God is up to something in your life... There is a battle for you to engage in that is worth fighting. And there is a story for you to live that is far bigger and better than you have ever known. Michael Thompson, The Heart of a Warrior
Dear Bravehearts... Going back with God into some of the lines and paragraphs I wrote a few years ago is always a wild and often encouraging experience. On the pages of The Heart of a Warrior book are a collection of “discoveries” given to me as God and I explored the depths of my heart and the intentions of His heart for me. Often I remember where I was and when it was that the truths were unearthed and words became my attempt to express the significance of these discoveries in my life.
This is the way for every hearts journey... the question is, do we take the time to reflect, ponder, explore and come to some important conclusions? For so long I didn’t. Then one day, I did! That’s how wisdom always seems to go; one moment you don’t know, the next you do and all because we took some time to realize the weight and significance of a moment or more likely, the collection of several moments.
We all are a series of “conversions” and sometimes I have chosen well where to place my heart in an environment that God speaks... other times God has invaded my day to day with a package relevant for either my healing or training. God is up to something in our lives, more than can be written about in a few paragraphs much less 220 pages (the page count in the HW book). And thank God it is so. Righteousness, holiness and redemption are an ongoing collection of discoveries that must be entered into and deeply reflected!
The first battle for every heart is to come awake. And I’m not just talking about awakening into salvation. I’m talking about the awakening again and again and the staying awake to the Good God is up to in my life. To see that the journey is not simply about collecting definitions and theological applications but more about experiencing and encountering God and then living to tell about it.
You cannot experience and encounter God while asleep. And that is exactly what the enemy of our Life and Love wants to do... make us so busy or so tired or so disoriented or so hurt that we walk and move in our day-to-day asleep.
Awakening to the more seems to be both a desire we express and hopefully one we pray for with our will engaged and then there is God’s part; the heavier part in which He answers our prayers of desire.
Remember the old adage: When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear?
Are you ready? Do we dare long for more? Has your “abundant life” “arrived”?
Do you see it, experience it, enjoy it... fight for it?
If the story is about you, you are living in way to small a story and that is not why God made you. You were made for intimacy, connectedness, oneness with God... For Love! And we now live in a love story in the midst of a great battle. Without you awake and engaged in your role, your part goes un-played and that is playing right into our enemies hands. The kingdom of darkness wants just that, to keep you in the dark, have you stay asleep and live your life small. They fear what you might become, fear what you might do if awakened and fully alive. I promise you, the few people I have seen this way, awake and engaged have impact without even trying and yet they know all to well they are never immune from the enemies attacks... just seldom affected.
So what’s your story? How do you see it in light of the Larger Story? Are you living in more, fighting for more, offering more all the while you are becoming more in the hands and heart of God who is working out all things for the good including your good? It’s an amazing proposition and not one that is solved but one that is to be entered into, one that is to be lived.
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. - 1 Corinthians 1:30
Let’s Pray...
Dear God, Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit... we worship you, bow to you and praise you for you alone are worthy of our praise and we proclaim your glory, majesty and beauty over all creation, over our hearts and over this incredible story in which we are living.
Father, we pray for eyes to see and ears to hear your invitations to growing us up... to entrusting to us the wisdom we need to navigate this life well. We receiver the abundant life you are pouring out and we engage in its mysteries and invitations to more.
Jesus, we pray for a mighty movement of your Love and Life in the hearts of men. Bring Christian Masculinity up and into a powerful and grace filled presence in this world. Redeem and restore your men that they might become your messengers, ambassadors, soldiers and saints offering, defending and advancing the abundant life.
Holy Spirit, we pray your blessings over the Zoweh team and the opportunities to engage in the battle for the hearts of men. We pray your power over every invitation, every email, every mention of the Heart of a Warrior Weekend. Woo men away, hem them in, sway their hearts to freedom through intimate encounters with you.
We pray the Kingdom of Christ over Zoweh, over its mission and ministry, over the lanes of sharing the Life and Love of Christ. And we pray against the kingdom of darkness and all their plans to steal, kill and destroy. We bring the Cross of Christ over Zoweh, over its team, over the provisions and resources, over the message and over the families declaring greater is our King, greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We take our place in the Kingdom of Christ in all power and authority declaring that the kingdom of darkness is defeated and will not prevail and all invitations through Zoweh to men will be delivered and every man who hears, sees, feels and is invited away with you will be swayed, in Jesus name, to come away with God for healing and training! All this we pray in the matchless and glorious name of Jesus. Amen and AMEN.