Bruised in the Battle

When I became an Officer in the Salvation Army I never really understood the extents that the enemy would go to ...to beat me up and try and cause me to give up.

Let me go back, I remember well, sitting in the seats of the old Perth Fortress and listening week in and week out to the truth of the gospel. Many times I found myself responding to God in surrender, repentance and confession, and many times I was forgiven and restored, still am. I will always be grateful for faithful and courageous Officers and Leaders who inspired me, challenged me and showed me what it meant to be true to Jesus.

One day, in those days, that seems like, " forever ago...", I distinctly heard my name being called to go into ministry as an Officer in TSA and I said yes and have given it my best shot for 20 years now.

But if you had told me that I would be constantly beat up by the devils attempts at my life, by the temptations and criticisms, and complaints and "stuff" that an Officer must face, everyday, I most likely would have said forget it...I am not doing that.

Maybe some Christian readers, who are looking at this blog may feel the same...maybe not, but I have found that the battle I face sometimes leaves me feeling bruised, weary and tired. It leaves me wondering what I was thinking, when I said yes all those years ago.

Often times, the battle is subtle...its not an in your face ...demon possesed wacko experience, but rather a subtle attempt to undermine your confidence, to weaken your resolve,to get you to back down on your convictions, to lure you away from your integrity, to try and get you to compromise your values, and of course the struggle and battle often comes from people you wouldnt expect it come from.

Sometimes in the midst of the battle, you do feel beat up... you do feel injured, you do feel weak and sometimes you are defeated and you go home licking your wounds.

Ministry isnt for the faint hearted, maybe thats why so many wont go into ministry these days. In TSA we are struggling to get people to respond to any call upon their life into Officer Ministry, maybe its because of these very reasons.

And the truth is, it messes with your head and it messes with your heart at times.... for some, its easier to walk away than to stand up and fight... to stand up for your conviction and your Call, for some its easier to lay down and surrender and just forget it... and I understand completely. ( I have felt that)

and so, what do you do when you are bruised in the battle... ? what do you do when you have taken a hit and feel weak and close to defeat ?

I am no expert on this, but what I do is go back to the basics.... go back to the reason why I joined up in the first place. I get back on my knees and go to my source of strength. I withdraw temporarily and regroup, so that I can advance once again. Retreat so I can advance.

I have felt a strong urgency from God to call His people back to Pray. Not just alone, but together in groups, in corporate prayer meetings, and to gather together in prayer to push back the powers that stand against us.

I have been amazed by the push back to that...

and even to the point of receiving emails questioning prayer meetings and their place in the church .

WHAT THE ???????

Prayer is the absolute key, for every Christian,and for every church...its where we get armoured up, its where we get healed from the wounds of our warfare, its where we put spiritual ice on our bruises and we get empowered and refreshed ready to go to battle once again.

I want to strongly suggest that if our churches are not growing, if we are not seeing people saved and added in every week, if we are not seeing lives transformed and changed frequently, if we are not seeing the demons flleeing from our ministry, if we are not seeing sick people being made well, .........then no new clever vision or mission strategy will fix that,

what we need, is very very simple... we need to revitalize and re start our corporate prayer meetings.

Its not popular, some hate it, shudder at the thought even....throw their hands up in laughter even

but take a read again of Ephesians 6,( see below) before you try and go to battle again, and wonder why you are being beaten up so bad, ? why you are not winning ? why our churches are becoming less relevant than ever before... ?

It all starts in prayer...

when an Army stops fighting together ( stops praying together) we cease to be an Army.

think about it, in this battle there is strength in numbers... in the 2's and 3's and in the 30's and 40's when we gather together, we take back ground... we will still experience the bruises, but we will find strength together in the prayer group that supports us.

I am unsure why we wont pray ? why prayer meetings are considered so boring ?

What I am sure of though is this... if we wont pray ???? we can't expect to win.

BUT, if we will pray, if we will revitalise this aspect of our corps and churches, then there is nothing that will stand in our way that won't be defeated by the power within us.

and so Ephesians 6 gives us some clues... (emphasis mine)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV)

so let's get back to the prayer meetings and see our Army become more of a fighting force to be reckoned with once again.

Yep you will be bruised, its part of the nature of the battle. But you will also be protected and blessed and our churches will change rapidly, when we do this together.

Its not optional !

Posted with Blogsy