The Way of a Warrior is based on humanity, love, and sincerity; the heart of martial valor is true bravery, wisdom, love, and friendship. Emphasis on the physical aspects of warriorship is futile, for the power of the body is always limited. My dear warrior,
A warrior’s life is one that is given in service to others. It is not self-serving. A warrior lives to protect and defend others—not the self. That would simply be called self-defense. I have learned from the one who has gone before me that warriors take in a way that gives back to others, not a way that robs them or leaves them feeling empty or broken. A warrior protects, not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. A warrior is a protector of the entire person: body, heart and mind (or body, spirit and soul. Same thing, different languaging). How can a warrior take in a way that gives much?
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Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. My dear warrior,
As I wrote yesterday, any area of your life for which you have no hope is under the influence of a lie. There is always hope. Not only is there always hope, there is always a solution! Recently I was listening to Steve Backlund talking about just that. He said if the brain doesn’t think there is a solution, it won’t look for one. But once the brain actually believes there is a solution, it begins to function like a heavenly search engine, searching until it finds a solution. "The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us."  “The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self--all your wishes and precautions—to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call "ourselves," to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be "good.” My dear warrior,
As C.S. Lewis and A.W. Tozer both so eloquently stated, the almost impossible thing is to come to the end of ourselves. We struggle and wrangle to kill the flesh; we fight against temptation; we want to live our lives as ‘good people’; and yet, we fight to maintain control. We want to be in charge. We have to have the last word. If that sounds familiar because you are in the middle of that selfsame struggle, if you recognize yourself in this, let this be a letter for you.  “Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.” My dear warrior,
So many are offended by the doctrines of God, by Scripture itself; even people who call themselves believers. We're living in a time in which it is counter-cultural to be a lover of God, to be a man or woman after His own heart and mind. In a society where men create God in their own image and exchange truth for a lie so they can comfortably live in their own sin, I challenge you to wrestle with these topics and not be offended by the Word of God. Do not be put off by this seemingly difficult topic, but rather allow your heart to become ravenously hungry after God’s heart, and challenge yourself to delve deeper into God’s nature.  “Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing and perfect.” Dear Warriors,
You have a life inside of you that is completely unstoppable. Nothing can stand in your way - unless you choose to be stopped. It is a matter of choosing to be unstoppable (realizing that Christ is the source of your strength), or choosing to give into despair and giving up all hope. For this purpose, God instructs us to renew our minds each day. What does it mean to renew your mind? It means you must go to Him daily and let Him transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Spend time in the Word. Let Him influence your thoughts for the better, push out negativity, and remove thoughts that would counter what He wants to do in your life. When you renew your mind, you are getting rid of any festering bitterness that is eating you up from the inside out. You say no to anger, no to grudges and unforgiveness. You choose to forgive. You choose love. You choose to make God your focus, and to see from His point of view, to think like Christ.  Dear Warriors,
Have you ever noticed that some people (or characters) just seem to change the atmosphere when they enter a room? It seems that everyone drops what they are doing as their attention is instantly drawn to this one person. I'm thinking of the Clint Eastwood’s, Han Solo’s and James Bonds. I'm sure a few people come to mind. They just seem to command a presence. Perhaps you don’t know any warriors in real life, but think of the samurai, or military commanders; think of William Wallace, Spartacus or Aragorn, who in their rousing battle speeches changed the mood of an entire army! "Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already." - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity  "How long will you try to have it both ways? If the LORD is God, follow him” Dear warriors,
A few weeks ago in For the Honor of our King, I wrote about the fact that our lives are not our own. Our lives belong to God, and God alone. One of the greatest weaknesses of our fast-paced, tech-driven, control-your-destiny culture is the fact that we feel the need to be in control of absolutely every part of our lives. From controlling when and how we watch TV shows, to trying to control, manipulate and micro-manage other people in our lives and their decisions—as if that were our call to make. Control is first and foremost an illusion. You are not in control of your life. And neither is anyone else. Putting other people in control of your life simply becomes a means of passing blame onto someone else when things go wrong in your own life. Trying to control other people will only lead to frustration and heartache. Have you ever felt like the more you tried to control a situation, the less grip you had on things, and the more you felt like things spiraling out of control? |
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Mere Humanity: Becoming a Mature Christian in an Immature World 
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