Pentecost Sunday

On Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, they were given the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those gifts helped them to fulfill their mission to preach the Gospel to all nations. For us, too, those gifts are given when we ask, and we are infused them, the life of God in our souls--then can help us to live a Christian life. This book is not meant to take the place of the power of the Holy Spirit, in fact, we encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for His help.  Standing is a battle you do not want to do alone, having the Holy Spirit's help is vitally important.

 In celebration of Pentecost Sunday we are offering Josh's book for free.  Starting Sunday at 12 am (PST) to  11:59 pm on Sunday you can download  the book for free on Amazon.  The link is in the sidebar.

Be blessed,
Josh and Serena

Proof Through The Night

A few nights ago, we were at a baseball game celebrating 2 of our kid's birthdays.  And, like before any professional sports event, our national anthem was played.  While it was being sung some of the words stuck out to us and immediately the Lord showed us the stander's application.  Here are the words in the first verse of our anthem:

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

To explain what this means to a regular person: Our flag was still proudly waving in the midst of the fight while we are hunkered down in the safety of the tower.  And when the rockets and bombs exploded, it illuminated the darkness and we could see our flag still standing.

While listening to this we thought of the fight that many of us face everyday.  We have spiritual bombs and rockets exploding all around us.  The battle is being fiercely fought around us on all sides.  Everywhere that we look we see the battle.  We see wounded soldiers and comrades.  We see structures in our life being torn down and destroyed by the enemy.  We see our own wounds and hurts.  And although these things are happening all around us, we should not be looking at these things.

Photo Credit

In military jargon a flag is often called a "standard."  The standard was always meant to be advancing, never retreating.  The standard was always at the forefront of the battle.  Those that carried the standard into battle were charged with keeping it raised.  And if that soldier fell while carrying it forward, another soldier was to pick it up, raise it up, and continue advancing.  During the battle, soldiers would look above the melee and focus on the advancing standard.  If he got lost during the fight, he looked to the standard.  If he did not know which was was advancing, he looked to the standard.  He knew that if he would press toward the standard that he would, without a doubt, find others that were committed to the advancing standard and could join with them.

Friends, as believers our standard is not a simple flag made up of red, white, and blue colors.  Our standard is the Word of God.  The Word is what we always look to.  The Word is what goes before us and what we always rally to.  Go back and reread the previous paragraph with this knowledge in mind.

Now back to the national anthem...while the fight is ongoing we look from the safety of shelter of God and can see His Word still standing.  When the enemy's rockets and bombs burst around us we are not touched.  What was meant to cause us to cower in fear and despair actually brings us hope.  When the bombs burst we see the Word still standing.  When the rockets explode we see the Word still standing.  The enemy's attack is confirmation that.....His Word still stands!  The enemy only will stop attacking when he wins or the standard has fallen.  Do not let the standard fall!

That brings up another point...we are responsible for backing the standard, the Word.  We must always run to the Word.  Not for fear that it will fall because the One that holds the standard never falters and never fails.  We run to and back the Word to find the strength to continue fighting.  Something happens when we join with the Standard Bearer, Jesus.  When we run to the Standard and He who bears it, we find the most fearsome of fighters holding it tall.  We find the King of kings holding it.  Exodus 15:3 says that He is a man of war and the Lord is His name.  Hosea 12:5 says that He is the Lord God of Heaven's Armies.  This is who is holding your standard.

Any earthly king would entrust the standard to an expendable soldier.  However, our God takes His only Son, dresses Him like us and places Him on the front lines to bear the standard.  He is not a passive or weak man.  He is not easily frightened.  He is the Prince of Peace, not because He can draft a treaty but because He will bring peace to His child by His presence, peace to the situation by His Word, and peace to the enemy by His actions.  More than once in the Word we find God coming to the rescue of His people with tangible acts against their enemy.  He did it because they did not look at the situation but looked to the standard.

Many times we have asked for your prayers.  We do again today.  This blog puts us on the front lines of this fight.  We did not choose to be here.  In all honesty, it would be a lot easier for us if we didn't have this ministry.  But this was not a decision that we have the privilege to make.  Our standard bearer calls us to Himself and He is on the front lines. And we simply obey.  We are not the standard or the standard bearer; we are only rallying to it and to Him.

We would encourage you to run to the standard and the One who carries it.  Run to the Word.  Run to Jesus.  Don't be afraid of the bombs going off around you.  Run to the Word.  Don't allow the rockets to cause your steps to be shortened.  Run to Jesus.  Your enemy is not your spouse.  Run to the Word.  The enemy has tried to stop the One who bears the standard once before....and he failed!  So, run to Jesus.

He holds the standard.

He holds you!

Rallying towards the standard....

Josh and Serena

Stand!

Music has always ministered to both Josh and I, in fact, for Josh's 30th birthday (while he was away) I bought him one of his favorite artists brand new CD. I am still blown away at some of the lyrics in those songs, needless to say Josh only listened to that CD one time while he was gone.  He just could NOT listen to it and allow the words to sink in "too much."   I came across this song today, and I pray it ministers to you the way it has me.  Allow the words to minister to you in a deep and powerful way.






Always Standing,
Josh and Serena