Are we still The SALVATION Army ?? - Or are we just The Army ??

Are we still the SALVATION Army, or have we become just an Army ?

the definition of the word Salvation can be seen in 2 main formats...as follows:

1. 1.

   preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.

   
   

   "they try to sell it to us as economic salvation"

   synonyms:

   lifeline, preservation, conservation, means of escape "she clung to that conviction, knowing it was her salvation"

   • a source or means of being saved from harm, ruin, or loss.

     noun: one's salvation; plural noun: one's salvations

     
     

     "his only salvation was to outfly the enemy"
2. 2.

   Theology

   deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ.

   
   

   "the Christian gospel of salvation for all mankind"

   synonyms:

   redemption, deliverance, saving, help, reclamation "we are here to bring you to salvation by way of repentance"

In other words then, Is this movement (TSA) still getting people saved from sin by ways of delivering people to Jesus to be redeemed, reclaimed for Him ?   Is that our main priority in life and existence as TSA or are we more about other things these days ?

Are we still more concerned about a persons spiritual destiny in Christ or are we more concerned about their human lifestyle choices for the here and now ?

Is it that we care more about justice on the earth than the saving power of Jesus to set a persons soul free for eternity ..beyond the earth ? ( as well as justice on the earth ) ( if one wins over the other, which one wins ?)

Jules and I got talking on the way home from church today about The Salvos and who we are and what we have become. This pic above was taken  around 1981 ish... the Perth Fortress band was a large band, in this pic, is my dad, and my brothers and I  and we were fair dinkum about our music and witness in those days ... or were we ?

I got to thinking about my very early years at Perth Fortress and someone may be able to clarify and adjust my memory, but I seem to remember Saturday nights  open air meetings, and other open air meetings where the junior band would conduct a separate open air meeting to the senior band and then they would march around and pick us up and we would all march back to the Old Fortress where the pic above was taken.

But it is the Saturday night open air meeting and the prayer meeting before hand that has exercised my thinking.

I remember as a young boy, my dad going to that prayer meeting with a handful of others and I would sometimes go also. It was a "boring as" meeting ...by my memory, and I guess that's why not many attended.  In fact if I was to be truthful,  in most prayer meetings I have participated in over the years, they are not super popular, no matter when they are on.

I wonder why that is ? I really wonder what that is about ?

You will be speaking quietly to yourself all the reasons why you personally wouldn't attend a prayer meeting  or why you would ? But for me I am wondering, what is it about us, as people that causes us to shudder when we think about praying with other Christians ?

When a person challenges this in our ranks we find good cause to defend ourselves, even criticize that person... but I even wonder why we do that .  

I wonder why and when  our music became more important than our prayer meetings ? 

As Jules and I discussed it today, it occurred to us that we don't see many miracles these days, and perhaps the reason why we don't see many miracles is because we don't pray together  for them.

Let's be clear, the greatest miracle of all time is when a person is SAVED from sin and set free for Jesus. ( Salvation)

so are we still the Salvation Army or are we not ?  

The best way to answer this question, is for us to self evaluate, are we still seeing people saved in our corps/churches,  or around us... or are we just going about our business doing a good thing - rather than a GOD thing ?

Some of us have forgotten what a brand new baby Christian looks like. And that is an indictment on us, not God..... simply asked.... are we still asking God, crying out to Him for souls to be saved and added into our corps/churches these days ? or did we stop asking ? or believing that it can still be done.  

Ask yourself when was the last time a mercy seat at your corps was filled to overflowing with people seeking Jesus to be saved for the very first time ?                          Are you not still hungry for that ?

Maybe your corps is seeing that and for you I applaud your faith and commitment  and prayer life...

but what about the rest of us, are we just turning up and playing Army ? 

or have we lost our passion for the Salvation bit ?  It's just a question.  Hope it's not ruffling your feathers too much ?

...so let me tell you about my dad.... Murray Grant.

He is in heaven these days and yet he taught me so much truth about prayer and the Christian journey  in the years I was influenced by him.  In the pic above he is the one on the far left  hand side at the very end of the row... he was a great man of God, a bit strict at times and certainly a bit of a nagger from time to time, but he sure was convinced about who he was in Christ and he demonstrated it and lived it out passionatly.

Every morning at our home he would be up around 5am to pray and have his quiet time, kneeling quietly in our lounge room praying and reading the bible. No doubt praying for  me and our wider family. 

It didn't stop there though, he was the spiritual leader of that band, the band sergeant...the young guys used to call him "B"... and if there was prayer meeting on, dad would be first there, sometimes the only one. 

It used to distress him deeply, to the point of tears sometimes, that others didn't seem to want to pray together.

It's most likely where I inherited this passion for prayer from. All I can do is try and live it out, encourage others to do the same and pray myself. I will be forever grateful for dads example on this. 

Prayer changes things hugely, and when we pray together even bigger things happen in us and around us, even some miracles.  

I miss  my dad. He was a good man who I respect highly.

So, in closing I wonder if you would indulge me another thought.... have those who have gone before us, who paved the way for our own faith, and how they prayed for us faithfully for years, and for our salvation... let us not let that be in vain, let us continue the inheritance by "praying in" others also to the Kingdom... and let us be the  true .... SALVATION army once again.

Let us celebrate together, let us enjoy the music yes... let us speak up for juctice yes...

let us gather for worship and praise, yes...

let us run our programs and groups...yes.... 

but let us also be a praying movement shaking the very earth at its core, 

with our belief and trust and hope in the Living Almighty God 

and let us gather together again and pray

in the powerful miraculous of heaven for the earth..