Sometimes I have to smile at the ways of our Sovereign God. As my husband sits in the desert, God is giving him a lesson in being still…and my husband who loves to be busy, loves to be doing, and who thinks he can’t write, has been given the opportunity to be still, to listen, to write and encourage a high school class with his ‘devotions’. I think we might have to publish these when he gets back!! Here’s the first one, two more to follow. I’m calling these “Faith in the Desert”. Be encouraged… and challenged, of course!! j.
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“Fight Like Hell”
Hello, my name is David Ayer. All you really need to know about me is I am broken, I love Jesus, and He, in His infinite Grace, saved me so I want to glorify Him with my life. I am married to the finest woman I have ever met (and I mean fine in all aspects of the word
) and have 5 wonderful kids. Enough about me.
FIGHT LIKE HELL—(Please yell this). This is our battalion’s motto. Practically, that means every time we are in formation or a saluted is given by a 1-68 soldier, “Fight Like Hell”, is spoken or yelled. I love it and yet it’s made me do a lot of thinking. You see in order to truly “Fight Like Hell” against the enemy there’s got to be motivator. You have to care about something before you can really engage your full being in the fight. And that’s the key which the Lord has used to prick my heart. What do I really care about, or to apply this to you, what do you care about? Now lets be clear, I’m not asking what are you suppose to care about. That a useless question because your sitting in Christian school and most of your life you’ve been taught how you are suppose to answer that question. Jesus, my family, the Bible, church… all the good “Christian” answers, but lets actually be honest. What do you really care about? What you do spend your energy, time, thoughts and money on? What makes you mad or gets you excited? Think back over your past 72 hours, if I were a fly watching you, who magically could know your thoughts, what would I say you care about. It’s a good thing to think about because the reality is if your not paying attention you won’t even be involved in the choice of what you care about…you will be subtly told. An entire industry works full time to manipulate and influence you. Billions upon billions of dollars are spent every year quietly telling you what you should value…money, sex, pleasure, your cell phone, traveling, your friends, muscles, busts, butts, hair, clothes, your boyfriend or girlfriend, sports teams etc. So let me ask you again, what do care about? What do spent your time, treasure and talents on? Be honest with yourself, it won’t affect Ms. O or me, but the values you hold will dictate your priorities and that will set the azimuth for your life.
Good thing the Bible has a lot to say about what we should value and the importance of purposely choosing our values. Look at Joshua 24. It opens with a brief synopsis of everything the Lord had done to rescue his people and bring them to a land they didn’t deserve. Having reminded the people of this, Joshua forces the issue “choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (verse 15) Pretty straightforward, not surprising though– he’s an infantry guy.
My challenge for you today is very simple. Choose; don’t let life happen to you—it is far to precious. God has written us a love letter telling how to experience the very best of everything this world has to offer. Even better, it’s blunt about important stuff: sex, money, relationships, work/school and even dealing with parents. And the Lord is very clear that the best of this world can’t be found any place but through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not through your parents relationship with Him, not by showing up to church once a week and trying to stay awake, memorizing a bunch of verses or going to youth group, but by you having your own personal relationship with Jesus Christ. What that means practically we will get to in the future but for now you must first acknowledge there is a choice to be made. The world will try to convince you otherwise and you might even be enjoying some of the world’s short lived treats. But just give it time, you’ll find they are all hallow, briefly enjoyable lies. You must choose today and don’t think neutrality is an option. You are either “Fighting Like Hell” to find your identity in Christ or you’ve surrendered, (possibly without even knowing it) and are passively being molded by a world that will eventually disappoint you.
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Choosing Joy thru Christ,
dave ayer
Jeremiah 10:23
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