Jun
9
Written by:
Bob Flynn
6/9/2009 2:14 PM
Now there is only one rank in God’s army, Lord, and that is thankfully already taken!
The thought of “preparing for combat” invokes a great many visions in my mind—most are temporal but a few are eternal. After having been in attendance at many goat-ropings (wars that politicians refer to as police actions, peacekeeping missions, etc., if they acknowledge them at all) I can say without reservation that in the eternal sense there were not many occasions when, as a Christian, I was combat ready. I was ready neither as an individual, nor as a part of God’s army. The reason I attempt to broach this subject is in hopes that you will catch a vision in your heart about the mission of the Christian Military Fellowship. Thinking in terms of mortal combat, one would expect an army to know some essential things like the enemy’s identity, strengths and location. In addition it could be expected that from this intelligence a mission (to defeat the enemy) and a strategy for its successful implementation would be devised. One could also expect that in this army the soldiers would not only know its own members but also their strengths, skills and their vital role in completing the mission.
Having said that, I would like to add that in the Kingdom of God the successful war is totally clandestine (to the extent that this word means behind the scenes or without being seen). I say that because Christian ministry must be God centered and God initiated if there is to be any eternal success! Our old buddy Isaiah found this out and wonderfully recorded it for us. In the first five chapters of the book that bears his name you will discover the tone of his ministry was the pronouncement of woes (Woe to you who do this…). However, a great change takes place when you turn the page to chapter six. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he experienced an attitude adjustment, “Woe to me!…I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips…and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5 NIV). Here our great God gives Isaiah a new vision of Himself. What did Isaiah see? He saw the Glory of the Lord that filled the temple and the seraphim serving before the throne. The seraphim had six wings but used two wings to cover their faces and two wings to cover their feet. They flew (or served) with only two of their wings. Although beautiful themselves, they made it their task to hide their beauty with four of their wings so that only the beauty of the Lord on the throne might be seen! In the midst of this, Isaiah discovered that his chief ministry had been to display himself rather than the Glory of the Lord. He had been doing what my old friend (and CMF Board Member) SGM Dan Cartwright,USA (Ret) calls “ODF—‘Out Der Flappin.’” Isaiah had been ODF on all six wings and hoping people would see it all. Isaiah said he was a man of unclean lips because our lips (words) are the portals of the heart. His lips were unclean because his heart was unclean as well. Isaiah was a preacher and his lips were the tool he used to serve God. What he had, up to this point, counted as gain—in reality was loss. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isa 64:6 NIV)
Now there is only one rank in God’s army, Lord, and that is thankfully already taken! If we then are his soldiers (bond-slaves [by choice in this all volunteer army]) it would seem to me that we should be about the task of finding out what the Lord wants us to do, and then doing it. Hopefully what I said earlier about being clandestine, God initiated and God centered starts to make more sense. We should be praying that God would open our eyes to what He is already doing! This is the vision of the Christian Military Fellowship! We want to continue to build an army, whose members know each other and who together seek (in the prayer closet) what service the Lord would have them to join (His work in progress). Our desire is this ordained mission be accomplished with only the “wings of service,” so the world will see only the Glory of the Lord.
Are you prepared for combat? One of my oldest and dearest friends (a now retired Navy Chaplain) once invited me to come join him in serving at the Base Chapel. He said that I should not bother to come unless I could consider this serving in ministry. Serving at that Base Chapel was certainly the most rewarding experience I had while wearing the uniform. But if you choose to enter the combat zone you must enter by the “wicket gate” (Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life) where you will experience a crisis of the faith! Because God will ask you to do something that is absolutely impossible without Him.