Christmas Message

On this Christmas Eve, it is always important and appropriate to return to the beginning of the New Covenant that holds each of us. The birth of the “second Adam” is the statement of Agape Love and a demonstration of God’s absolute determination to give His creation a way to reconnect with Him.

God yearns to be in covenant relationship with each of us. This desire is also wired into all of us – it is called worship. We are destined to worship, and we are given a way to worship God thru His Son, Jesus. The bond that Adam and Eve broke was restored in a manger.

The Birth of Jesus - Luke 2:8-15 (Amplified)

⁸ And in that vicinity there were shepherds living [out under the open sky] in the field, watching [in shifts] over their flock by night.

⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them, and they were terribly frightened.

¹⁰ But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people.

¹¹ For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord!

¹² And this will be a sign for you [by which you will recognize Him]: you will find [after searching] a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

¹³ Then suddenly there appeared with the angel an army of the troops of heaven (a heavenly knighthood), praising God and saying,

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest [heaven], and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased [men of goodwill, of His favor].

¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing (saying) that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.

In the passage, the shepherds are the first to hear the news. God shows common men the very glory of Heaven as the Heavenly Hosts shout the praises for the arrival of the Messiah. This is a part of a consistent pattern in the Bible – God requires a humble heart to communicate with man.  

The angel first reassured the shepherds that this was a time of celebration and praise, not fear (v9-10). The glory of God can be frightening, so the humble servant must first be reassured and informed. We too, must be especially humble and reverent at this time of year. We are the new shepherds for the world.

The next thing was the revelation of the news (v11-12) that His creation would receive a chance for salvation.  This is the news that all of Israel had been waiting for.  It is also the news that only a handful of people were actually able to understand.  A repressed and occupied Israel was looking for a Messiah bearing his sword and rising up to lead the armies of Israel to defeat their oppressors. A Loving and Wise God saw that ALL of his creation needed a way forward. As usual, God sees the BIG picture while we see only our own concerns.

Then the message is seared into the hearts of all who are present. God allows the Heavenly Hosts (v13-14) to be seen here on earth. The Glory of Heaven declares His Good News for all to hear!  A glorious and overwhelming experience that is, to say the least, a life changing event!

Take advantage of this season to double down on your Humility and receive an extra portion of Grace for your journey.  The birth of Jesus is the great news that you and I have a choice and a way forward. The birth of the Messiah means more than any man with a sword could EVER achieve.

Take up your Bible and choose to read and to learn. Choose to understand, not just to remember. Choose to show Love, not to condemn those who do not know Him. Choose to say Merry Christmas, since it IS the holiday of Christ’s birth. Choose to show others the Love that He shows you.   

  

Blessings,

Bryan

Praying a Warrior's Prayer - The Nehemiah Prayer

As I press forward on my own appointed path, I face the same doubts and concerns that all Warriors face in times of battle. Doubt is the principal weapon used by the enemy against each of us. Doubt takes our current circumstances and spins it forward to paint a less than desirable picture for us. It is used against all of our team members to push us off the path and to miss the mark that He has aimed us toward.

The proper response to these attacks is NOT to start swinging your sword back and forth. There are only a few weapons that are effective against doubt, and the greatest among them is, in fact, prayer.

The Prayer of Nehemiah (New Living Translation)

⁴ When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, ⁶ listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! ⁷ We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses. ⁸ “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. ⁹ But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’  ¹⁰ “The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. ¹¹ O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”

In the passage, Nehemiah has shown us the structure and power of an effective prayer. I have broken this down into its four component parts, so that we can be a bit more effective in our prayer lives. A Nehemiah prayer has these 5 components

1 – Prepare.  Nehemiah fasted and prayed in preparation for his specially structured prayer to God. Since we are in this with God, He we need to prepare our hearts and our selves to go before Him. Preparation allows us to cleanse and to focus. Getting yourself ready is the cheapest insurance of success that is available to you, so don’t skip this step.

2 – Confess.  In Verse 6 & 7, Nehemiah acknowledges not only the sins of his people, but also of himself. I believe that it is important that we do this in this order as well. If you come to God and lift up the sin of others but not your own, you run the risk of believing that you are faultless and are doing this only to help others – Each of us NEEDS all the help we can get!

3 – Remind.  Remind God, and yourself, of His promises to you (v 8-9). If you cannot remind Him of His promises, then you are not into the Word at the level needed to release your Blessings. This type of prayer is deliberate, so knowledge is required of you. Reminding Him also demonstrates to Him that you do know His Word as well.

4 – Realign.  You must repent and align yourself with God’s Will (v10) and with His Plan for you.  Take this opportunity to put yourself back on track and be sure that you are moving in the right direction.

5 – Request.  Only after insuring that all is set up and ready do you bring your request(s) forward (v11).  This also insures that your request will come from the right place and be from your heart, not your ego. Prayers from your heart are born from God’s Plan for you. These are, by nature, correct and effective. When your prayer requests come from His Plan, you feel unburdened after speaking the words – as though they HAD to get out of you.        

Try following these steps and not only see how He answers you. See how you feel when you pray a Nehemiah prayer. The relief and unburdening will clear your vision and renew your strength.

Blessings,

Bryan

The Warrior MUST get back into the Battle

After a time of mourning, it is the expectation that the Warrior MUST rise up and move forward.  When our mentor is gone, we owe it to all that they have poured into us to get up and carry the fight forward.  Each of us must rise up and take up the task at hand. Now the battle is ours to join, and the victory is now a part of our charge. Accept that your to-do list has some new items on it and that you MUST address them.

I have not been adding to the blog with the regularity that was the norm. It was my time of mourning and reflection, and I heard no clear messages from Him. I was too pre-occupied to hear the still, soft voice of the Holy Spirit within me. This morning, however, I heard from Him as clearly as ever. This is the verse and the lesson that He gave to me this morning.  

The Lord’s Charge to Joshua (New Living Translation)

1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, ² “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. ³ I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— ⁴ from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

The tears that we shed as a part of the mourning process can all too easy to become a resting place for our emotional selves. The comforting embraces of friends and family can accidentally become a place of comfort for us and we don’t leave – sometimes for years.

However, since we are in this with God, He has other plans. After a time (v1-2), God calls us to stand up and move on. Since we have inherited the fight, we are called to carry the battle forward according to His Plan (V3-5). Remember that His Plan will not be denied. If we choose to stay in mourning, the Battle (and the Victory) will be assigned to someone else. God is explicit in verse 2 – Moses is dead, and NOW is your time Joshua. See that these instructions are clear and plain. Get up on your feet, pick up your sword, know that God is with you, and GET TO IT!     

The act of trusting God also includes trusting Him to push you out into the battle. God is with you – now take hold of your sword, reset your attitude to look forward, and push yourself out into the game with renewed energy and purpose. Pray to God, just as you always do. Remember your mentor when you pray, but do NOT dwell on them. God now has need of YOU in this fight. Trust Him, trust what you have learned, and trust God to deliver victory to you (v5).

Blessings,

Bryan

A Warrior Matures through Loss

Every Warrior for God’s Plans MUST face a time of mourning and reflection. Too often, our mentors in life do not see our ultimate challenges and victories. They prepare us, pour their love into us, and then life forces us out of the comfort of their arms and into the biggest growth opportunity of our lives. This time of loss is also a time of great growth for the warrior. This is a call to maturity that can be painful, but is as necessary as day following night.

I have recently (November 15) lost my mother. This means that I am now an elder in my immediate family. It means that I must BE the mentor 100% of the time. There are no earthly parents to look to or lean on.  

2 Kings 2:5-6, 8-13, 15 (Amplified Version)

⁵ The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? And he answered, Yes, I know it; hold your peace.

⁶ Elijah said to him, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And the two of them went on.

………….

⁸ And Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up and struck the waters, and they divided this way and that, so that the two of them went over on dry ground.

⁹ And when they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.

¹⁰ He said, You have asked a hard thing. However, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you—but if not, it shall not be so.

¹¹ As they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

¹² And Elisha saw it and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³ He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

……..

¹⁵ When the sons of the prophets who were [watching] at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

The need for this maturity and growth comes from the tears that we shed (v12) and the mantle that we pick up (v13). Your Warrior’s Sword may well be an inherited blade with generations of battles, victories, and defeats. It may well be on you to finish the task that a previous generation started (see King David and Solomon).

Each of us is called forth to the battles of our appointed times (v5-6). We are not immortal, so we fight the fights in front of us. We claim our victories in His Name and we take it to the enemy in front of us with all of the vigor and courage that He has given us. However, we learn early that we cannot fight EVERY fight. God anoints us to fulfill His purposes for us (v9-10), not His purposes for all.  

As a result, I have been forced from bold to tearful. Wielding my 6 foot Claymore did NOT get this one done. My sword is now scarred and pock-marked from dragging it on the ground as I went to my knees before Him. Relying on Him is ALWAYS in His Will for us, so I am comforted to be in His Presence and to move according to His will.    

Humility and Trust, along with this needed growth, are the crucial elements to being His Warrior and to fighting His battles. God must know at every turn that He can trust you, which means that you are 1,000% relying on Him. When the battle is no longer in your hands, but you are still in the fight, you are reduced to your most powerful weapon – PRAYER.  Even when it doesn’t look like a victory at first, know that your prayers were indeed used according to His Plan and that the victory will be revealed to you. 

Blessings,

Bryan

Tears on the Warrior's Sword are Sometimes Necessary

Every Warrior for God’s Plans MUST have the bold confidence in Him that we see in a leader who was made and awakened by God. Also, such chosen warriors must always remember and be mindful that each of them MUST be humble and ready to acknowledge that we serve God and that we walk from conquest to conquest WITH Him, not just For Him.  

Psalm 23:3-6 (Amplified Version)

³ He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him—not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake.

⁴ Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my [brimming] cup runs over.

⁶ Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.

I highlight this passage for a very personal reason. I wrote a few weeks earlier that my mother had made a miraculous recovery from an internal infection to what appeared to be a full recovery. We have now (as of 1 week ago) been made aware that the virus has evolved into a more insidious opponent. This new challenge is actually more severe and aggressive than we have seen thus far.

As a result, I have been forced from bold to tearful and humble. I have been forced to trust Him not just Implicitly, but Explicitly. When I look at my mother in her bed and I speak with the doctors about the possibility of “switching from recovery to comfort” I can only turn inward to the Holy Spirit.

Wielding my 6 foot Claymore will NOT get this one done. My sword will be dragging on the ground as I go to my knees before Him. All that I can do is pray and wait. Quite frankly, that is a humbling comfort for me – to rely on Prayer instead of muscle. Relying on Him is ALWAYS in His Will for us, so I am comforted to be in His Presence and to move according to His will.    

Humility and Trust are crucial elements to being His Warrior and to fighting His battles. God must know at every turn that He can trust you, which means that you are 1,000% relying on Him. When the battle is no longer in your hands, but you are still in the fight, you are reduced to your most powerful weapon – PRAYER. Make sure that you know how to use this extraordinary blade and you will cut the enemy down according to His Plan every time. Even when it doesn’t look like a victory at first, know that your prayers were indeed used according to His Plan and that the victory will be revealed to you.  

Blessings,

Bryan

Warrior as Mighty Man of God

The difference between a man and a warrior can be boiled down to a few powerful characteristics. Every Warrior for God’s Plans MUST have the bold confidence in Him that we see in a leader who was made and awakened by God.  

Judges 7:15-20 (Amplified Version)

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!” ¹⁶ He divided the 300 men into three groups and gave each man a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it.
¹⁷ Then he said to them, “Keep your eyes on me. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do. ¹⁸ As soon as I and those with me blow the rams’ horns, blow your horns, too, all around the entire camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”
¹⁹ It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew the rams’ horns and broke their clay jars. ²⁰ Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
 

Gideon, being a man so accustomed to mediocrity and failure that he not only doubts himself, but he extends that doubt to God’s judgment in choosing him. This is a pattern and attitude of someone who has been “beaten down by life” – something that all of us have either known ourselves of know of someone who has been there.

   

Then, when God refuses to doubt him over and over again, Gideon is transformed. By this chapter, we are looking at a Warrior and a Leader that God can be assured will follow His Plan without doubt, no matter what happens.  

We must be willing to trust Him blindly and explicitly. We must be prepared to become a Leader (v16-17) and a Warrior (v18-20) for God. The 300 follow Gideon with full confidence for only ONE reason – because Gideon followed Him with full confidence in Him. God has called YOU to be one of His Leaders, so move with the FULL confidence of Him in you. Be strong in the Lord and be ready to use your sword. The scratches and nicks on your blade are well earned and hard fought, so keep them to remind you that HE is with YOU!  

Blessings,

Bryan

The Warrior also Yields to His Plan

The lesson for today is a lesson in being an adult AND a child. We are adults, full grown and independent. We are warriors, with the battle scars, victories, and defeats to show for it. We are also children – sons and daughters – of elder warriors and counselors. When our mentors age, what will we do?

The Warrior for God must always be willing to move in the direction of humility and service, not just into the fray of great battles. Your story as His warrior must be a complete and rounded one, so be ready to embrace a season of humility to achieve a legacy of His extraordinary achievements. 

Ruth 1:14-18 (Amplified Version)

¹⁴ Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [good-bye], but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.

¹⁶ And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. ^[b]Your people shall be my people and your God my God.

¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.

¹⁸ When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more.

This is the point of decision and where a Path is presented and accepted.  Ruth has an extraordinary future, as we know from the rest of this book, but she could just as easily disappear from view if she makes a different choice at this point. Orpah vanishes from our view, and these letters are absent from our sight until a talk show host comes out of Chicago 27 years ago.  

Looking at verses 16-18, see that Ruth has made a decision and is immediately at peace with her choices. She is not doing a deep-dive analysis of the positives and negatives. She is looking at a situation and an Elder that she loves, and her mind is resolute.  A path has been chosen, and now He can allow His Plan for Ruth, Naomi, and all of Israel (including the birth of Jesus) to unfold.  

We must be willing to hear from God, and we must also be willing to be lead by God. Ruth was lead by God from her own spirit. It is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us at times now. We are faced with a choice that rips the lid off of our emotions, and a direction seems clear somehow.  Like the Warrior, we must learn to listen to that “still soft voice” and to move according to His gentle hand that is guiding us in a very quiet and subtle way. Acknowledge that He always has a Plan for you, take comfort in His Plan and your destiny, and then gather yourself for a new adventure!  Follow Him – He will have His Plan brought to fruition with of without you, so choose to follow His gentle touch and quiet assurance to accomplish Great Things in the earth!

Blessings,

Bryan