Battle Hardened

My wife and I bought matching mugs before I left for Iraq. We have many memories together that involve coffee or tea and we are creating a few more. The mugs we purchased had a verse on them. If we gave you one of our prayer cards for the deployment we had the same verse printed on it. The verse is Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

    I recently went and seen the medics a few times. My back is locking up and is really painful. At times every step radiates a sharp pain throughout my body. It has been two weeks and not much has changed. It is at this point that discouragement and despair loom overhead attempting to cast their shadow.

    For more than 20 years Joshua lead God's people in a war with their neighboring tribes and nations to fulfill what God called them to do. Occasionally they experienced setbacks, defeat and discouragement but they never gave up. With God's help they always came out victorious in the end.

    These lessons from God's people are specifically preserved to remind us of our common plight. Often times in our world it is easy to forget two simple truths concerning the God we profess. First, in this life we will face many battles we cannot fight in our own strength. We will face situations in which we will be powerless to change or control the outcome. We will be powerless because the battle is spiritual at the core and physical in its manifestation. It is hard for us to remember this wholly other dimension to our lives.

    Second, God's mighty presence is not limited to the pages of the Old Testament. The image of God as a warrior and conquering king is as real today as it was then. The Scriptures describe Christ's second coming as fierce and frightening. We need to remember that he is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He stands ready to help us win the battles we face – today.

May your life be one of victory in Jesus. May you allow him to help you win the battles you face – today!

Disappointment

Ministry started out pretty slow for me here in Iraq. Counseling almost stopped once we hit country and preaching looked like it would be once every three weeks.
It took me six weeks to figure out which chapel I would be at and even a little longer to get an office to counsel in. It was definitely not what I expected. My situation seemed at first to be working against the dream and vision I had.

Recently I have had the priviledge of preaching 5 weeks in a row. Counseling is going great. In every way ministry seems to have that added extra something that reminds me that the work I am called to do is not done in my own strength. I have been sensing and feeling God's presence here mightily among these troops.

In those first few weeks I held onto the belief that I am right where God wants me to be and that hope lead me around obstacles, through smoke screeens, and into His marvelous light.

I preached on the story of Joseph today out of Genesis 39-40; his prison experience.
Joseph's whole fiasco kind of started because of two dreams God gave him.

Joseph's life leads him from the promise to the pit, into a prison and finally up into the palace.

It would have been so natural, so easy for him to have doubted the Dream-Giver but he does not. The dream that he had been given of great things coming his way could not have made sense to him during these turn of events. But Joseph never stopped.

I have been dealing with soldiers who are feeling let-down, frustrated and disapointed.

My encouragement to them and to myself comes from the life of Joseph. God was with him when he was in the pit and the prison. Joseph knew his past, his present and his future were filled with God. Even when it did not make sense.