We had all out war at the retreat!!!!

It was dodgeball to the death. Well, not exactly, but it was pretty intense as we wrestled, slapped, threw the ball at each other's heads and laughed and puffed out of breath for many rounds of Newsong Dodgeball. I left the room that night happy, exhausted and injured. My worst injury came when I jumped too high and hit my head on the cieling! The next morning my neck and knee really felt the wounds!

On Sunday morning I asked all the people to watch episode 6 of Band of Brothers. This episode follows the frontlines in a french town calledd Gastogne from the eyes of a medic. What a powerful story reflecting the spiritual battle we are all in today! 

I shared with the gang the following:

1 Peter 5:8-9 (The Message)

He Gets the Last Word

 ^8-11Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

Newsong: If you and I want to be on the cutting edge of what God is doing in the world, and even with God is doing here in Bangkok, then we should familiarize ourselves with these verses. Peter, through the Holy Spirit, tells us clearly that we are under spiritual attack. Do we believe that? One of the tactics of Satan is to make us believe he is a harmless fairytale cartoonish imp in a red suit with a silly pitch fork. But the Bible shows he is a foe to be reckoned with! He is the father of lies and has one goal...Steal. kill and Destroy. Take one look at the world today, you'll see that the kingdom of darkness has enslaved whole cultures and people groups in false beliefs and sinful practices. Besides the trees of green and red roses too, this is not a wonderful world that Louis Armstrong sings of. Oh yeah... 

“Enemy-occupied territory that is what this world is.” C.S. Lewis

There is an unseen spiritual assault being waged by the enemy to keep us (Jesus’ church) from doing all that God has desired for us to do. Because there is so much at stake, Peter insists that we keep a firm grip on our faith. james in his writings says, "Resist the devil. Fight back. Take a stand!"

Writing to the Ephesian believers the Apostle Paul reminds us to make sure we have our spiritual armor on.

Ephesians 6:10 (The Message)

A Fight to the Finish

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

My parents grew up in Holland in those war days. In fact my Mom’s home was bombed and her parents were killed instantly and she miraculously survived as a four year old. I'm pretty happy about that! My father was a little bit older during the war and can remember hiding food and pigs from the German soldiers… Most of us have never seen the devastation of war first hand. Maybe that’s what films are good for, to give us a picture of what it was like.

As I watched Band of Brothers this was some of my thoughts about the warfare we find ourselves in!

1. Unseen Enemy: the night snow scenes at the begiinning of the movie were ominous. The American troops were wondering, waiting... and one of the guys says, “They are there, count on it!” In the whole movie all we are allowed only to see bombs coming from any direction, when flares were sent up… you better get in the foxhole. One always needed to be alert. Need for wisdom. (Don’t be building a fire at night exposing yourself to the enemy. You need wisdom on how you live, where you go, who you hang with etc) One never knows when the attack will come or from where it will come.

2. Fear: The Doctor had to work through seeing all the carnage on his troops.

 Fear will always immobilize a person.

 Fear will keep us from getting involved.

There's a book called: “Feel the Fear and then Go ahead and Do it Anyway!”

Courage is not the absence of fear, it is doing what is right in spite of the fear!

So the Word says be alert, be vigilant, be strong: God does not want us to live with the coward’s spirit. The Holy Spirit in us is not a spirit of timidity. It is a spirit of love, power and a sound mind.

The people of Israel who had escaped the slavery of Egypt: As soon as their stomachs got a little rumbly with hunger, they wanted to go back! They wanted to retreat and be slaves again rather than be strong and be free and experience the Promised Land. They only saw what they had lost and could not see what they had to gain.

3. In war casualties are normal:

You and I will be wounded. Some of us will be wounded honorably in the frontlines of battle. Some of us will get ambushed by the enemy. Sometimes friendly fire will wound us.

Spiritual wounds are just as real as physical ones.

Misunderstandings

Betrayals

Dissapoinments

Sin/shame

4. We need each other: You should never go into battle alone… too vulnerable.

“Band of Brothers.” They could never have survived without each other. They were at times so discouraged, so hungry, and so unprotected…

Chocolate needs to be shared.

Henry Nouwen: “Most Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead…”

The beautiful thing about walking with Christ is that with him we are not weak and quaking in our boots. We need to be convinced of: Jesus is mighty and strong. “You can’t do anything without me.” The strength comes from Him. This is foundational.

His Commitment: Jesus lived and died for us and He will live and die with us if needs be! Jesus was the bravest of all! He knew what lay ahead, but did not turn back. He did not flinch. He set his face like a flint… towards Jerusalem. He didn’t cry and complain. He willingly gave Himself up for us.

We need to be convinced that He can give us His strength.

Our strength is in him. Psalm 144:1 “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teach my hands  to war and my fingers to fight.”

Pray for us this weekend... Newsong Retreat at Ayuttya. This could be a wonderful reflective, re-energising time. Some of our people are needing to laugh out loud. Some of our people need some healing balm. Some of our people need to break out of their shell so we can see them. Joy! We want some of that too. Prayers offered...like old camp days as a kids, arms on shoulders, custers here and there. Pray for our small church.