters across the top of their story that will mislead them away from their calling and away from their purpose and away from God in their life?”

I believe that if you let him, the Enemy will sit at the editor’s desk of your life, and he’ll take the facts of what happened to you and the facts of what you’ve been through, and what he’ll do is suggest ‘Maybe God doesn’t care…‘ Here’s the thing, you’re not looking for a guy with a pitchfork…

You’re looking for a guy who looks an awful lot and sounds an awful lot like you.

That’s how he does it.

If you let him, the Enemy will take everything that happened to you, and he’ll arrange it in such a way to get you to click through it. He’ll hit you with such a thought that seems so conclusive. It’s like the devil is saying, “What’s the thing I can say at the top that will keep them from reading on to find out the real story.

What can I tell them?

Maybe I can tell them that because they were abused, they’re worthless.

Maybe I can tell them that because they struggle in this one subject, that they’re learning disabled.

Maybe I can tell them because they’ve failed at relationships, they’re damaged goods.

What the devil does, is he’ll put a headline over your life. It will say, ‘I was emotionally neglected.’
So when I think of myself, I’ll think in terms of that limitation – in that one area, and I won’t be able to see that it’s just one area – and I really have gifts in other areas that can shine if I can stick with it and if I can focus on what I’m good at.

The devil doesn’t want us to see that.

It works like this, the devil just wants you to read the rest of his story instead of knowing the real story.

Maybe if he can convince you that nobody loves you, even if there are in fact many people in your life who love you, but if he can put loneliness as the headline over your life, he can keep you from ever experiencing the love that others are willing to give you.

I know this is truth, because I have lived with that headline over my own life and despite having so many wonderful people in my life who love & respect me, I’ve got a flashing neon sign overshadowing all the love that is available to me.

The devil’s semblance can keep you from God’s substance.

Maybe he can convince someone they’re an addict. Then maybe they’ll think they have no control. Then maybe they’ll think they’re not accountable for their actions because it’s just who they are, or because it’s who their dad was.

Maybe then he can convince someone that he’ll never be a good dad. Because he never had a good dad. Maybe he can take the fact that his dad walked out on him when he was 7, and if he can print that big enough and say it often enough and drop it off at his doorstep every day as a reminder, “maybe I…”

The Devil is a liar.

You don’t get to control your story, but you do get to choose your headlines. You just don’t get to select the script.

Let’s look at the story of Joseph. He wouldn’t have chosen to be thrown into a pit by his brothers when he was 17 years old. He wouldn’t have chosen to be falsely accused of rape and thrown into a prison as a reward for his service. Yet all these things happened, and all of these things were traumatic, but they were not defining.

Just because it happened doesn’t mean it has to make the headlines. The one who writes the story is not the one who chooses the headlines, and life is going to put some stuff in your story you wish you could change and things you didn’t choose.

Yet Joseph, with the rape charge, false imprisonment, and near death at the hands of his brothers,
at the end of it all, as he is publishing the proclamation of what his life has been about,
he says,

“If you were writing my story, you would have had me as a slave, but I’m not a slave.”

“If you were writing my story, you would have had me as a naive boy who didn’t know any better than to keep his dreams to himself, but I’ve changed from that.”

“If you were writing my story, and if life were writing my story, I would be a victim.“

But I refuse to let what happened to me be the headline of my life.

I refuse to let the divorce I went through define me.

I refuse to let my failed engagement define me.

I refuse to let my past struggles with depression & anxiety define me.

In other words, I’m not going to allow life to write my headlines.

Things can happen to me, but there’s a big difference between what happens to me and what I headline.

You are not the author, but you *are* the editor.

The editor doesn’t determine what the book is about.

In the same way, I don’t believe God has really called us to determine what our life is about. I think he has already given us that. I think Joseph illustrates it clearly. He says, “I was put here…” He uses a word. He says, “I was sent here to save lives.”

You need a dream to drive your decisions. You need a dream to drive you toward your destiny. What you don’t necessarily need is the details of that dream. If you trust God, you know that He will supply you with the details – not early, not late, but at exactly the time they’re needed.

Every time. God simply is that good.

The more I travel down this road I’m on (the road to Salvation) the more I realize I don’t need to completely understand the vision God gave me. I just need to trust him.

I’ve written about this before, last year He gave me a vision – of what my role would be in His kingdom, and what my finances would be, and who would be with me on that journey, etc. It was a lot for me to take in while in the middle of a very difficult season.

The story of Joseph fits all this well. Joseph was a young man when he saw a vision from God that he didn’t understand. He saw something that was beyond his ability to comprehend or even handle. He was seeing a picture of how one day, even those brothers who betrayed him, they would one day come and bow down before him.

You don’t really need to know the details. You just need to know that your dream is in development.

In a second dream Joseph sees the stars and the sun and the moon bowing down to him. This time it’s not only his brothers, but his parents who are going to be dependent on him. At the end of his life, where he’s speaking with his brothers who hated him so much that instead of leaving him for dead, they sold him into slavery.

But Joseph refused to let the Enemy be his editor.

There’s so much you can dig out of in the story of Joseph.

Why in the world would you let your Enemy be your editor?

Why would you let your doubt and your cynicism, and your negativity and your past tell you where you’re going?

You see, Joseph in the story is explaining to his brothers basically his point of view. That’s one of the things you have to decide when you write a story,

“What’s my point of view?”

Joseph is explaining to his brothers a point of view that allowed him to come to this place where he could say, “I know the story should be that they sold Joseph out, but that’s not what I’m going to call these chapters of my life.”

I know in my story what the enemy wants to call this chapter of my life, but I’m not going to let him.

That’s not my point of view.

And let me tell you, I have found since my Salvation that perspective is everything.

When Joseph is speaking to his brothers, he speaks with compassion and mercy, because he understands that he is only responsible for his response. You are not responsible for all of the events that occur in your life, only your response to those events. How will you respond?

Many people have come from broken households. Your parents’ divorce is not your fault.

The Devil is a liar.

If he has been telling you that, kick him off the editor’s desk and tell him, “I refuse to see it that way. That’s the wrong lens. That can’t be true. That’s not God.”

Ask yourself that question too, when you are unsure, when you are conflicted, and if the answer is “That’s not God” then you’ve got your answer. Its amazing how many problems in life can be solved with that simple statement.

“That’s not God.“

In Genesis 45:4, Joseph says, “You sold me.” In Genesis 45:5, He says, “God sent me.”

Same event, different headline.

The headline you choose about your life’s experiences determines whether you stay stuck in what happened, or if you move forward to where you’re headed. I no longer write my headlines about what happened; I write my headlines based on where I’m headed.

See that’s why it’s called a headline, because I’m headed somewhere.

I have a dream, and I’m going towards it.

Preface:

Jacob Wrestles with God

²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

(GENESIS 32:22-32 NIV)

Messy Discipleship

There are several men in the Bible that I identify with – Job being the first, for having lived a life of tremendous loss & suffering, yet through all of it he never gave up on his faith in God.

I have JOB 13:15 tattooed on my shoulder, along with the image of a phoenix and two crossed olive branches below it.

Job’s life feels like my life. I long for the day I have someone to build a future and a family with – where we share in the joy of worshiping God & building a life that has meaning & purpose.

The second would be Jonah – Like him, I’ve tried to run from God’s pronouncement in my life so many times at this point, and it always ends the same – I come back from the consequences of trying to abandon God’s will in my life. I have the outline of a whale tattooed on my left ankle. Let me say this from personal experience – When God has called you, it is not optional for you to answer Him. It is a command.

If you have been called, then God’s will in your life and His purpose for you are non-negotiable and it will absolutely happen whether you are on board with it or not. I have learned this the hard way, unfortunately. When He calls you, you better listen. Or possibly end up like Jonah.

That brings me to Jacob.

Its his story I am exploring in the book “Limping with God” by Chad Bird. Jacob is a fascinating, complicated, and broken individual – He was a liar, a trickster, a selfishly ambitious man who fathered children with four women and led a dysfunctional family life. And in that amazing passage above, Jacob even fought with God…

Jacob also happened to be the one called by God to be the forefather of the God’s nation – Israel.

Why would God choose such a reprehensible person such as Jacob to found His nation? On a personal level why would God choose me? I certainly haven’t been called to found a nation. But we all have a place in God’s kingdom. We are, afterall, His children.

I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I suspect it has to do with the fact God loves to demonstrate His power and His glory (and His grace) through those who are the most broken and who are the weakest.

I wasn’t aware of Jacob’s story until a few days ago – I have only been studying the bible for about a year. I’m very fortunate (and blessed) but I certainly don’t know the Bible well, so Jacob’s story is a bit of a surprise for me.

So much of Jacob’s character is my own, pre-salvation & even post-salvation. I’ve indeed fought with God many times. I used to shout at God, “Why did you make me this way?” and even worse in my lowest moments.

I am human. But He is divine.

What I have found though, is that only when I have been absolutely broken by God, like Jacob, do I relent and accept his will.

All things are possible though Him.

If there’s any comfort for me to be found, it’s knowing that I’m not the only one to have acted in such a stubborn manner.

God often calls the most sinful, reprehensible, scoundrels of men – to do His greatest work. Moses was a murderer. Jacob wrestled with God. Jonah ran from God. David commits adultery with Bathsheba. And so on.

Even after Jonah delivered God’s message of mercy to the Ninevites, afterwards he called God’s decision “ra’ah” which translates to evil in Hebrew.

Considering the incredible pain & hardship I’ve been through, at least I can say that my faith & my belief in God is real. I may not like the present circumstances, but I refuse to believe even for a second that He will not eventually one day say to me, ‘The time has come my son.’

Here’s a pretty interesting fact for me – I have for at least the last 9 months (of the 13 since my salvation) walked with a limp. My number one way of dealing with stress and anxiety in my life is running – And for reasons only known to God, I have had that taken away from me for almost the entire period of my salvation due to multiple injuries to my left leg. A torn Achilles, a high ankle sprain, then a fractured tibia.

All of my coping mechanisms have been taken from me during the toughest time of my life – and I have walked with a limp since. Maybe what God is really saying is, ‘rely on me’. ‘I AM all you need.’

I can identify with this guy Jacob.

“Put God first in everything you do. Everything that you think you see in me. Everything that I’ve accomplished, everything that you think I have – and I have a few things. Everything that I have is by the grace of God. Understand that. It’s a gift.” 

-Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington’s Commencement Speech, Dillard University, 2015

Let me take this moment to wholeheartedly congratulate each and every one of you, today. You graduated. You did it. You made it. Congratulation to you. And you did it all by yourself, nobody helped you.

No…that’s not – that’s what you know – that’s what I thought when I was young, I started to really make it as an actor. I came in, I talked to my mother, I said ‘Ma, did you think that this was going to happen, I’d be so big and I’ll be able to take care of everybody and I can do this and I can do that.’

And she said, ‘Boy, stop it right there. Stop it right there. Stop it right there’.

She said, “If you only knew, how many people they have been praying for you. How many prayer groups she put together, how many prayer clothes she gave me, how many times she splashed me with holy water to save my sorry behind,” as she said it.

She said, Oh, you did it all by yourself, I’ll tell you what you can do by yourself: You can go outside and get a mop and bucket and wash them windows – you can do that by yourself, superstar.

So, I’m saying that to say ‘I want to congratulate all the parents and friends and family and aunties and uncles and grandmother and grandfathers, and teachers and, friends and enemies — all the people that helped you to get where you are today, congratulations to you all.’

I’m going to tell about two to three stories. I’m going to keep it really short. I remember my graduation speaker, got up there and went on forever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So, I’m going to keep it short.

NUMBER ONE: PUT GOD FIRST.

Put God first in everything you do. Everything that you think you see in me. Everything that I’ve accomplished, everything that you think I have – and I have a few things. Everything that I have is by the grace of God. Understand that. It’s a gift.

Forty years ago, March 27, 1975 – it was 40 years ago just this past March, I was flunking out of college. I had a 1.7 grade point average; I hope none of you can relate.

I had a 1.7 grade point average; I was sitting in my mother’s beauty shop. They still call the beauty shop now, what they call it? Yeah, and I was sitting in a beauty parlor. I was sitting in my mother’s beauty parlor.

And I’m looking in the mirror and I see behind me this woman under the dryer and every time she looked up –every time I looked up she was looking at me. She was looking me in the eye, I don’t know who she was and I said you know, she said somebody give me a pen, give me a pencil, I have a prophecy.

March 27, 1975, she said, “Boy, you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.”

Now mind you I flunked out of college. I’m thinking about joining the army. I didn’t know what I was going to go and she is telling me I’m going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.

Well, I have traveled the world. And I have spoken to millions of people, but that’s not the most important thing – the success that I had. The most important thing is that what she taught me, and what she told me that day has stayed with me since.

I’ve been protected, I’ve been directed, I’ve been corrected. I’ve kept God in my life, and it’s kept me humble. I didn’t always stick with Him but he always stuck with me.

So, stick with Him, in everything you do, if you think you want to do, what you think I’ve done, then do what I’ve done.

And stick with God.

NUMBER TWO: FAIL BIG.

That’s right. Fail big. Today is the beginning of the rest of your life and you can be just – it’s going to be very frightening. And it’s a new world out there, it’s a mean world out there. And you only live once, so do what you feel passionate about, passionate about.

Take chances professionally, don’t be afraid to fail, there is an old IQ test that was nine dots and you had to draw five lines with the pencil within these nine dots without lifting the pencil.

The only way to do it was to go outside the box. So don’t be afraid to go outside the box. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Don’t be afraid to fail big, to dream big. But remember, dreams without goals, are just dreams. And they ultimately fuel disappointment.

So have dreams, but have goals — life goals, yearly goals, monthly goals, daily goals. I try to give myself a goal every day, sometimes just to not curse somebody out. Simple goals but have goals.

And understand that to achieve these goals, you must apply discipline and consistency. In order to achieve your goals, you must apply discipline which you’ve already done, and consistency every day, not just one Tuesday and just a two days, you have to work at it.

Every day you have to plan, every day you heard the saying, we don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan. Hard work works. Working really hard is what successful people do. And in this text tweet, twerk world that you’ve grown up in, remember just because you’re doing a lot more doesn’t mean you’re getting a lot more done.

Remember that. Just because you’re doing a lot more, doesn’t mean you’re getting a lot more done.

Don’t confuse movement with progress.

My mother told me, she said ‘Yeah, because you can run and play all the time and never get anywhere.’ So continue to strive, continue to have goals, continue to progress.

NUMBER THREE: YOU’LL NEVER SEE A U-HAUL BEHIND A HEARSE.

I’ll say it again, you’ll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. I don’t care how much money you make; you can’t take it with you. The Egyptians tried it, they got robbed. That’s all they got.

You can’t take it with you.

And it’s not how much you have – it’s what you do, with what you have. We all have different talents, some of you’ll be doctors, some lawyers, some scientists, some educators, some nurses, some teachers. Yeah, okay. Some preachers.

The most selfish thing you can do in this world is help someone else.

Why is this selfish? Because the gratification, the goodness that comes to you, the good feeling, the good feeling that I get from helping others – nothing’s better than that.

Well one of two things but, nothing’s better than that – not jewelry, not the big house I have, not big cars, but it’s the joy; that’s where the joy is, in helping others.

That’s where the success is, in helping others.

Finally, I pray that you put your slippers way under the bed tonight, so that when you wake up in the morning, you have to get on your knees to reach them.

And while you’re down there, say thank you for grace, thank you for mercy, thank you for understanding, thank you for wisdom, thank you for parents, thank you for love, thank you for kindness, thank you for humility, thank you for peace, thank you for prosperity.

Say ‘thank you’ in advance for what’s already yours.

So that’s how I live my life, that’s why – one of the reasons where I am today.

Say thank you in advance for what is already yours.

True desire in the heart for anything good is God’s proof to you sent beforehand to indicate that it’s yours already.

I’ll say it again.

True desire in the heart, that itch that you have, whatever it is you want to do, that thing that you want to do to help others and to grow and to make money, that desire, that itch, that’s God’s proof to you, sent beforehand, already to indicate that it’s yours.

And anything you want good you can have, so claim it, work hard to get it. When you get it, reach back, pull someone else up, each one, teach one.

Don’t just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.

Kreittón

In the original language of the New Testament, Kreittón is the Greek word for ‘better’ or ‘superior’ or ‘more excellent way’. This is a common theme across the Bible, which teaches us there that is a better way to live through Him.

People often say, ‘Hang in there, it’s going to get better’. But that’s kind of hard to believe when your situation is bad, and maybe even getting worse. We’ve all had people tell us something like that. It was meant to make you feel better, but it actually had the opposite effect. Because when your life keeps getting worse the last thing you want to hear is ‘Hang in there its going to get better.’

You have to remember that when Jesus died for you, he did it to establish a new covenant of salvation – so it is going to be better. And even though sometimes you feel like you should have done better – His blood is better than the worst thing that you did, so whatever His blood needs to cover in your life today you can have confidence that there is nothing you can do to separate yourself from the blood of His covenant & His love for you.

Reread that paragraph above. I wish I had been taught that as a child. Perhaps my life would not have been so guilt filled as I viewed myself a product of my failures as a Christian.

Let me tell you this – You never have to believe the voice of accusation in your life, no matter how bad it is…

The blood of Jesus is better.

It’s a better covenant (than the Old Testament). It is a better promise. It is a better hope. Some people have a surface-level hope and as long as things are floating along in their lives and everything is moving along, they have great faith.

But we have a better hope. Something better – A hope that doesn’t even kick in till you hit the bottom. Maybe you’ve hit bottom in your emotions this week, or the bottom in your bank account, or the bottom in your body and your physical health…There is a hope that is better than the passing pleasures or fleeting aspirations of this world.

Its a hope that says, ‘I’m convinced of better things concerning you.’

As cliche as it might sound, Jesus believes in you.

So many men who ultimately gave up on themselves will tell you the same thing. That someone they loved, a wife, girlfriend, family member etc. gave up on them when they desperately needed that person. Men are expected to never need anyone. To never show emotion. To never have feelings. Men are expected to carry the weight of the world. Men don’t need much, but they need a purpose & a cause to fight for, and people who believe in them (See ‘A Calling & a Cause: Men’).

Isn’t it great to have somebody believe in you? When you don’t believe in yourself? Somebody who sees something in you that you quit believing a long time ago. I am so blessed in this life to have not only been saved but also to be chosen by God to be a Kingdom man (See ‘Victory’).

It is my mission & purpose in life to bring that message to others

In order to get better, we have to move forward, and sometimes what we think of as the pathway to better can be a little confusing. Better is relative. Better needs a point of reference. When something is new it doesn’t necessarily feel better, in fact its the old that usually feels better.

For instance, for some people, as God is moving in their life there is a ‘rejection period’ where they’re trying to assimilate a new truth into an old life and an old mindset. The temptation is to go back to bad because sometimes bad feels better.

We tend go back to bad patterns of thinking because they are more familiar than new ways of faith and opportunities that doors open. Sometimes we go back to something bad, and we go backwards because what is new is not working at first.

Here’s the thing – most of what will come into your life through God’s grace will almost always feel worse at first.

Sometimes in order to get better, first you have to go backwards. This is the tough part. When you’re moving backwards it often feels like nothing is working and there’s a temptation to revert back to something that worked.

Think of it like learning to play tennis. Maybe you picked up a racket and taught yourself to play. Then someone showed you that you’ve got the basics all wrong. You have to fix your grip first, and now that you’ve got this new grip – you’re terrible at tennis.

You see, God said this is a season where He is fixing your grip. All of your life you’ve been doing things a certain way and it worked for a little while, but you’ve entered into God’s grace now and this is a better way…

But it doesn’t feel better! The temptation is always to go back – to go back when you feel like it’s not getting any better.

It’s especially hard when you’ve been raised your entire life hearing about everyone that’s a better Christian than you. They memorized all this scripture, why can’t I do that? No, they’re a better memorizer, that doesn’t make them a better Christian.

Sometimes we get better all backwards – Well if I had more followers, it would be better. If I had more money, it would be better. If I had a wife or husband, it would be better. We all have this idea that it’ll get better IF…

But you still feel miserable because better is not a byproduct of external circumstances improving..

Better comes from improving your relationship with God.

When it’s getting better and it feels worse – it’s so difficult for us to believe that it’s getting better because we compare our real life to somebody else’s fake life. If the reason you feel like everybody is happier than you – its because you’re not seeing the parts that they choose to hide from you. You are only seeing the version of them that they want to broadcast.

I know more than a few people who try desperately to show the world how smart they are, how successful they are, what a social life they have, etc. I feel sorry for people like that who are so lost in this world.

So when you really understand, you understand that better is relative.

Better is relative – If you walk into Mary Lee doughnuts – it’s better than broccoli. Unless you need to lose 30 pounds. If the purpose of the food is nutrition, give me the broccoli. If the purpose of the food is to make my taste buds dance and shout, then I want the Mary Lee doughnuts…better is relative

So if you’ve been telling yourself that somebody could do it better than you, that there’s somebody more fit than you, that there’s somebody who’s got more knowledge than you – Sometimes God needs somebody who is lesser so He can show that He’s better.

You are better for what God intended you to do! You’re perfect for it – there’s nobody better to do it. There’s nobody more qualified to do it. There’s nobody who can do what you do, when God has put you where He puts you. God doesn’t make mistakes folks. You’ve got to give him back what you’ve got.

Be better. Be kreittón.

You never know what experiences are better. Sometimes you look back over the things that afflicted you, horrible things that happened to you and you realize those are the very same things that developed you into the person that you are.

Maybe you just want to quit – because depression is making you give up on the belief that it could ever get better. Maybe that’s the point where you feel like you want to end it all. That’s why we need faith. That’s why we can’t let that go no matter what.. that’s why we must continually tell ourselves it’s already getting better.

Because it is. I have been through it, and this is my testimony.

Maybe you’re looking at better but haven’t recognized it yet? Some of us don’t know how good we have it. If you would take a minute and go back in your life, you would realize that God has made you so much better, that He has treated you so much better than your sins.

There’s a verse in the Bible that says: “Better is a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full of feasting with strife.” (Proverbs 17:1 NKJV)

Maybe you don’t have much, but the crumb you have is better…

Why are you trying so hard for the house full when its filling your entire life with strife? I’m speaking this to someone I know needs this message.

I’m grateful in my life for this piece. Its not perfect but I’m grateful for this little bit – it’s better. We miss some of the best moments of our life because we’re waiting on something better.

I don’t know what’s going on in your life today, but maybe it seems like it’s going backwards. Kids getting harder to manage, bills getting more expensive, everything in life seems to be more and more out of control.

Could it be that God is making you better by taking you lower?

I’ll leave you with this..

Maybe its not clear how Jesus could also become better, but the way He became better, since He was already seated at the right hand of God. Since He already inhabited eternity. Since He couldn’t be raised any higher.

The Bible says that Jesus came lower.

The son of God went backwards and became human so that you could get better…

NOTE: In this devotional I mention several alternate Bible translations other than NIV & NKJV which are the most widely used versions for translating the original Hebrew & Greek into English. I think there is a lot of value in studying expanded & alternate versions of verse for the messages they convey. Not for their deviation from the original word-for-word text, but for the abstract concepts they offer – a message that highlights the love, compassion & mercy of God.

So long as nothing is removed or added to God’s message then nothing is wrong with that. Hopefully you’ll understand when you read the passages below.

Finding your way home.

Anyone remember paper maps?

If you’re old enough, you remember your parents had that giant paper map carefully folded up and put away in the glove compartment of the car.

When you wanted to find your way somewhere you’d get a map out, unfold it and carefully study the map for the roads, highways & turns you’d have to take to get to your destination. It was actually a huge pain.

Now all the folding and unfolding and finding has been replaced with a navigation app on your phone.

And its amazing, I love it.

My favorite feature is a button that says HOME

No matter where I am around town, no matter how lost I am, I tap home and it quickly gives me the directions to return home. To return back where I belong. The place where I feel safe & protected.

Do you ever wish you had a spiritual HOME button? To return home to God. Coming back to a safe place in the arms of your Creator.

It would be awesome if there was an app for that.

Fortunately, God isn’t an app you download from the Apple store.

That said, it may take a little work like that paper map, but you can return home to God.

Close your eyes and reflect on this passage from Isaiah chapter 55. And as you do, center on the spirit & safety of God. Attend to God’s presence during this time as you return home to God. Begin to return home…

As you read this passage, respond in your mind “Lord God, I long to return to You.”

ISAIAH 55:6-7 (NIV)

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near.

“Lord God, I long to return to You.”

Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts, let them turn to the Lord.

“Lord God, I long to return to You.”

He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“Lord God, I long to return to You.”

In your navigation app you have to type in your home address for it to know your location, but once its there the return destination never changes. No matter where you move around town, home is always in the same place. Its the same way with God.

We move, He doesn’t.

Like the song we sing, “God never changes”

I know in my own life I often find myself moving – sometimes closer to Him, sometimes away from Him. A lot of this depends on the circumstances. Especially during times of peace, ironically, we find ourselves moving away from Him. We so often only draw near to God when we need Him.

Note those times and how it feels when you are moving away from Him. Note how it feels to feel lost. Do you ever feel you are too distant to return home?

To return to God..?

What does it feel like when you realize you are back on the road to returning home? Focus on those thoughts of returning and how good it feels to get closer to home, closer to God and His Spirit & His presence.

Along the way there’s always going to be distractions, however, don’t get angry or upset at those distractions – rather, celebrate them, as reminders to center yourself back on your journey, your journey home to God.

Whisper the prayer, “Lord, I long to return to you.” and contemplate on this expanded reading from the New International Readers Version, a passage from the prophet Joel.

He was writing to a people lost, in the midst of chaos and destruction:

Joel 2:12 (NIRV)

“So then my beloved friend, listen carefully to the Lords announcement, hear him whisper to you, return to me now with all your heart – there is till time – do not wait, do not eat any food, do not weep & mourn – just return to me now.

Contemplate on that passage and follow His voice.

Now listen to the same passage but with a wider reading from the Christian Standard Bible.

(Joel 2:12 CSB)

Even now this is the Lord’s declaration – turn to me with all of your heart, with fasting, weeping & mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love and He relents from sending disaster. Who knows, He may even turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him so you can offer grain and wine to the Lord your God.

Consider how that passage made you feel? How you feel about God? The God described in that passage?

Now reflect again, on this this 3rd expanded reading of the English Standard Version – as a prayer of faith & contemplation on the Word of God.

(Joel 2:12 ESV)

Dear heavenly Father, yet even now as I come to you in prayer I desire even more to return to you with all of my heart – To return to you, for your promises are gracious & merciful. You promise to be slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, so by your grace grant me a reprieve from your judgment, and send me a blessing instead of a curse – I am following your voice home as I pray this now in your glorious promise keeping name,

AMEN

Reflect on the joy of slowly turning around to follow His voice home, with the desire to return to Him with all of your heart.

Sometimes in life we feel lost beyond hope or start becoming afraid that we are too far away. One interesting feature of a navigation app is it constantly recalculates the way home – even if you miss an exit or make a wrong turn.

In the same way, the location of God never changes.

His voice will always guide you home even if you make a wrong turn.

Listen to His voice. Listen to His directions…

They’ve already been calculated, no matter how lost you are. No matter far you have strayed.

Return to where you were destined to be & silently whisper your answer to your prayer –

Lord I have returned to you.

As you rest in the centering presence of God, notice those around you that you encounter on the road of life who are still lost, going in the wrong direction, and think on how God might use you to help another return home too.

Be mindful of those early moments you start to lose direction, and immediately begin to return home to God.

Hear him whisper to you, “Return to me with all your heart, there is still time..”

Do not wait..

NOTE: These are my thoughts as I go through “Heart of a Warrior” and put down into words its message and theme to help men reclaim their identity – as Kingdom men who stand firm in their faith and are willing and able to serve Christ and the greater good of this world.

It starts with the heart.

“The most critical need of the church at this moment is men, bold men, free men. The church must seek, in prayer and much humility, the coming again of men made of the stuff of which prophets and martyrs are made.”

-Aiden Wilson Tozer

As men, we always hope that this is going to be ‘the’ talk that changes us..

Always vague enough to include everyone, always applicable enough to make every man feel a twinge of guilt. Always a package aimed at men’s hearts to do more , do better, sin less, and achieve more..

That doesn’t work because there are serious flaws with the modern men’s church program – yet another one size fits all approach men buy into, the speaker assumes too much – how do you know these men are ready for this… for a mission? Everyone is fired up and ready to go but where?

Being fired up in the locker room isn’t the same as being well trained and oriented on the field. Its basically a bunch of talk packaged into an hour long program – and it seldom sticks.

What does make a difference? The reality of how it works is missions find YOU. Go and make disciples – that’s always been the mission, but is that too broad? In the bible men had all kinds of missions, a farmer told to build an ark, a shepherd commissioned by a burning bush to free a nation, a boy soldier who slays a giant, a fishermen summoned to leave his nets and go follow a teacher.

These men weren’t trying to create a mission, they weren’t even looking for one.

Missions find YOU.

You don’t have to find them. A kingdom man will have several missions in his lifetime they will always be bigger than their own and include his heart and the hearts of others.

When we make up our own missions, they are small enough to accomplish on our own. Yet is just the opposite with men and women of the Bible – they are caught up in them and the only means of success and even survival is to walk with God.

Or if left to our own we will manufacture a mission that is grand beyond reason and needs the help of others. Again, it is the pull to self-reliance.

If you are not on a mission then you are in danger, and the scales are still over your eyes and you are blind to what you must see and overcome.

Too many men put the cart before the horse – Jesus spent 3 years with His disciples before He deployed them & gave them their mission. Only then were they ready. Before you become a warrior, you must become a beloved son, and before you can become a beloved son – you must reclaim your heart.T

hat is the 1st Mission. The dangerous and glorious mission of getting your heart back.

Enter the battle too soon, untrained and unprepared, and you will fail.

We build our belief system, brick by brick from our stockpile of conclusions, and experiences. How to promote ourselves, how to avoid pain, etc.

All stored in a man’s heart. The heart is in constant danger of being compromised and wounded.

All the experiences of one’s history are stored in the heart. It is the seat of emotions, knowledge, wisdom, moral character, etc.

The heart knows, understands, and reflects.

It is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit within us. It is the center of every man. All our attitudes, beliefs, and conclusions shaped by our experiences – these need God’s attention!

As men, our hearts need God’s restorative work – scriptures say to guard the heart above all else. There are things growing there, wandering about that have gone unattended for far too long.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV)

There is a remedy to this false self-life from which we all suffer – another kind of life, another way of life.

The life of a son of God.

How to fight, how to rest, how to be loved, and in time learns how to love.

God has millions of prodigal sons – His idea is to restore what has been lost – as that begins to take place a man begins to see challenges in his inner life that must be overcome. He also begins to see who he can become and the role that is his and his alone that he must play.

The enemy of our hearts knows that we are never alone. A man can be so fooled, tricked into believing his false-self is his real self that he isn’t ever ready to fight against it.

God wants to change all that if a man is ready.

But most men aren’t.

A dead giveaway is they don’t ask questions, they don’t listen – not just to God but to anyone, they are closed off, their lines of communication deeply infiltrated by the enemy.

Most men don’t know the effect their life has on those around them – either they haven’t had the courage to ask or no one in their life has had the courage to tell them.

The mantra of men – don’t let them know you don’t know anything, or make sure they know that you know everything.

The ability to see the things within oneself that need caring for and then bring those things to God for treatment & healing – is just another training day in the Kingdom.

Overcoming self, the false self is the highest gift.

Things begin to change in my life when I began to observe my false-self and continue to change when I let my true self, core identity in Christ take over my false-self. Some things need to be unlearned, too – one of the first steps is to circle back around to what has already taken place in our story – what we learned along the way and why we became the way we are – requires a lot of attention if we are to become truly free.

Regular visits with God to explore one’s personal history are standard practice for men to shed their false self and to become true men.

Like a construction site the foundation is to be loved well. A strong base of love makes for a strong structure. For a boy being seen, wanted, invited, encouraged, provides tremendous foundational material. Having his heart handled lovingly and intentionally furnishes sound building blocks for building a man of quality.

A good father makes sure his son gets plenty of such materials.

But what if our parents had unfinished foundations of their own? Feuds, fights, instead of harmony may have been your home.

What would that foundation later produce when it was their turn to build yours?

An inspection of the materials passed down from one generation to the next can explain a lot of where we are today. Awareness of what damaged us and who is responsible doesn’t stop the damage or the pain – healing does.

In order for healing to happen, our ill constructed legacies must be seen.

This is a critical first step.

It is critical that we fight the battles of the past. When we were younger, no one showed us. When we were boys there was no one there to intervene – to step in and fight for us.

The first part of training is to recover from the past – from the losses and wounds accumulated over a man’s life journey. We don’t go back to the past to stay in it, but rather we go back as men to honor our moments of loss – to grieve them, to acknowledge it happened.

They hurt , they matter – and they need to be treated.

We go back with God for our healing.

When we do, God extends his love & compassion to our hearts. One wound at a time he addresses them.

Our enemy senses this and tempts us to live in the power and authority of our wounds.

Ask God these questions:

Who delivered the messages & materials that formed the beliefs of my heart?

What happened to me that brought on the loss of heart?

In my life journey who inflicted hurt, guilt, shame?

When? Where?

Be gracious, be patient – it takes time. It happens in installments over time.

Pray Davids prayer from Psalm 139:23-24:

“Search me, God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts.
 See if there is any offensive way in me,
 and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Then actively listen and write down whatever comes to mind. God wants a man to know his own story before he rewrites it.

You are needed. You must win your heart back before you can become a beloved son and warrior.

Such a man knows that first he is truly a son who is then further trained up in the art of warfare.

We must go with God to dislodge the lies the enemy has embedded in our heart, in the core of whom we are – where our true identity dwells. The enemy’s attack in our formative years is like a virus, compromising who we are and who we might become.

You cannot be the person God meant you to be and you cannot live the life He meant you to live unless you live from the heart.

This is why the enemys plan from the beginning is to assault the heart:

Make men so busy they ignore the heart.
Wound them so deeply they don’t want a heart.
Twist their theology so they despise the heart.

Doesn’t that sound like every man?

Take away their courage, destroy their creativity, make intimacy with God impossible for them.

Why? Because the enemy fears you and what you might become. He therefore wants to separate you from intimacy with God. From the very thing for which you were created.

Separate a man from the Father and that man is Lost.

Unable to receive what God has for him and unable to provide for and protect the hearts of others.

The journey is not easy. It typically takes 2 -3 years for a man to get his heart back if that man walks with God and stays the course.

The question is how earnestly do you want what you seek? How badly do you want your heart back?

It is in the healing of a man’s heart that the greatest training takes place. Reclaiming your heart is the first step in fighting for other hearts as well.

Your story is part of a larger story and you are needed..

Bushidō (武士道, “the way of the warrior” represents the ethics and moral code that samurai warriors were bound to from ancient times (~790 AD) through today where it still represents the core philosophies and way of life that Samurai warriors lived (and died) by for almost 1500 years.

I live by these tenants. I’m incorporating them into the ‘heart of a warrior’ program.

It is a supplement to my faith & it coexists very well as a practical application of how to fight & survive in this fallen world we live in.

Roughly speaking there are 8 virtues that comprise the core of modern Bushido:

• Righteousness (義, gi)

Be acutely honest throughout your dealings with all people. Believe in justice, not from other people, but from yourself. To the true warrior, all points of view are deeply considered regarding honesty, justice and integrity. Warriors make a full commitment to their decisions.

• Heroic Courage (勇, yū)

A true warrior must have heroic courage. It is absolutely risky. It is living life completely, fully and wonderfully. Heroic courage is not blind. It is intelligent and strong

• Benevolence, Compassion (仁, jin)

Through intense training and hard work the true warrior becomes quick and strong. They develop a power that must be used for good. They have compassion. They help their fellow men at every opportunity. If an opportunity does not arise, they go out of their way to find one.

• Respect (礼, rei)

True warriors have no reason to be cruel. They do not need to prove their strength. Warriors are not only respected for their strength in battle, but also by their dealings with others. The true strength of a warrior becomes apparent during difficult times.

• Honesty (誠, makoto)

When warriors say that they will perform an action, it is as good as done. Nothing will stop them from completing what they say they will do. They do not have to ‘give their word’. They do not have to ‘promise’. Speaking and doing are the same action.

• Honour (名誉, meiyo)

Warriors have only one judge of honor and character, and this is themselves. Decisions they make and how these decisions are carried out are a reflection of who they truly are. You cannot hide from yourself.

• Duty and Loyalty (忠義, chūgi)

Warriors are responsible for everything that they have done and everything that they have said and all of the consequences that follow. They are immensely loyal to all of those in their care. To everyone that they are responsible for, they remain fiercely true.

Original Heart of a Warrior post: HERE