Dear Salvation Army, Is Your Corps Designed To Disciple?

Discipleship leads to holiness.
Holiness is the intentional shift from self to becoming the very reflection of Christ.
If we are to hear the Holy Spirit’s prompting in our lives we need to be discipled into a deeper faith.

The Problem:
There are a lot of baby Christians who have never taken the next step.
Some have decided, whether because of low self esteem or doubts in the possibility of their personal growth, that this is as good as it gets. Some simply get saved and maintain the same level of commitment to Christ. It might not be intentional, as I’ve already stated, it might be because they just aren’t convinced growth is possible for them. Sometimes relinquishing perceived “freedom” is the issue. If the new convert were to commit further they fear they would lose their personal identities or have to give up the things they love to do the most in life.

The Question:
Is Your Corps Designed To Disciple?

I don’t mean is your corps prepared to add another program to its already extremely bloated schedule.
I mean, is it remotely possible that discipleship and/or mentoring younger Christians can happen today in your corps? Are there older Christians who are mature in their faith who can take younger soldiers under their wing? Are we actually serious about training the next generation of Soldiers to become the leaders of our corps…not only to become leaders but to be properly equipped Disciples of Christ?

We are good at talking about discipleship, but do we really know how to disciple?
Sure, it looks great on paper. It tickles the ears of our leadership at DHQ…but are we actually serious about it?

The questions that always trip us up:
Who will teach?
How much time will it take away from our other ministries?
Will it make a difference?
Are we equipped to disciple?
Where do we even begin?

Attached are a few resource links to check out:

Click to access Discipleship%20Handbook-Instructor.1.pdf

Making a Disciple
How To Disciple
What is Discipleship?

Don’t be afraid to keep it simple…we don’t need to over complicate things when it comes to discipling our soldiers and adherents. It’s not that they won’t understand these things, it’s just that by keeping it simple and practical we will show our soldiers and adherents that discipleship is possible!

Discipleship makes holiness possible.
If we have better equipped soldiers in our corps wehave a stronger corps.
If we have committed disciples who are in turn discipling others, we will be laying a firm foundation for the next generation to follow!

3 Steps To Help Your Corps Disciple:

1. Be in Prayer!
Emphasize prayer for your corps family.
Don’t neglect this vital tool.
Pray in your own personal time with the Lord about discipling and who to disciple.

2. Listen!
Don’t just talk to God, listen to Him.
Hear what He is saying. Listen to those in your corps as well. Hear their needs. Hear the promptings of the Spirit to help you mentor those who need mentoring. When we stop talking and start listening we will find that God has already put people in our path who need discipling.

3. Teach!
I don’t just mean opening up a book.
I mean lead by example.
Take a member of your corps out for coffee.
Spend time with them and share with them the principles of Christian living.
There are numerous resources out there that you can use. There are some wonderful workbooks…BUT KEEP IT SIMPLE! There is no need to inundate your people with overly complicated homework and requirements. Don’t make it a classroom, make it life.
Don’t make it another corps program to attend, make it feel like home as you attempt to lead your corps members into a deeper, more substantive faith in Christ.

Is your corps designed to disciple?
If it is, will you comment on this article and tell us how your corps does it?
If your corps doesn’t, will you also indicate this in the form of a comment?
All questions are welcome, and we can explore the answers together!

Something more for our Army world to ponder today!
To God be the glory!

May 19, 2015 0

Ponder Cast #7 “Everything Happens For A Reason”

Dear Salvationists and Friends,

Sometimes we say phrases that perhaps just roll of the tongue.
Sometimes there isn’t much meaning behind them.
It’s more of a cordial welcome phrase “hello how are you” and we never expect much back from the recipient other than “I am fine, thanks!”

Have we ever truly thought about the phrases that we say…I mean really?

Is the phrase – “Everything happens for a reason” really true in all aspects of life?
I recently wrote about this phrase and three others that you can read here: Christian Phrases That We Should Stop Saying
It was also recently featured on Salvationist.ca

Give this Ponder Cast #7 Click here a listen, please subscribe and share it with your friends!
To God be the glory!

May 18, 2015 0

Dear Salvation Army, 4 Habits Of Healthy Corps

I recall how aggressive and proactive our Founder William Booth was when it came to the Ministry of The Salvation Army. In early days, it was recommended that if the corps was not producing, then it should be shut down and our efforts must be applied elsewhere.

This got me thinking.
Do we consistently pour resources, time, effort into ministries that are already dead on arrival?
Are we so organizationally stubborn or reluctant to pull up the rug and move on?

This sounds callous of me, I know.
I also realize the ramifications it could have on families and individuals dependent upon our services.
BUT…with fields ripe in other places, could our habits of holiness and mission be shunted by lack of courage to close one corps and open others? OR have we become so fundamentally stuck in the mud of being an organization that we are now incapable (by and large) of shutting down broken, financially devastated, unsustainable corps? I realize this is a sensitive topic, when some people look at certain corps with historical romantic lenses on and only see “what was”…but is being sentimental – detrimental to the forward progress of need and mission?

With that in mind, and with our focus upon corps today, I would like to explore the healthy habits.
This should help us better define our corps, its success in ministry and provide us vitals to its future.
What does a healthy corps look like?
What are they doing differently?
Is MY corps healthy?

4 Habits Of Healthy Corps:

1. Prayer is at the forefront, not the background.
“Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon.” -Martin Luther
Prayer is not a last resort but a first response.
If a corps longs to be healthy, its corps members and leaders have to be on their knees in prayer.
It is in this act of humility and petition that we can become sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is more than just offering a wish list to God. Prayer is also more than just asking God to heal our friends and loved ones in their times of health concerns. Prayer is the vital connection between humanity and our Divine God. It is the spark plug of fellowship between believers as well. Without prayer we lose the connection and the conversations with God. He longs to connect with us both personally and corporately.

Have we begun to decline in corps attendances and in our fervor and mission because we have forgotten how to pray? Are prayer meetings still a scheduled “thing” in our corps? I believe that there is a direct correlation between dying corps and the death of the prayer meeting.

I can recall the prayer meetings that took place before Sunday Services. It was specific, set aside time, when the local officers and the corps officers would gather, sometimes as they held hands and prayed for people, and for the Holy Spirit to fall afresh. Are we missing this in our corps’ today? Is prayer at the forefront or is it in the background?

2. A Healthy Corps Has Ministries & Programs That Are Relevant To Its Community Needs.
I understand that there are some tired, old programs that just need to be retired.
I don’t say that with any trace of cynicism or disdain, but rather, with a sense of concern. Sometimes we still believe that some of the old methods of programming we did in the 1960’s will still be relevant and applicable to today. No doubt, the message of Christ will never change but the method of delivery has to. Culturally speaking things have changed since the 1960’s. I hold nothing against that era by any means, but we can’t live there anymore. We have to progress. We have to, at times, change our methods.

There will always be some who will argue that we shouldn’t search to be relevant, but if we love people…if we wish to connect with this modern generation, many who are unchurched all together, then we have to adjust our methods and our programming.

What are the needs of people in your community?
What is it that no one else is doing or is capable of doing in your community?
Could your corps be that “all things to all people” type of ministry?
We have to adjust.
We have to modify, while we uphold the sacred integrity of the good news of Christ.
Healthy Corps are doing this.
Healthy Corps are doing more than just surviving week to week on tired old programming.
Perhaps, if you see your corps as “not quite healthy”, it could be time to take a step out of the mundane, “same ole” routine and give your ministries a shot of adrenaline.

3. A Healthy Corps Has Godly Leaders Who Are Developing Future Leaders
(Active Discipleship)
Is there a drive to develop future leaders in your corps?
It could be through Corps Cadets classes, it could be through other one on one methods…but there ought to be a push to develop the future of leadership within your corps RIGHT NOW! I don’t wish to alarm you, but many of our present corps are dying out. Many of our currently “healthy corps” are in actually one generation away from being put on life support. Where are the future local officers? Where are the future corps officers? How are we seeking to cultivate those gifts in younger generations? It’s not overly complicated. You don’t need a Phd in education to lead someone and mentor them, you just need to be available and giving of your time.

If you are a leader right now in your corps, you have the utmost responsibility to recruit your replacement and to disciple them. Don’t wait for the Corps Officer to do this, you do it. We cannot just wait for someone else to do what we are all called, as leaders to do. A healthy corps has godly leaders who are developing future leaders. Are you available?
Are you willing to begin this if you haven’t already?

4. A Healthy Corps Is Attractive And People Linger & Fellowship
Here is where the first 3 habits trickle down to this last habit.
This last habit is more of a response to what is already happening in a healthy corps.
When fellowship is GOOD, people linger in its presence.
We’ve probably seen this after Sunday services from time to time.
People just want to continue “hanging out” with each other.
The fellowship of believers ought to be sweet…but sometimes it’s just plain sour.
There are, unfortunately, sometimes corps members who have bickered with each other for years and as soon as the last “amens” are said in church they march right out the door so that they do not have to be in the same room with their “enemy” who just so happens to attend the same corps. REALLY? Again, dear soldiers, this ought not be! If we ~~want~~ desire to have a healthy corps, we have to seek reconciliation with those who are supposed to be our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

A healthy corps offers time to linger within one another’s fellowship.
It is a safe place to share with each other what is really going on in their lives.
The sweet aroma of this kind of fellowship is extremely attractive to those seeking Christ and a church to belong to.

Does your corps have a sweet aroma or a sour smell?

These are just four habits of a healthy corps…there are many more.
This is a mere primer to a larger topic of Christian living and corps health in our Army.
Is Your Corps Healthy?

Something more to ponder today.
To God be the glory!

May 14, 2015 2

Dear Salvation Army…The Church of The Hyprocrites

Let me first clarify,
I am not calling us (The Salvation Army) “The Church of the Hyprocrites”…but sometimes if the shoe fits.

What I am pondering today is whether or not we can fall into this category from time to time without even realizing it. Perhaps it manifests itself in us when a new visitor attends our corps and we immediately judge them on the merits of what they wear or how they act or don’t act. Perhaps we become the hypocrite in the way that we treat each other or how we talk about one another behind their backs. Perhaps being a hypocrite isn’t as simple as “those people” after all. Maybe, just maybe we find ourselves being a hypocrite more often then we at first realized.

Let me first talk to the hypocrite in us all (if we dare to EVER admit that we struggle with this…I should say I am first talking to the hypocrite in ME before I talk to you)…

DEAR HYPOCRITE:
You are destroying the fellowship of believers.
Your words and practices are not always in step with each other.
You say one thing and expect others to follow those commands, while at the same time you are not living up to those expectations either. Stop living this lie! Other DO see you! You are visible to other believers and would be believers. If you want to see this church plateau in its growth, in its fruit of the spirit, in its spiritual nourishment, just keep doing what you’re doing, because soon enough you will see its demise. If you can’t practice what you preach then how can you expect others to do it? If you don’t care about anyone other than how they appear and how they measure up, then you don’t really care at all. Stop judging. Stop playing the role of judge, jury and executioner. This was never your role. This was never yours to command in the first place. The Church of Hypocrites needs to die a fast, sudden death! It cannot continue to flourish. It has existed for far too long within the fellowship of believers. Call it the remnants of sin, call it unforgiveness, call it what you want…but it needs to die! We cannot thrive, we cannot survive like this anymore!

To The Victims of Hypocrisy
Forgive me when I have judged you.
Forgive them when the church of the hypocrites have wronged you.
You have a reason to be angry.
You have every excuse to retaliate.
You have every excuse to walk away and quite your search of godly people.
But don’t.
In your forgiveness, please be the example of Christ that we have failed to be.
Please show us the error of our ways by how you do not return that spite!
Please rise above this.
Please try to see us as fallen too.

Dear Salvation Army,
We cannot ever tolerate the Church of the Hypocrites.
We cannot allow this to exist among our ranks.
There are no favorites in these ranks.
There are no exceptions.
We cannot pursue both Holiness and Hypocrisy.
We cannot thrive with this poison in our veins.
There is not place for it in our corps, or in our halls, or in our offices.

Micah 6:8 Says;
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.“

We can never love mercy and walk humbly with our God when we are better than others.
We can never exist humbly in fellowship with God if we wrong our brother and sister in Christ.
We can never be a holy Soldier for Him while wearing our uniforms and judge others by our human standards.

Dear Soldiers of the faith,
We were never called to be the Church of the Hypocrites, nor allow it to remain within our ranks.
It begins in my heart.
It begins in your heart.
From there we can change.
From there we can eradicate this blight on the soul.
From there we can change this Army from the inside out.
The real question is, are we willing to?

Something more for this Army to ponder today.
To God be the glory!

May 12, 2015 1

Dear Salvation Army, The Missing Ingredient!

Salvation of the sinner is only the first blessing.

It is a vital ingredient, but it should not be considered the end product.

Let me illustrate this for you with a story:
I once baked a chocolate cake for my family.
I followed the recipe very carefully, and soon the aroma of that perfect cake baking in the oven began wafting throughout our home. We were all salivating at the wonderful smells coming for the oven. Soon, the chocolate cake was ready, and so I took it out of the oven to cool. When it had cooled sufficiently, I cut the first piece and tasted it only to discover, with great disappointment, that I had forgotten a crucial ingredient – sugar. It was sour to the taste and because of that one missing ingredient, the whole cake was ruined.

Salvation is a vital ingredient to the Christian life, but the second blessing, His indwelling is equally important. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are incomplete and we will never be whole. Holiness does not mean human perfection, but it does mean that we intentionally long to reflect Christ in all that we do and say. In other words, the very fiber of our being longs to become like Christ in every way, shape and form.

Without the desire to grow and mature in our faith we will be missing a crucial ingredient in this Christian faith. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…” 1 Peter 2:2 Once we are saved and have accepted Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins, we are then urged by the Holy Spirit to develop and grow into this new life. We cannot simply remain at the altar of Salvation feasting upon spiritual milk; we must grow up and mature! Unfortunately, many Christians live without experiencing this missing ingredient of holiness. Many believers simply stop growing in the faith, they stop learning about Christ and the application that it has on their lives. Holiness is about taking that next step of faith. It is a vital ingredient in our pursuit of Christ-likeness, our personal holiness journey. Without feet to our faith, we are stunting that potential reflection of Christ in our lives.

There seems to be a missing ingredient in modern Christianity today – Holiness.
No, not all Churches struggle with the ingredient of holiness, some, perhaps just do not emphasize it enough.

We, as The Salvation Army, must never forget its importance in the recipe of personal and corporate faith! We, as an organization and mission, were born into the holiness movement of the Church! May we never lose our way! May we never forget its vital importance! May we never stop preaching about holiness in our corps. Sometimes it is easy to forget how vital Holiness is to our everyday lives. Perhaps there have been days that we have all stumbled along the pathway of duty. Perhaps we have not preached it from the pulpits enough. Perhaps we have forgotten to include this crucial ingredient in our corps and in our other ministries…in our own lives. May we never lose this important message of holiness in our Army! We are called to more than just salvation! We must grow up in our faith and get off of the infant formula and start feeding upon deeper, more substantive things! We are called to live and reflect Christ to the world…may we as soldiers of salvation do just that today…not because we belong to The Salvation Army, but because we first belong to Christ himself.

Something more for our Army world to ponder today.
To God be the glory!

May 11, 2015 0

Dear Salvation Army, Why I Don’t Agree With “Saved to Save”

Today we ponder The Salvation Army’s quote of “Saved to Save” and why I don’t necessarily agree with it.
Clarification: I am not discounting the fact that God can save us, in fact that is the crux of this statement in my opinion.

Dear Salvation Army, I don’t believe we are saved to save.
There I’ve said it.

I believe the Holy Spirit has saved us, I am not disagreeing with that by any means.
I know what it means to kneel at the altar of repentance and receive forgiveness and salvation.
I also believe in the second blessing – the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in our lives.
When He takes up residence in our lives we begin, with His direction and prodding, the intentional shift of reflecting more and more of Christ and less and less of our old lives (Holiness).

Thus when we are saved we do not go out and save others.
I believe that the saving is NOT the work that we have been called to do.
Instead, we are called to be holy.
In this response we begin to see others the way Christ sees them.
We begin to love the way Christ loves.
It isn’t perfect…and perhaps it may never be, but the initial transformation must begin internally before it can be transformative in the lives of others.

What I’m not saying
I am not saying we aren’t called to lead others to Christ.
I am also not saying that we don’t show care for others.

In fact we, through this internal transformation, begin to see the necessity to usher others to Christ.
We begin to understand how vital the new life is for others.

BUT…
Here is where I draw the line.
Here is where I wage and struggle with the Salvation Army’s understanding of this quote.
Whose work is it to save?
Who does the prodding of the heart and the pleading of the soul?
Who takes aim at the conviction of sin and implores the search of forgiveness?
For me the answer has always been the Holy Spirit.

What is our responsibility then?
What are we as Soldiers of the cross to do?
We sing songs like “The world for God” and “Marching on“, and I wonder if we sometimes turn the warfare of sin and the spiritual realms into something narcissistic, and it then becomes all about us? It then becomes all about what WE can do instead of what the Holy Spirit IS doing.

There is always the temptation to say look how wonderful The Salvation Army is, look at the amazing things that we have done and the amazing things that we are doing. Slowly, the focus is taken off of the Holy Spirit and more on our shiny uniforms, our programs and our feats and accomplishments. I am not saying that we always do this, but I am saying that it does become a temptation, that it does enter into our thoughts and motivations.

Our responsibility was never to “saved to save”.
Our responsibility was never to be the salvation of man.
We are merely the conduit of this amazing grace.
We are merely called to be faithful.
Our responsibility is first a call to faithfulness to The Holy Spirit.
We can do nothing without this first response.
We are powerless to save anyone let alone ourselves.
How can we then say that we are saved to save?
I am more inclined to say we are saved to serve.
We are saved first, and then most importantly, we serve and respond to the Holy Spirit.
Then, and only then, we are saved to serve suffering humanity.
This response can be simultaneous and should compel us to respond as Christ would to the suffering of others. We must respond to His call on our lives to serve Him as HE saves!
Without Him we cannot save.
Without Him we can only do good works and be another social service agency.
That isn’t all bad, good things are done here…BUT we are called to be more.
We are called to BE holy…and from this calling, we serve Him and in turn we serve others.

You may differ from my opinion…that’s fine.
We are called, and from this calling we go.
Regardless of if we are “Saved to Serve” or “Saved to Save”, may our immediate response to the Holy Spirit be one of obedience.

Something more for This Army of Salvation to ponder today.
To God be the glory!

May 5, 2015 11

Dear Salvation Army, Beware of Mines!

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” -1 Corinthians 6:18-20

This is a difficult pondering today.
Dear Soldier, have we purified our hearts AND our lives?
Are we living as we should?
OR
Are there still “stones” left to be overturned?
Are there still those “private” sins that we still indulge in?
I don’t mean to meddle today, but I feel compelled to write on this sensitive topic.
Sexual images are literally EVERYWHERE!
Temptation abounds in many places, not only on the internet but in our every day lives.
Our body, in our out of uniform, is the very temple of God.
How is your temple?
How are you doing with the every day temptations of life?

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we are no longer susceptible from the lures of temptation.
Don’t be foolish!!
When we make that conscious decision to act on temptation, let us call it for what it is – SIN.
Be careful, dear Soldier.
Beware of the mines!
Be alert and awake!
You are called by God.
When you became a Soldier of this Salvation Army, you signed the articles of war…and if you became an Officer you signed a covenant with God. We are to be set apart for Him…in every way! How is your testimony today?

This is NOT easy!
Soldiership and Officership is NOT easy.
Living for Christ is NOT easy.

Questions:
Do you sometimes stumble?
Do you sometimes give into temptation (no matter what “it” is)?
Have you asked for forgiveness?
Have you prayed about specific situations and areas of temptation in your life?

You are never alone!
God is with you!
He will sustain you.
He is willing to come to our aid!

If we are to be a stronger Army…
If we are to be an Army on fire for God…
If we truly desire to change the world around us for Him…
Then
-we ought to desire His holiness in our lives!
-we ought to long to take hold of this new life for all it’s worth!
-we ought to desire to be like Christ in every way!

Dear Salvation Army, beware of the mines!
Dear Soldier of this Army, beware of the mines!
For they will devastate us if we entertain its lures.
They will ravage us and leave us broken and defeated.
Beware and tread carefully…steer clear of those places and areas of greatest vulnerability.
Allow His Holy Spirit to guide you!

“Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.” -Proverbs 4:23

Something more for our Army to ponder today!
To God be the glory!

April 23, 2015 1

Dear Salvation Army, Does Racism Still Exist Within Us?

I am a Caucasian man.
I am a pastor.
I love culture.
I love diversity.
I love people.
I am a father.
I am a husband.
There are many other attributes that can describe me, but I hope that racism is never one of them!

I grew up as a missionary kid.
We lived on a small Island where a little pale blonde headed kid was not the norm.
We also lived in South Africa during Apartheid, where racism was very, very real.
In my parent’s appointment in Cape Town, they served at a beautiful corps (Athlone) where I learned the intricacies of rich harmonies in worship. The sounds of singing and worshiping have always had an impact in my life because of the Athlone corps. One other thing, our corps, at this time was considered a “colored” corps. I still consider the Athlone corps members to be as close as family to me. At the same time of meeting each week at the Athlone corps, my sister and I attended an all white school. Remember, this was Apartheid South Africa, much of the racism still existed in government, police as well as restaurants and shopping centers. I have seen racism at its worst, even though I was only a child then.

Thankfully those days have changed…and they are still changing.
Do you know what I also remember of those years in South Africa?
I remember The Salvation Army taking a stand against racial discrimination which was contrary to the government at that time.

Did racism still exist within the ranks of soldiers and even officers?
Yes. But leadership began to slowly change that dynamic.

I am not here to debate racism today.
It is certainly deplorable in every shape or form, but I am pondering today whether or not racism still exists within The Salvation Army.

Like other organizations and churches, do we still encounter this issue?
I would be more than willing to go out on a limb today and say, yes, unfortunately racism still happens.

Here’s what I don’t want to come from such a pondering today –
I don’t want to cause more divisions among our ranks.
I don’t want to single out people and specific issue.
I don’t wish to meddle or to pry back hurt feelings from the past.
But…
what I do wish to ponder today is how can we progress forward as an Army?
How can we heal old wounds?
How do we respond to ignorance and racial divides within ourselves?

Questions to ponder and think about:
Are appointments still made today because of ethnic backgrounds and the color of skin?
Is this considered “racism” or just attempts to meet certain ethnic groups?
Do we or others in our corps still struggle with people of a different racial groups joining our fellowship?
How do you address specific people when ignorant and/or racial comments are made?

There are still some small town corps as well as large city corps that still struggle with ignorance and racism.
It still exists.
Can we love without divisions of ethnicity?
Do we have the capacity to be color blind, or better yet to celebrate how greatly diverse this Army truly is? God loves us beyond the tone of our skin.
Christ died for every racial group in our world.
Jesus broke all social norms and spent time with people from other cultures despite the racial and cultural tensions in His day.
Will we ever get to this point as an Army?
Yes, great strides have already been made.
Godly people within our ranks have already been raised up and have paved the way.
What we do NOW as an Army matters!
There ought not be divisions among racial groups and ethnic groups in our corps and in our territories.
If we wish to reflect a Christ without barriers such as these, then we must end racism of every kind.
But it must first begin in our hearts, in our homes, and then in our corps families.

Something more for our Army world to ponder today.
To God be the glory!

April 21, 2015 2

I Don’t Want A “Grown-up” Kind Of Faith!

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” (Matthew 18:1-5)

When I look back at my childhood, it is with a sense of joy and regret. Joy in the fact that I live it, regret in the fact that I grew up. How simpler life seemed as a child. Children aren’t weighed down by the complications of life. Have you ever noticed how much harder it is to have friends as you grow older? As a child you could be in a new neighborhood and make friends all in the same afternoon…but now it could take months even years to gravitate to a few close friendships. As a child, everything seemed possible, tangible realistic..as an adult things are much more complicated, some things have become impossible, immovable and life has its boundaries.

I believe the same can be said about our faith as well.
As a child, faith is as vast as the galaxy around us. Everything is possible.
There are no limits to it. Child-like faith breathes life everlasting into our lungs.
Child-like faith returns the impossible into the possible, the unrealistic into the realistic. Child-like faith turns the up close view of our problems back into the grand scheme of God’s plan and assures us that we are not alone! With child-like faith, the God of the Universe IS capable of ALL things once more…and He cares for you and for me.

I’m not sure about you, but I don’t want a “grown-up” kind of faith any longer.
Grown-up faith has to boil everything down.
Grown-up faith has to see before believing.
Grown-up faith has to complicate everything more than it was ever meant to be.
Grown-up faith comes with its own set of filters, ambiguities and personal discrimination.
Grown-up faith places self into the equation when selflessness is really what is needed.

Grown-up faith shouldn’t be confused with “maturity” of our faith, rather it is the over complication of this thing we call faith.

I regret losing that child-like faith when I grew up.
I regret allowing the world around to seep into my perception of God and His relationship to me.
I regret taking that child-like faith for granted.
I regret…regretting what used to be.

BUT…
I know that it is not too late.
I…
We…
can begin again with Child-like faith, but first we have to release all of those Grown-up complications that we have associated with our faith. We have to release the baggage of guilt and regret. We have to let go of the wrongs this world has inflicted upon us. We have to move past ourselves as we embrace Christ for all He is in and through us. When we can begin to live only for Him instead of us, so too begins this path of Child-like faith once more.

Something more to ponder today.
May we run with child-like abandon after Christ and in so doing embrace that child-like faith once more.
To God be the glory!

April 16, 2015 2

Dear Salvation Army, Are You Equipped For Battle?

“…for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry…” Ephesians 4:12

If you are a Soldier of this Army, you have aligned yourself with helping the lost, fighting for tangible change in our world, and it is because of the cross that we “march on”.

Read Ephesians 4:12-16
^“12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

Questions To Ponder As A Soldier of our Army and a Soldier of God today:

-How are we equipping saints? (v.12)
This is more than just discipling…equipping is the next step that goes further. What sort of weapons of spiritual warfare do we still need? What are lacking?

-What is our “work of ministry”? (v. 12)
What is it that WE as an Army do? Once we ARE Holy people of God, what is it that we are called to do in and out of uniform? How is that “work” going? What are your current pitfalls? What are you struggling with?

-How do we actively “edify the Body of Christ” (v.12b)
What does it take to edify the body of Christ?
Who is included in “the Body”?
Are there exceptions to “the Body”?
How far will we go to edify each other?
Where have we failed as an Army to edify the body?
What lessons can we learn from these experiences?

-Is “Unity” truly our goal as The Salvation Army? (V. 13)
How do we bring this global Army together with all of its differences both culturally and socially?
How does The Holy Spirit aide us in this?
Can there be unity without His help?
Have we become stubborn and deaf to His leading for Unity in the body?

Today, this is more of spiritual inventory.
This is personal inventory.
Are you called to equip others for battle?
Are you called to edify the body of Christ?
Are you prepared for what that truly means?
Are you prepared to make sacrifices for Him?

I ponder this today, because I feel the Holy Spirit has laid this upon my heart.
I write this because I, myself battle daily with full submission to Him.
I write this because I too struggle in life and understand that I am not “there” yet.
How about you, dear Soldier? Is there still room for Jesus? Is there still room for personal growth?
Are you fully equipped for the spiritual struggles ahead?

These are many, many questions to ponder today, and I hope that we take these to heart.
I want to be the best Soldier for Christ that I can be…I’m not there yet, I have room to grow, and I’m hoping that I’m not the only one!

Something more for our Army to ponder today!
To God be the glory!

April 15, 2015 1

Category: The Salvation Army