Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Purposefulness (Purpose in Life) (05/25/06)
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TITLE: A Call to Battle | Previous Challenge Entry
By Van Burbach
05/31/06 -
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I know you are scared. Terror grips your souls because I am calling you out of your comfort zone and into a great adventure. It’s ok to be scared. If you were not, the adventure would have no point. I am not calling you into a place of safety but into a place where you must take risks, face your fears head-on, and learn to trust me in the process. Trust me to manifest my purpose for your lives in and through the battle.
Yes, there are battles you must face, but I’m not asking you to face them alone. I am with you; and there are the others – men whom I have specially chosen to stand at your side. Fight for your wives, for your children, and for your comrades-in-arms. Fight also for yourselves, and don’t neglect to let the others fight for you, too. You are worth fighting for, even dying for. I did. Besides, they need to learn to fight for you as much as you need to learn to fight for them.
The enemy still lives in the delusion that he is in control. He believes his attacks against you are of his own design and that he is thwarting my purposes by his assaults. Little does he realize that he himself is training you to become the warriors who will one day destroy some of his greatest works of darkness.
The battles you must fight will be for your identities. That is where the enemy will attack, as he always has. He will assail you with lies and accusations. He will do anything he can to tempt you into sin; then if you stumble, he will berate you with shame and condemnation. He will try to identify you with your sin. Don’t let him. No matter how you may fall, it is only a battle-wound, which my blood can heal the moment you come to me in repentance. Who you are in me will never change. Your identity has been sealed forever by my Holy Spirit.
Cling to who you are in me and remember also who the others are in me. The enemy will try to divide you. He knows that alone, on your own, you are no match for his demons. He will try to turn you against your brothers using any petty offense he can. He knows each of your hot buttons and he knows how to set up conflicts between you. When your brother offends you or when you inadvertently offend him, recognize the enemy’s scheme. Remember that your brother has flesh, just like yours, that is prone to sin; but also remember that, like you, he has my Spirit inside him. Be quick to extend forgiveness and restore fellowship just as I do for you when you sin against me.
In Isaiah 58:8, I promised that “righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rearguard.”* As you move forward into the righteousness I have set before you, I will cover your back. If you believe this, you will neither worry about the past nor fear the future. You will be free to fight the battle I am calling you to, the battle of the present. If you keep looking back, worrying about the enemy, listening to his accusations, or focusing on past failures, you will not be engaging in the battle that is before you. Keep your eyes on the goal. Follow Me. The victory is mine and I am inviting you to enter in. In deed, this is the purpose of the battle, that you might share my victory and its spoils and receive the crown of righteousness as your reward.
Your Brother, Captain, and King,
Jesus
* New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
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