Sharing my Story Day 24: War

So, it looks like this focus on sharing my story (and hopefully getting you to share your story or at least reflect and try to figure out yours) has taken a mind of its own so to speak. The past few postings I realize it has become a focus on the fact that we need to get to know Christ as our Savior and that if we already have that, then we need to go out and be disciples, be fishers of men to bring others in to know Christ as well.

The postings for this month came from my starting a Wednesday night group at church focused on telling our story, sharing God's work in our life. Well that group can be so emotional, so thought provoking, and so energizing. What happens in that small classroom each Wednesday leaves me speechless and at the same time wanting to just sing His praises up and down. That spark gets fanned and those flames burn higher and higher to shine that light for the Lord.

Tonight was no exception. We wound our way down a path that I certainly did not plan and you know what? That's okay. As Toby Mac's song says "If you want to steal my show, I'll sit back and watch You go, If You've got something to say, go on and take it away." And that is what I sincerely pray, is for God to steal the show and take us where we need to go.

Our writing, has really turned in to sharing and story telling of the verbal kind. Sure there are moments of silence, but it never reaches that awkward silence because at just the right moment someone will speak out and we are off again. I thank God he gave me the ability to let the silence hang on the air instead of feeling like I should fill every moment with sound. If I did, we would not travel down the paths we go.

Tonight's path was no different. We started by sharing scripture that we hold on to and many of us shared why or the story behind it. Somewhere along the way some of us had out our phones looking things up and sharing. We talked about prayer and how "No" is an answer whether we like it or not. We talked about struggle and just how much God will or will not put on us. We even talked about all the different groups out there and beliefs that are held by people when it comes to religion.

It is this path that leads me to tonight's post. Not so much my story about "war", but the a sharing that we are in a war. We are Christian soldiers and we are going to be faced with battles throughout our lives.

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

No matter what battle we are facing, we must keep the faith. Hold tight to the promise of the eternal life that awaits us. It is going to be hard sometimes. There are people out there who have no believe in any religion whatsoever....we live, we die, end of story. There are people who believe there is something, but don't really care so much about the details. There are people who believe and follow practices that would make our skin crawl. There are people out there preying on young, still developing minds and isolating them from all they know in effort to get them to believe exactly as they do. The list could go on and on and on. But hold true to this, God calls on us to testify the good news of God's grace. He calls us to repent, believe, confess, follow. He calls us to testify to others....including all those different types of people that believe all those different things. It isn't going to be easy and some days we will walk away from a battle so weak and tired we wonder how we can keep moving forward. Other days those battles are going to be victories that gives us such hope and renewed energy that we are going to shout it from the moutain tops.

The great thing about all these battles....GOD is with us. He is bigger than any battle we face. There are going to be times that we feel too weak, but there is a purpose. If we were strong enough on our own to get through everything, then would we really turn to and rely on God? So yes, we are going to be weak so that we can learn to rely on His strength. He will be there in the end. Are you going to be able to say that you have fought the good fight, finished the race, and through it all kept your faith?


Those battles are going to be found all over and include anyone....believers and nonbelievers, friends, foes, family, and complete strangers. Are you prepared? What's your story?Think about the battles you have already fought. Where was God? Can you find him? Did you lean on him? Have you stepped out of your comfort zone, put on your armor as a Christian soldier, and faced the battle before you?

Let us pray,
Lord, Every minute of everyday there are struggles. Struggles that can bring us closer to you or push us farther away. Lord, help us to be more faithful in turning to you, to put our faith in you as we battle here on Earth. You sent your Son to save us so that we might have eternal life. Thank you. Amen.