Category: Be Strong and Courageous

Behind Enemy Lines

Posted on by Dorci

I recently watched Behind Enemy Lines again, and there were so many spiritual parallels I had to share what God showed me. 

Even though it’s a 20-year-old movie and surely the statute of limitations for spoilers must have run out by now, I’ll try not to give away anything too important in case you haven’t seen it. 

Owen Wilson plays Lt. Chris Burnett, an American naval flight officer stationed on an aircraft carrier in the Adriatic sea during the Bosnian War. 

For Lt. Burnett, being a soldier, so far, has been a lot of drills, training, exercises, and routine assignments and he resents it. It hasn’t been the thrill ride he thought it would be, so he’s handed in a letter of intent to leave the Navy to his commanding officer, Admiral Reigart, played by Gene Hackman. 

The admiral tries to make him understand the importance of his training, but Burnett’s not impressed. He’s done.

Admiral Reigart decides the lieutenant needs a little discipline, so he assigns him, along with another pilot, to a routine mission on Christmas day, but the situation soon turns into far more than anyone expected. 

The title says it all: behind enemy lines. 

When we look out at our world today we may feel like we’re behind enemy lines. There is warring all around us, fighting, hatred, violence, attacks on the Christian faith. The whole world seems out of control and we feel like we’re in a place we don’t understand and don’t belong.  

And the truth is we are behind enemy lines and we always have been. Much of the world has been experiencing it, and lately it’s become far more apparent to us than it was before. The curtain’s been drawn back a bit and we’re seeing the havoc wreaked by the enemy in the ugliness of the sin in the world on display in our own backyard. 

We’re seeing the spiritual warfare Paul talked about in his second letter to the church in Corinth.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…” (2 Cor. 10:3-4) 

And because we’re in the midst of spiritual warfare, an object of the enemy of God, we are soldiers in that war. Paul reiterated that in 2 Timothy and in Philemon:

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2 Tim 2:3-4)

“…to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier…” (Philemon 1-2a)

If God has called us into faith through Christ, we are soldiers in a spiritual war that’s been going on since the Garden of Eden. 

As soldiers, God’s been training us, preparing us to be strong in the faith, to have courage to weather the battles. We grow from discipline to discipline until we are changed into the likeness of His Son, the perfect soldier, who was our example of enduring warfare.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

We’ve all read that and maybe, like Lt. Burnett, we haven’t seen how we can have joy in our training, how there could possibly be any purpose in our suffering. We haven’t fully understood that our trials are our testing, our discipline, teaching and training us to be mature in the faith, to persevere in trials, to trust God more and more to give us wisdom and understanding as we face the next hardship, and the next one, and the next… We don’t know what we’ll face, but God does, and He knows what He’s training us for. 

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.” (Hebrews 12:11-12)

Whatever trials we’ve gone through or are going through right now or will go through tomorrow, don’t let them be for nothing. Let them train us. Let us humble ourselves under our Father’s mighty and wise hand to make us disciplined soldiers in His army, fighting His way with the spiritual armor God’s equipped us with. 

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13

Let us then, in Christ, strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees. In other words, let us put aside our complacency, any weakness of faith, any unbelief or fear, put on our armor and be strong and courageous as we stand to face our spiritual enemy, knowing we’ve been trained and we are equipped, and in Christ we have the victory. 

Remain Steadfast

Posted on by Dorci

 

STEADFAST


The Lord has been putting this word on my heart lately. 

Remain steadfast. 

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” 
1 Peter 5:8-9

This is Peter telling us this.

Peter, the one who told Jesus he would never deny Him – even if he had to die with Him.

Peter, one of the apostles whom Jesus took and asked him to pray the night before He was arrested, and then fell asleep.

Peter, the one who impetuously drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. 

Peter, the one who vehemently denied Christ three times. 

But all that doesn’t make him less credible; it makes him more. 

He’s saying don’t do what I did! He learned what the devil had been up to and he wanted to warn his brothers and sisters in Christ to be aware. 

To remain steadfast in the faith – steadfast in our convictions, steadfast in the truth, steadfast in our reliance upon Christ and Christ alone, now and forever. 

The devil’s ways are the same as ever. he’s looking for people who are at a weak place, who aren’t being alert and vigilant to the devil’s ways, who aren’t steadfastly trusting in the power and righteousness of Jesus Christ. 

Right now, when the world seems like a raging sea, is an opportune time for the enemy to try to discourage us, to trip us up, to question Jesus, and maybe even walk away from Him, even a step. 

But we who are in Christ can confidently “lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever…” 
Hebrews 6:18b-20

No matter what happens in this life, we don’t have to give in to fear and be tossed around in the waves of confusion. We have an anchor of hope.

We have the promises of God, all of which in Christ are yes and amen. His promises are for this life and extend all the way behind the veil that lies between this life and the next.

Our sure hope, our anchor in rough seas, is that Christ is with us now, and He will surely call us to live with Him in His home where we’ve laid up treasures beyond comprehension, and where love and peace and joy are the way of life.     

And we’re reminded of this hope every time we pray, every time we read God’s Word, and every time we enter into fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Our steadfast anchor of hope will keep us steadfast, too.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
1 Cor 15:58

Where Was God?

Posted on by Dorci

That’s the question on a lot of minds on a day like today.

And I understand that question. There are many events in my own life I’ve wondered where God was.

It was a day none of us will forget for so many reasons. The day quickly became dark and tragic, but there were also more acts of heroism that day, of light in the darkness, than we will ever fully know.

Like 24-year-old Welles Crowther who called his mother from the South Tower to let her know he was okay, and then began to lead others to safety, carrying an injured woman on his back down 15 floors and then returning to help more.

And Rick Rescorla who, as a head of security in the South Tower, ignored orders to keep employees at their desks, saving 2700 people.  

And Army Specialist Beau Doboszenski who was working as a tour guide on the other side of the Pentagon. Upon hearing the chaos, he ran to the crash site and spent the next several hours helping co-workers and running into the flames to help bring people out.

These acts of heroism are amazing enough, but looking at their backstories, we can see just a little bit of the hand of God orchestrating the saving of so many lives.

Like the fact that Welles Crowther had been a volunteer firefighter in his teens and was well prepared to confidently lead. Even the fact that somehow that day he had been wearing a red bandana that was able to keep him from breathing in too much smoke as he saved at least 12 people.  His body was found in a stairwell headed back up with the jaws of life.

And like the fact that Rick Rescorla had served in Vietnam, with distinction, and had the wisdom to lead his people to safety. And for years he had the forethought to have the employees practice fire drills. Because of that, more than 2700 people made it down the tower to safety in 16 minutes. Rick Rescorla’s body was never found.

And like the fact that Beau Doboszenski was a former firefighter and a trained EMT.

Too many lives were lost that day. The enemy of all that is good and right and holy was there to cause death and destruction and what he’d love to leave in his evil wake is a doubt and mistrust that God was there or that He even exists.

But God is the one who prepared people years in advance with special training and placed them where they needed to be when they needed to be there.

God is the Giver of strength, courage, wisdom, and perseverance.

God is the one who instills in people His love, the greater love that lays down his life for others.

We’ll never fully understand the whys this side of heaven, about that fateful day, or about tragic days in our own personal lives.

But God knows.

Years later we can catch a small glimpse into the behind-the-scenes stories of that day, shining a light on some of the good, among countless other similar sacrificial stories that took place among the evil and about how God was there in their midst. 

God sees the full picture. And we can trust He was there that day giving strength to heroes just as He’s with us every day, including our worst days, filling us with His strength, courage, and hope.

And someday maybe God will show us all the behind-the-scenes stories of those awful days in our own lives and how He was right there with us in the midst of it all. 

 

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Cor. 13:12b


Heavenly Father, thank you for never leaving us or forsaking us. Thank you for preparing a home for us and giving us the hope of being with you someday, when you will have struck down evil for the last time, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.  Thank you for the incredible bravery of so many men and women on that day, for giving what we know was even beyond their own strength . We pray for those who lost loved ones that day. We ask that you would be especially near to them today, and that you would comfort them with your peace that passes all understanding. We know that you will prevail, that you’ve already conquered evil at the cross, and we pray for many more souls to come to know Christ as their own Lord and Savior, even today. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

The Saturday Song – Move (Keep Walkin’)

Posted on by Dorci

There are days, months, years, when I feel like I’ve been on a 1000-mile march, uphill, carrying 500 pounds on my back.  Maybe the apostle Paul knew that feeling, too, and guessed Timothy might also, and why Paul wrote to him: 

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4

That word “good” means beautiful, honest, worthy, valuable, virtuous (for appearance or use.)

Be sure we’re in a war, and maybe now more than ever. But we don’t walk alone. God is with us, strengthening us, empowering us, enabling us to finish in victory.  

So keep walking.  And look up. Cause things may seem bleak right now, but it ain’t over yet. (Spoiler Alert – God wins, and if we’re with Him, so do we.)

 

 

Heavenly Father, help us keep moving and to endure the hardship we encounter in this life, not as those who is endure alone or needlessly, but as a people who, in Christ Jesus, oppose your enemy who prowls around looking for someone to devour, and to be witnesses of your great grace and mercy and proclaimers of the power of the gospel to save.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

 

Spirit of God

Posted on by Dorci