If ever there has been a time of war, it is NOW!  Not in physical manifestation only, but in specie "spiritual".  Since the "Kingdom Kids Network" broadcast on Saturday and the "Dying to be Married" on Sunday, the hordes of Hell have been marching and have enlisted the assistance of the unwittingly, the entangled and even those who have given way to their own carnality and fleshly desires.  The tides of life's boisterous  waves having beat against the apertures of men's hearts are wearing saints, disillusioning the simple and daunting the hope of our youth.

When facing the provocations that spew from lips of naysayers, backbiters, and haters, it is most important that we realize (though under attack) that this is not a flesh and blood warfare.  Ephesians 6:12  Our enemy (the Devil) is out to utterly destroy our witness and halt our testimonies of the abundant grace and glorious workings of the power of God flowing in our lives, ultimately to steal the word sown in our hearts and he uses people.  

Our first response to offenses is usually to view the offender as the culprit and if we are not responding the power of the Holy Spirit, we can and sometimes will be led astray by our carnal man resulting in the ensnarement of the enemy to discredit our testimony and steal the word that has been given us.

16:16 " These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble."

Oh, how to avoid the offenses of life?  The fight to overlook unwarranted criticisms of others, to bridle our tongues when we see the enemy is using someone to provoke us to anger, to die to our flesh and the lusts thereof that lead us headlong into ungodly relationships that disarm us, resulting in heartache, and devastation.  Yes, the Devil knows the "enemy-in-me" and has studied every move.  His imps and demonic troops have been given express orders to relentlessly "steal, kill and destroy" everyone on his radar.  He is the master deceiver and  his deceptions cannot be discerned by the carnal and un regenerative soul.

If we forget that God has a plan to bring  to fruition that which He planted in us for His glory, we will cower under pressure, draw back at the threat of confrontation and give in to the deceptions of man because we'd rather settle for what we do see rather than to wait and believe Him for what we don't (see spiritually).

Armor up Saints of God!  This is an ALL OUT WAR!  Now is not the time to give up.  It is never a time that good soldiers run away from their enemy.  Yours is relentless and he will not back down neither will he show you mercy. He wants to utterly annihilate you.

The motto of The Lords army is always to "Fight the Good Fight of Faith!" and to "Endure hardness as a good soldier"  2 Timothy 2:3  Be spiritually minded and lay aside every weight and sin that does so easily beset you or throw you off course.  (Hebrews 12:1) Lay hold of that which is before us, despising the weapons the enemy uses against us (Shame, guilt, false humility (which is a form of pride) and everything he's used against us in the past.   

His grace will always be sufficient for any battle we face.  Continue to look to Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.  If we suffer with Him, our reign is sure!

It is a fight for "Fruit".  The fruit that the Word of God produces in our lives.  Therefore, we cannot be passive and be intimidated when evil tries to silence us, when the kingdoms of this world mandate that we worship at the feet of compromise and ungodliness.  We are living in a time where the tree will be known by its fruit as never before.  We are engaged in a "Fruit Fight"!

 

Oh, the joys of parenthood!  I'll never forget holding my oldest son and firstborn child while beholding the miracle (yes, for me it definitely was) of God's favor upon my life.  I remember thinking when he was only a few days old "What will you be like at 10, 15 or 20 years of age?"  Now, over 30 years later, the question resounds stemming from the epoch of his birth  "Where did the time go?"

 

Engrafted within the various stages and seasons of parenthood, the blessings kept coming as well as life's challenges: (disappointments, rejection, struggle, loss, pain, confusion) you name it, it was in there.  

 

Somehow I knew I'd never be able to teach my sons what it was to be a "real man" and that it was something only a real man could do, and although learning to love and trust another man with my heart, my children and ultimately our lives, was not only going to take some work on his part, but I too would be required to sow seeds of sacrifice as well.  So during the courses of "Parenting 101 - ...", "Love and re-marriage: Doing it God's way" and  "How to die in order to live", ours has been a journey where slow and sometimes unassuming growth in the midst of the vicissitudes of life, are now coming to fruition.

 

I was reminded this morning of just how much I'd taken for granted and why it is so necessary to take time, no "make time" to count my blessings and recognize that all too often, the fruit of hope can be overlooked and hidden beneath the boisterous clamour that hovers over the door of our heart, waiting to gain access.  But as the glory of a clam  is found in its pearl,  whose brilliance and value is developed in secret places and whose seed stem from pain and irritation, so are many of the most precious and valuable things in our lives.  The epiphany began like this:

 

I'm preparing a meal for our oldest son "M1" (using initials since I don't have permission :-) who's visiting us from out of town and our youngest son "C" who's home sick.  Our fourth son "Q" comes home and I ask him to text his older brother "T" to let him know that M1 is home.  He informs me that they spoke yesterday and have already made plans to get together while he's here.  Freeze!  I am now experiencing a utopian moment, and here's why:

 

Earlier this morning, M1 calls me to let me know that he and brother M2 are headed to the house after spending a good portion of the evening before together.  When they arrive, dad and sons spend time together sharing (no doubt, the responsibility, accountability and piety the sons have been taught by their dad is being revisited).     March MANness is in full effect!  

 

Each day leading up to this, our daughter is in constant communications with all of her brothers, through text, phone or just being in the same house.  Daddy is on everyone's "must call" agenda when they get home from school or work, not because they were told to, but because they "like" talking to daddy.  Although we are far from perfect and being problem free, this in itself is the product of hope planted during the "see nothing" years of our lives.

 

There were years where dysfunction, bitterness, lack, being viewed as misguided and tumult would have caused most to give up.  We did.  Believing we'd ever see our marriage (yet alone our family) ever make it   (as DTBM's broadcast spoke of in "From Root to Fruit:  The Process" would take an act of God.  But God, in His Omniscience, planted the seed of hope that carried us through those seasons and His voice and His word overrode the voices of doom in our head and gave us the strength to press on.  Hope could not and would not relent to the voices of disparity but instead subdued them.   The residue of unforgiveness, offense and bitterness have been washed away and the stench from the decay of pride has been eradicated by the sweet scent of its sacrifice during the winter months.  The when and how were so subtle and unobtrusive, I can't even pinpoint when it occurred. 

 

 

Spring is here!  Though we are still experiencing some of the same weather conditions left over from a very hard winter here in the Midwest (colder than Spring days, occasional snow, etc.) we've had enough warm days that the ground will not respond to the cold the same as in the winter months.  Instead, when we get a little snow or the rain begins to fall, it doesn't stick or hang around as long.  The Tulip leaves were the first to peak through the snow.  The birds have already begun ushering in the morning and creation has already been alerted that it is indeed Spring!

 

Things that were dormant throughout the winter will begin to awaken.   Perrineals will remember it's their time to arise.  We'll even use some of the very things that would have stunted a plants growth as compose to help to enhance it.  So will it be in our lives.  Nothing from our past will ever be wasted.  God will use it all to work together for our good and for His purpose.  That we might see the result of us loving Him enough that we'd be willing to obey him to the point of sacrifice.  We will experience the "Fruition of Hope".

 

Blessed Memorial Day to all those recognizing such a day. As it is our way to celebrate life at Kingdom United ministries Network, we will take the time to recognize, appreciate and give rousing support to all those troops who are serving and have served in the military. We took a moment on the most recent episode of "Dying to Be Married With Winston and Sondra Lewis" (click on Mayday, Mayday! PG Suggested: Parents just don't understandin case you missed it)  during the Exhortation segment. We also took our appreciation and recognition to the next level by taking a moment to also recognize soldiers in the Army of the Lord, standing on the passage found in Hebrews 12:1 which states, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us". This passage reminds us as well as encourages us that because we have had such great examples of soldiers of the faith like Abel and Abraham and others of that ilk, that we should likewise stay focused in our faith to achieve and obtain similar fruitful results, if we make sure to avoid the distractions that are ever around us.  On Saturday, 5-24-14, Kingdom Kids Network (in case you missed it, click on KKN: Reality Check!) set and example of of this very focus when they tackled the subject, "Reality Check". this shows how uniform the message is as this is just what is necessary in order to remain focused on our goal of being included in that great cloud of witnesses ourselves. What was some good word that you experienced this past weekend? 

On this past cyber service of Dying To Be Married with Winston and Sondra Lewis, we continued with the series,  "Be Reconciled: Restoring True Balance". This blog serves the purpose of wrapping up this series; it also serves as a way to keep the conversation rolling, This latest episode really only scratched the surface of a subject which deserved more time and attention. For those of you who have already listened, you may have already observed why we weren't able to delve deeper into the subject at hand (celebrating and recognizing my wife's birthday) of which I can't apologize.

As we reviewed the definition of reconciliation (or reconcile), which is, "to restore to friendship or harmony ", we highlighted one of the other definitions for the word, in particular, "to check (a financial account) against another for accuracy". We looked at the latter definition making the comparison of financial accounts with our accountability in our relationships. As the Lord did on various occasions when using parables of everyday occurrences, we made the comparison of how we reconcile our financial accounts to that of our relationships. This is where we had to leave the conversation due to our time constraints, but this medium  allows us to continue it, in order to further expound on these matters. On the broadcast, we made comparisons of how the results are similar when one mate is withdrawing more from the account (relationship) than is being deposited. Moreover, the discrepancies and ultimately irreconcilability that occurs when both mates are operating from two different budgets (agendas). 

Using the passage, in Proverbs 11:1 which states, "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight", we established how it is the Lord's desire for us to establish and maintain "true" balance in our relationships. Fret not if you and your mate have found yourselves out of balance, because in  the next installment of this blog we will take a further look at how this disharmony and imbalance can be reconciled.