Remain in Me
In just a few days our team is heading out to Australia for a Wild at Heart Boot Camp. Last year was a phenomenal event, with tremendous breathrough for men. We felt God leading us to come back for another go. It is the launching of a movement. This year we know we are on the enemy’s radar. The last four nights have been rough, broken sleep, nightmares, having to pray for long periods of time.
One of the things God is teaching me through these front-line missions advancing the Kingdom is how to stay in Christ. “Remain in me,” Jesus says in John 15, the implication being we can not remain in him; we wander off. If God has to implore us to stay in him, then he knows it is quite possible not to. How do we wander off? I think one chief means is speculation.
We let our thoughts run out ahead of us. “What’s this going to be like? How tough will the battle be? How am I going to handle the 14 hour flight?” Stuff like that. Some of it might just be eager anticipation; some of it is apprehension. But whatever the form, speculation is not a good thing. It moves me out of Christ in this very moment. He is not leading my speculations. I am. Or my fear is.
I forget the source of the quote, but I read long ago that a coward faces his battles twice – once in his apprehensions and fears as he anticipates them, the other when he must face the battle itself. It is a very draining thing spiritually. And so I am learning to face my battles once. I’m not going to think about the 14 hour flight, the 6 hour time change, the jet lag, the battles. I am going to stay with God today, and what today is about.
