When Kings go to War

When I joined the Army, my recruiter told me I would be fine if I was where I was supposed to be when I was supposed to be there and in the proper uniform. If I did those three things, I would do ok in the Army.

Be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there and in the proper uniform. That holds true for life in general. Just showing up is a good way to start being successful and keep yourself out of trouble.

What about when you don’t show up spiritually? When you don’t spend time with God in prayer, devotions, or reading your Bible. When you don’t do that thing you know God is telling you to do.

 You open the door to temptation. You open the door to compromise. You start going down a slippery slope and by the time you hit rock bottom, you look up and wonder how you could’ve fallen so far. You started going down a road that has no guardrails. It hasn’t been built to code.

You weren’t where you were supposed to be when you were supposed to be there and you were out of uniform. You took a wrong turn and lost your way.

King David took a wrong turn when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there and in the proper uniform. II Samuel 11:1 says, “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel: and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”

David was a king and he was supposed to be in the field with his army. You know the story. He took another man’s wife and had that man killed.

How much pain, grief, anguish and regret could have been avoided had he been where he was supposed to be? How much pain, grief, anguish and regret could have been avoided in your life if you had been where you were supposed to be when you were supposed to be there and in the proper uniform?

I know in my life I’ve had times where I’ve not been where I was supposed to be spiritually. I grew lax in reading my Bible, praying and seeking God. Those times have opened the door to temptation. It takes quite a bit of time and effort to get that door closed again. But God is there helping you and it will get closed if you start being where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there and in the proper uniform.

Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us what the proper uniform is. When we are where we’re supposed to be when we’re supposed to be there and in the proper uniform, He will teach us how to use the uniform. The proper way to wear it. We just have to show up like He did at Calvary.

Agent Dewey: The Secret Blessing

When my wife and I started out being foster parents, we were nervous and apprehensive. We didn't know if we would be adequate for the children we might have in our home. But we felt like that was the direction God was leading us so we became foster parents and trusted Him to make up for our shortcomings.

In March of 2008 we had been foster parents for about six months. We'd had several children in our home and none of them had stayed very long. On March 11th we took two boys who were brothers back to their parents. We'd had them since January. We were glad they were able to go back to their parents and figured we would get a phone call that day for another child. That's how things had happened before. Whenever we had a child leave our home, we would get a call a few hours later to see if we wanted another child or children. This time it was a week before we got a call.

On March 18th we got a call for a newborn who was born on March 11th. So when we were taking the two boys to their parents, this girl was being born. She was born drug exposed and was a few weeks premature. We said we would be happy to take her. My wife went to the hospital to pick her up. She was given some stuff to wean the baby off the drugs.

When we took her to her first pediatric visit, we were told she would probably need physical therapy and occupational therapy. The doctor told us most drug exposed children needed some of both and sometimes they needed speech therapy or audio processing therapy. She told us that so we would know what to plan for. It seemed overwhelming. We wondered if we were up to the challenge of raising a drug exposed baby. We knew God wouldn't have placed her with us if we couldn't handle it so we just trusted him.

In July of that year my wife's niece came to live with us while she went to college. She was twenty-four and had been a nanny for several years. He last nanny job was for a family that had a set of twin girls who were special needs. So my wife's niece had plenty of experience with special needs kids. Her living with us was an obvious way that God helped us with learning some things about how to care for our daughter. I don't think it was a coincidence that she came to live with us for a few years.

Another obvious blessing was my own biological daughter. She was eleven and was a tremendous help. Shortly after my wife's niece came to live with us, she wanted a cat. We had two cats. Bonny and Clyde. They were brother and sister. She wanted a cat of her own so we told her we were fine with that. She got this kitten and named him Dewey. She got a cat gym thing and would take videos of him climbing all over that thing and talk about how Agent Dewey was getting his secret spy training in.

After a few years, she got an apartment at the college she was going to so she moved there and she couldn't take Dewey with her so he became our cat. We had adopted the girl and she was two years old. We had been through some physical therapy with her and knew we would have more to do with her. Now, Bonny and Clyde would run for the hills whenever our adopted daughter came anywhere near them. She didn't seem to know where her body was in space and she was very clumsy. She wasn't very gentle either. We were told that was because of her drug exposure. But Dewey didn't seem to mind. He wouldn't run when she would come around.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Our daughter is nine now and we were upstairs doing some coloring and she starts crying for no apparent reason. I asked her why she is crying and she said she didn't know why. She's done that before. Just starts crying and doesn't know why. So we went downstairs sat on the couch and I started rubbing small circles on her back. That seems to help her calm down. It wasn't long and Dewey showed up. I wasn't surprised. He shows up whenever she's upset. He jumped on the armrest and traipsed over me to get to her. He lowered his head and nudged her arm and rubbed up against her. He then walked a few circles on her lap and then sat down. He started purring and she started petting him. She calmed down soon after that.

It was then I realized that Dewey has been a secret blessing all these years. Right in front of me and I never even thought about it. For years he's always comforted her and helped her to calm down. He hangs out with her and they are best buds. He's been here all this time going about his secret mission of being an emotional support cat for our daughter. I would see him with her all the time helping her to calm down but never gave it a second thought. He's what she's needed and he's been here this whole time.

I thought about how somethings are obvious blessings but sometimes there's people or things in your life that have been there all along and have been a blessing that you've never noticed. This Easter Weekend think about what might be a blessing in your life that has been there all along and you've never even noticed it.

SJW

What is a Social Justice Warrior(SJW)? As a Christian, do I even need to be concerned with that? How do I decide what social justice causes to support?

When I think of that term, I think of someone who wants social equality. Someone who has a list of grievances or agrees with other people who have a list of grievances they want remedied.

I'm not writing to say we should or shouldn't participate in SJW causes. What I am writing for is to discuss how should I, as a Christian, decide what SJW causes to support?

I ask myself, does it bring glory and honor to God? Does it point people to Him? What is the spirit and environment of the cause? Is it hostile to God? What is the fruit of the cause? Is it good fruit or bad fruit? Will the fulfillment of that cause bring people to God or will it turn people away from Him?  Are they angry? Do they operate out of hate or do they operate out of love and compassion?

I don't ask if it's hostile to religion because religion can be hostile to God. The Pharisees and Sadducees were very pious and religious but they were openly hostile to Jesus.

Jesus was an SJW. He challenged the established social order of His day but He did it to point people to God. To free people from the religious chains they were in. But He was more than that. He was a Spiritual Justice Warrior. He was more interested in the spiritual and your relationship with God. Because when you take care of the spiritual, the social justice causes will take care of themselves.

Does that mean I should be so spiritual that I'm of no earthly good and don't participate in earthly causes? No. I just know that when I take care of my relationship with God, everything else takes care of itself. He knows what I have need of. He knows if I'm getting the short end of the stick socially, economically or otherwise.

Be a Spiritual Justice Warrior.

Behind the Times

One of the arguments I've heard to justify the sin of homosexuality is that the Church is behind the times. When I look at that statement, I realize they're really not saying the Church is behind the times. They are saying God is behind the times.

Most Church denominations base their stance on homosexuality on what the Bible says about it. The Bible, which is God's word to man, clearly labels homosexuality a sin. So, saying the Church is behind the times is really saying God is behind the times.

But God can't be behind the times. He exists outside of time. He created time. It means nothing to Him. He exists on a completely different level and scale than us. He's very well aware of what transpires on Earth. He's aware of what passes for "Modern Society".  He isn't caught by surprise at the things we do.

It may be flattering to think that our society is 'Modern' and on to new things but it's not. Sure, we have technology and all kinds of new gadgets but human interactions and mores and sins are the same as they've always been. There is nothing new under the sun. Homosexuality was a sin thousands of years ago when  God called it a sin in the Bible and it's still a sin today.

What has changed is the punishment for that sin. In the Old Testament, homosexuals were put to death but in the New Testament, they aren't. Just like with the women caught in adultery, Jesus says to go and sin no more. He doesn't condemn us but He does tell us to sin no more. I don't write this to condemn anyone. I write this to show that God is very much in tune with the times and nothing escapes His notice.

Jesus took all the punishment and condemnation for sin upon Himself so that we wouldn't have to bear it ourselves. But that doesn't mean we continue in sin because He doesn't condemn us. I'm not saying it's easy to stop sinning or quit a certain sin that has become a stronghold in our lives. But God is the same today as He was yesterday. In the Bible, He calls Himself the I AM. He is in an ever present state. He's not in the past or the future. He's in the right now. Nothing you're going through is too tough or hard for Him deliver you from. He isn't behind the times but He is behind your deliverance.

Seven Types of Christians

I've been reading through my Bible and came to the Book of Revelation. I thought about skipping it and going to another book in the New Testament. I've read some books that go in depth about Revelation and explain it but, even after reading those, I still struggle when reading Revelation to make any sense out of it or get any new revelation from it.

I decided I would go ahead and read it and asked God to help me learn new things this time around. In the second chapter, John talks about writing letters to the seven churches in Asia. Each of the churches is described as being in a certain condition. That got me to thinking those same conditions could be applied to individual Christians. Individual Christians could experience one or more of these conditions throughout their walk with God.

The first one is the Loveless Church or Christian. I thought of Christians who get so busy serving in their church and being busy with life that they neglect their first love. Their relationship with God is the first love. They need to make sure they take time to get alone with God and stay focused on the most important thing which is their relationship with Him. Serving in their church and helping is great and needed but you have to maintain a balance and not get out of touch with God.

The second one is the Persecuted Church or Christian. This made me think of Christians who it seems are always suffering one crises after another. Who seem to always be having something go wrong and they start to feel discouraged and like God has abandoned them. They stay committed but feel like they're on their own.

The third one is the Compromising Church or Christian. They do a lot of good things and hold to the faith but they permit some things in their life that are sinful. They rationalize some minor things and then they turn into major things. They start to tolerate things that God says are wrong.

The fourth one is the Corrupt Church or Christian. This is when they don't even feel bad about the sin they're committing. They don't even think it's sin. They've let their conscience be dulled. God confronts them with their sin but they don't repent.

The fifth one is the Dead Church or Christian. They look good on the outside but inside they are full of dead men's bones. They put on a good show but that's about it. You get around them and listen to them talk about God and the faith but there doesn't seem to be a spark about them or any life in their words.

The sixth one is the Faithful Church or Christian. They stay true to God in everything and He has nothing against them and He opens doors for them that no one can shut and closes doors that no one can open.

The seventh one is the Lukewarm Church or Christian. I think about someone who is just going through the motions. Their heart isn't in it but they don't want to completely distance themselves from God. They just live from one Sunday to the next or just show up on Easter and Christmas.

I also noticed how the Son of Man is described differently for each church. For the Loveless Church,  He's described as He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands. At the end of chapter one it says the seven stars are the seven angels for each church and the seven lamp stands are the churches. I think that means He walks among His children and He's speaking to us and guiding us. He's showing us how to get back to our first love.

For the Persecuted Church, He's described as the First and the Last, who was dead, and came back to life. I think He's letting the persecuted know He has everything under control. Everything begins and ends with Him. He knows what you're going through and He's with you every step of the way.

For the Compromising Church, He's described as He who has the sharp two-edged sword, I think He's letting the compromisers know that they need to cut some things out of their life. They need to have some things exposed and dealt with and the sword of His word will do that.

For the Corrupt Church, He's described as the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass. I think He's letting the corrupt know that He sees their corruption and they will eventually be exposed and repent or be consumed.

For the Dead Church, He's described as He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. I think He's letting them know they need His Spirit back in their lives. They're completely dead and only His Spirit can bring them back to life.

For the Faithful Church, He's described as He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I think He's letting the faithful know that He puts them where He wants them and takes care of their needs.

For the Lukewarm Church, He's described as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. I think He's saying to the lukewarm that they can put all their trust in Him and stop being apathetic. He's letting them know they can fully commit to Him because He's fully committed to them.

I think there are times in your walk with God that you may find yourself in one of these conditions. Know that God is relentless in His pursuit of you and He won't leave you in a bad condition.

Missing Parents

This holiday season has been my first without both of my parents. Last year my mom wasn't around for it and this year my dad isn't. Celebrating the holidays without them makes it feel a little empty. It got me to thinking about how the foster children we had in our home during the holidays felt.

Some of them weren't old enough to know any different but some of them were. I've tried to put myself in their place. Even though they had bad parents, I'm sure they still missed them and felt empty. As foster parents you try to take away some of that emptiness without replacing their parents. The main thing is you give them a stable place to be while their parents try to get their act together.

I also think about the ones who are adopted and know their birth parents are out there somewhere. I'm sure some of them may feel a certain emptiness, like a part of them is missing. The daughter my wife and I adopted hasn't asked us yet about her birth parents. Hopefully, when she does, we've helped her to not feel like she's missing something and that God more than takes the place of any missing parents.

My wife and I can only do so much but God can take care of it all. I feel that way this holiday season. I miss my parents but my Heavenly Father is more than enough. So if you're missing someone this holiday season, parents, children, siblings, or just a friend, God is more than enough to fill the void. Enjoy the memories of those people and find your peace in our Heavenly Father.

Foster Children

When my wife and I were foster parents our perspective was always from that of parents. At the time we were foster parens, our oldest daughter was ten and her perspective was of a sibling. I never thought much about what it was like to be a foster sibling until one day I tried to put my self in her shoes and think about what it's like to be a foster sibling.

After I thought about it for a few minutes, I realized I'm already a foster sibling. Every time I go to church I'm around my foster brothers and sisters. God has adopted all of us and we are foster children. What does that mean? It means that just like the foster children we had in our home we dirty and their clothes reeked of cigarette smoke when we first got them, the guy sitting next to me in church might stink spiritually and have some bad habits. As soon as the kids got in our home we always gave them a bath and clean clothes. So stinky dude in church needs to be washed in the blood of Jesus and clothed in His righteousness. He will still have some bad habits but we all do.

So just like the foster children we had were dirty, had been abused and mistreated, or just neglected, we loved them and helped them to get better and that's what we do with our spiritual brothers and sisters. We bear with one another and have patience with each other.

My oldest daughter was a very good foster sibling. She had a heart to serve and help the kids we had in our home. We must have the same approach with our brothers and sisters in God. No matter how wretched and smelly they are. We are all foster children.