Memorial Day: Remembering the Warriors

In a few days Memorial Day will be celebrated in the USA.  It is a day to remember those who have fought and died for the country.

I was thinking it would be an appropriate time to remember those who truly fought for us:  for those who have labored for hours on their knees interceding for their friends, families, neighbors, their nation and even their enemies; and for those who have faithfully taught and obeyed the word of God.

I don’t remember Jesus anywhere telling us to take up weapons against others.  There was that time before they went to the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus told a quote about buying a sword and the disciples commenting that they had two (Luke 22:36-38).  But in the end Jesus told his disciples not to use the sword but to put it back in its place.

That same night the sword was used, also in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus labored in prayer and He exhorted His disciples to do the same.  The business of the disciples was prayer, not sword fighting.

How often could the words of Jesus to His disciples that night be applied to me:

^40… Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." (Matthew 26:40-41 (NIV))

The Apostle Paul wrote about another weapon that is used by the followers of Jesus—the Word of God.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:17 (NIV))

We wield our sword when we study the Word of God, live by its teaching and teach others from it.  (In contrast to fighting with the sword, commands to be obeyed from the Old Testament are summarized in Matthew 22:37-39 as loving God and loving others.)

There are many people who have given up their lives because they fought for God’s kingdom and chose not to use the weapons of this world.  Instead the chose the weapons of prayer and the Word of God. To them, the battle for the Kingdom of God was worth the cost.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Hebrews 11--a chapter sometimes known as the faith chapter because it begins with a definition of faith and then talks about some of the then famous heroes of the faith: people like Noah, Abraham, Moses and Rahab.

But it is the latter part of the chapter that intrigues the most--ever since I heard Elisabeth Elliot speak on this chapter at the Urbana 79 missions convention.  Verses 32-38 (NIV) read (emphasis mine):


³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. ³⁷ They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

This memorial day, while we remember those who have fought for our country and given their lives for that cause, let us also remember those for whom this world was not worthy--those who have fought for God’s kingdom and have given their lives for an even better cause.  A good way for us to remember them would be to follow their example in prayer and studying, obeying and teaching others from the word of God.  Let us choose to be good soldiers, never yielding in our allegiance to the King of Kings and laboring hard with the weapons we have—the word of God and prayer.

Rebellion

And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, "Go up and take possession of the land I have given you." But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not trust him or obey him. (Deuteronomy 9:23 NIV)

The Israelites did not believe that God would enable them to overcome enemies greater than themselves—so they didn’t go.
Lack of faith—>lack of obedience—>rebellion.

When I shy away from doing something God wants me to do because I don’t have the strength or ability and I don’t trust God to supply I am rebellious.

There have been many times in my life when I have rebelled in this way.There have been times when I have felt inadequate to speak up and did not trust God to supply words to speak.  There have been times when I have refused to serve because I was tired and I did not trust God to supply strength.  At other times I have not served because I felt I lacked the necessary abilities and I did not trust God to supply them.  There have been times when I have not prayed for healing because I did not believe God could heal.  At other times I have not prayed for the lost because I have felt them beyond God’s ability to save.  There have been times when I have not given because I did not believe God could supply.  I have at times not led because I am not a natural born leader and I did not have faith the God would lead through me.

There is a balance in all of this.  If I think that I/we can do something, that is pride.
If I/we act like God can’t or won’t act through me/us, that is rebellion.

God, in this land, I want to trust You.  I am unable to lead people to Jesus, but you can lead through me if I obey.  I barely have words to tell people about Jesus, but I trust you to give me the words.  You are the One Who is able to set people free from the power of sin and addictions.  You are the one who can restore broken relationships.  You are One Who can heal.  You are the one who can provide resources for those who lack them.  Help me to have faith to use me in the process.  For this land is in need of healings, restored relationships and freedom from poverty and from bondage to addictions, idols and sin.

We cannot do these things, but You can.  Help us to act like You can.  Help us to not shy away from engaging with these works of the enemy because of our lack of ability or strength.  Help us to obey your calling, even when it is beyond us, because we trust that You have the power to work through us and You have the resources to supply every need.

One Month

Today marks one month that we have been in Bangkok.

It seems like we have been here much longer than that.  I think one reason for that feeling is the intensity of language school.  Some days we may be introduced to upwards of several dozen new words.  And the grammar can be a bit challenging, as well.  The subject+verb+object placement is similar to English—which helps—but the similarity ends there.

Yesterday we had our first quiz—we’re about half-way through the first module.


Practicing Restaurant Lingo

 


But the good thing about it is that we are recognizing more words that we hear and are able to use what we’re learning in our day to day interactions.

There are frustrating moments when you are not understood because you don’t get the tone just right.  Some people are able to understand us better than others when this happens.  But then there are the exciting moments when we are communicating something that we didn’t learn in class and are understood—like when Ingrid went to ask for kaffir lime leaves from a produce vendor.

Some words can be especially challenging.  The name of the sky train stop that we use in our commute is “Victory Monument”.  The announcer (recorded) says it fairly quickly so I could never quite figure out what she is saying.  Victory Monument is an important landmark so it is useful to be able to say its name.  So I asked our instructor for help and now I can finally say it—though I cannot say I have mastered it.  Now I just need opportunities to practice using it.  And maybe one day I’ll evn be able to write it in Thai