Picture

JC- from Sunday, January 29th, 2012

Journal Copy:

Lord, how blessed you have made me!
You took away my secrets
You took away my shame
And , through all of the troubles
You've blessed me in your name.

You take away
You return something better
You brought back who I was
You've blessed me in your name!

And though I fall,
You will always be there to pick me up.
And though I run away
You welcome me back with open arms.
You let people beat you, stone you,
pierce nails through your bone,
and died the death which I deserve,
so that I may live.

What a holy Love!
What genuine, what an authentic, true, unfailing love!

You love me now, just as much as you loved me then, just as much as you will love me.
It never changes.

You are in love with me forever.

Jesus, you love me more than Man himself ever will.

I can survive without man, but I cannot without you.

In Jesus's holy name,

Amen!

Battle Day Part 2: Tools for Battle

INTRODUCTION:
So far, this blog has been an account of what has been basically the story/song, or however you wanna put it, of my life, for the past 6 months.

But I know this portion of what I'm going through will impact the rest of my life forever.

Okay, now for the post itself:

So, today,
or tonight,
rather, saying as it's currently 10:02 p.m. as I write this,
I'm going to talk about the "tools" that have helped me through all of this.

I'm going to begin with something from my journal,
the source of where I got the title of this blog.

"I forgot the date (November 13, 2011) 11:24 (p.m.)

To a 7 year old, who doesn't know what's coming at her,

Tomorrow is the big day. Battle day, the day when this war begins. I am a soldier, listening to the heart-wrenching silence before blood is being spilled, and the screams and cries of innocent people.

They say don't rock the boat. Tomorrow morning I will have to face the reality of God's will for my life.

I feel as though I am ready for battle. I have my Men (listed names), my weapons and shields, and my materials needed to keep safe.

But at the same time, I am worried that I am not well-trained. But, as Dad told me, that we must have faith. God will never put us through something we can't handle.

(This is where I got the butterfly part from...)

He said there's a difference between trusting God, and trusting him enough to go out and fight for what you believe in.

I will certainly allow myself to grieve. God wants to be cried out to. It thrills him to be pursued.

If God says I can do this, who is to tell me I can't?

'And if our God is for us, who can be against us?'

'He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.'

'Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.'

"We set our hope on you, we
set our hope on your love, we
set our hope on the one who
is the Everlasting God."

'And if anyone is born in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone; the new has come!'

-2 Corinthians 5:17

God, help me to know that you are there, and thank you for guiding me thus far to make the decision that would please you. Think you for [my church]... Thank you for my men, and thank you for being my leader. Help this to be a big stage of growth in the rest of my life.

'Have mercy on me, a sinner.'

In Your son's precious name,

Amen.



SO, reading through this, I've been trying to understand what exactly the tools needed to get through a tough time really are.

What are the tools that have helped me?

Now, let's think about this:
What was the whole reason we got into this battle in the first place?



Well, we realized that we were lacking in something.
We realized that the way we've been living life hasn't been working out for us.
We realized that God has a better plan for us.

We made the decision to start fighting for our future.
We made the decision to start fighting-not for ourselves-but for God.

So, you would think that God would be
the main thing we need in order to get through this battle,
when he's the reason we got into it, right?

I. God
A. The Bible (a.k.a, your Daily Battle Training.)
a. The Bible is God breathed into life. The Bible is your fuel. Nothing on
Earth will ever fulfill us and give us what we need to get through the
battles of life compared to God's word. The Bible is the source of all
knowledge needed to live the life God has in store for you.
b. You eat everyday, right? If food is our physical fuel, than The Bible is
our spiritual fuel.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)

(16)All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (17) So that the servant of God may be fully equipped for every good work.

B. Friends (a.k.a, your Men)
a. Your friends have an effect on who you are. It is important to make sure your

core friends are on God's side and are followers of Christ. If they are on God's side,

then it makes it TONS easier to fight alongside them in battle. You don't go into a

battle with Men who aren't on the same side as you, do you? That would basically

be saying you're not fighting for who you think you are, if you're spending time and

fighting through the battles of life with people who aren't on the same side as you!

Proverbs 12:26

One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but they way of the wicked leads them astray.

Proverbs 24-15

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

C. Prayer (a.k.a, your Backup)

a. Through prayer, we are reaching out for help with something

we cannot do on our own. If a man is in a battle, and he

needs help, he cries out! When you are going through a tough

time, and you feel like you just can't take it anymore, cry out

for help!

b. You can also as your Men to pray for you also, that can help you gain even more

backup!

Mark 10:27

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; With God, all things are possible."

D. Influence (The Final Blow!)

a. When you've done something you didn't think you could do, such as

improve your mile time or ace a test, you share about it, right? Well,

same thing should be true about battles. When we reach out and share

our battles with one another, no matter how specific you are or how

blundt you are, it can help someone else get through their current

battles.

b. It's extremely important to share what has gotten you through the battles

in your life. You can have an influence on other people this way, and you can be

their inspiration to Keep Fighting!

James 1:2-4

(2) Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, (3) because you know that the testing of your faith produces perserverance. (4) Let perserverance finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.