The Curse!: Battles?

After I finished writing my last blog, I decided to take a trip up to North Georgia to visit my mentor for the holiday weekend. I had a lot on my TORTURED MIND and needed to get away and FORGET ABOUT THE WORLD. During that weekend, I had time to go up to Amiccola Falls to SIT AND LISTEN to what God had to say to me. I had some crazy thoughts going in my head and I just wanted to escape or lie down and give up.

I don’t BELIEVE it was any coincidence that the next day my mentor asked me to participate in a Memorial Day parade. Never in my life had I heard of a Memorial Day parade. That morning I saw hundreds of current and former soldiers who courageously fought in wars from the Korean War all the way up to the current WAR in Iraq. The LEGACY of these brave men goes all the way back to the Revolutionary War of the eighteenth century, which is appropriate since we celebrate Independence Day in a couple of days to celebrate the victory our brave forefathers fought so valiantly for.

I come from a proud line of soldiers; both my father and brother have served this country in the U.S. Army. As well as my mentor who gave thirty-one years of his life fighting for the cause of America. These men unselfishly put their lives on the line to fight for this country; many of them faced traumatic battles that we can’t comprehend. Although the wars may be over, there are still battles that need to be fought. And that is what this new blog will be about.

DA WAR?

On October 21, 2011 Pres. Obama announced his plans to have all U.S. troops and trainers leave Iraq by the end of that year, this was to bring the mission to Iraq to an end. About two months later the secretary of defense declared the Iraq war was over on December 15, 2011.

Never before in the history of this country has there been a sitting president so DISCONNECTED from the Armed Forces and its missions. Clearly the president and his administration have their own agendas and aren’t concerned about the US citizens and the country’s interests. His tenure as president has been more of a war of change. Because of their mishandling of the war in Iraq, Iraq is back in turmoil and thousands of U.S. soldiers who lost their lives have been disgraced. I’m SORRY; I just had to get that out before I continue with this blog.

You see, likewise, never before in my life have so many churches been so disconnected from God and pursuing His kingdom. There must be something in the water. When Christianity becomes about God blessing us and fulfilling our dreams, the church loses its focus. The PEOPLE OF GOD have forgotten the mission of the church.

When church teachers and preachers are more concerned about Christians being worldly successful, we are heading down the same path as the Jewish nation when hedonism began to creep into Jewish teachings. Christian apologist Timothy Keller notes, “If you seek righteousness first, you get happiness. If you seek happiness first, you get neither.”

When churches teach their members to chase their VERSACE DREAMS and believe God for them. They are sending them back to the worldly lives Jesus died to deliver them from. There was a time this meant someone was a HYPOCRITE. Let me be LOUD AND CLEAR, Jesus conquered Satan and his followers when He became our curse on the cross (Galatians 3:13), we serve a truly strong God and He won the war!

But, it is our responsibility to go against the ways of the world like a chainsaw... to die to self, daily... to fight the cravings of our flesh and then God will BE GLORIFIED (John 5:30)! Then the world will know that we are different and set apart for God’s purposes (Psalm 4:3; Ephesians 2:10; 1 Peter 2:9)—not ours. God is not glorified when His children look more like the world than Him.

When the church refuses to die to self by battling their selfish desires in pursuit of greatness, we commit TREASON. Treason is defined as, “1. A violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state. 2. The betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith, treachery.” And that is what most churches teach when they teach a feel-good, warm fuzzy and selfish DREAM TEAM gospel. They SELL OUT for the pleasures of this world.

I can’t help but wonder what happened to the brave and courageous MARTYRS of the early church? The ones who would follow Jesus wherever He went, withholding nothing... the ones who didn’t even have homes to return to... the ones who didn’t feel worthy enough to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus.

The apostle Paul was a FIGHTER and he was well aware of the spiritual warfare going on around the early church and him. This is why he wrote so much to the early churches and his young protégé Timothy about completing the mission and fighting the good fight (1 Corinthians 9:25; Ephesians 6:12; Philippians 1:30; 1 Timothy 4:7)
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As a church, WE ARE BRAVE when we feel our biblical principles are violated by the world and we claim that we are NOT FOR SALE. But, we aren't brave when it costs us our happiness and comfort. We’ve forgotten that the love of money is the ROOT OF ALL EVIL (Proverbs 15:27; 1 Timothy 6:10). We can point our fingers and blame it on the world, but they aren’t the real enemy—just pawns is this war.

THE ENEMY?

Again, the apostle Paul makes it clear that this war is not against this world, but spiritual forces that fell from heaven when God shook Heaven like an EARTHQUAKE when Satan rebelled, it’s a long way down from the mountaintop of pride and happiness. That’s how the curse started in the PARADISE garden. Man was always BORN TO LOVE something or someone. Originally it was God, but the curse caused man to love himself more than God. More often than not our battles aren’t even against ANGELS AND DEMONS, but ourselves and our selfish desires: dreams, Colorado, London, Italy, money, fame, power, a new house, new car, new spouse or sex. Take your pick, which do you pray for the most? Are you a LOVE ADDICT? Is more of God GETTING INTO YOU or MORE OF YOU?

I’ve learned over the years that one way you can tell what matters most people is to listen to their prayers. Because they’ve been taught that, “Prayer changes everything.” Unfortunately, most people fail to realize that prayer is meant to change us—not God. One seminary professor observed, “Witchcraft is the effort to get spiritual powers to do what we want them to do whether it is a good desire or an evil desire. When I thought of my prayer life, this statement made me think about what are my prayers?” Thus we must make war against our flesh.

Prayer is not meant to be a means to worldly success—it’s meant to help us successfully follow God’s will. In his letter to the church in Rome the apostle Paul battled his own desires constantly (Romans 7:7–25). He later prayed for God to remove a thorn from his flesh and God refused (2 Corinthians 12:7–9). Jesus taught His disciples to pray for God’s will to be done, not theirs. There is much wisdom in this, because God is all-knowing and knows what’s best for us.

Jesus taught His disciples that in this world they would have trouble (John 16:32– 33). This is why I am READY FOR HOME and I refuse to listen to the enemy’s lies about happiness anymore. Every time THE SAINTS compromise their faith in the name of happiness and comfort, they lose another battle and prove to be their own worst enemy.

Before anyone says or thinks, “Martin, who are you to judege me?” Over the last eight years I’ve tried to be as TRANSPARENT as possible in my writing and I’ve shared many of my own battles and failures. Yes, for years compromise was the story of my life as I chased the things of this broken world. Yes, I’m human and I’ve made many mistakes.

Even before I started college in 1994, I was LIVING FOR THE OTHER SIDE. I chose to fight for my right to enjoy life—until God had to UNDO ME by showing me mercy and allowing me to die. And ever since life has been one big SHOOT OUT as the enemy has tried to shoot me down.

There have been times I’ve felt like giving up on the fight. But it is God’s love that has carried me in the good and bad times. God has used both to REFINE ME (Romans 8:28) and prepare me for the battles.