Monday, May 31, 2010

These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls


Hebrews 10:23-25
KEEP FIGHTING, KEEP PROCLAIMING/PRAYING THE WORD, KEEP TRUSTING...HE IS FAITHFUL! KEEP PRAYING FOR/ENCOURAING ONE ANOTHER...WE CANNOT DO THIS ALONE!!!

Hebrews 10:32
EXPECT WAR...AFTER GOD ILLUMINATES SOMETHING TO US, THE ENEMY RISES UP TO OPPOSE IT...IT'S A SIGN WE'RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

Hebrews 10:35-39
DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THE PROMISE...KEEP DOING WHAT HE'S ASKING YOU TO DO, EVEN IF IT FEELS "IN VAIN," IT'S NOT! HE WILL NOT TARRY, HE WILL COME (NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT THE 2ND COMING, BUT ABOUT JESUS COMING TO YOUR SITUATION, TOO!)

In short, DON'T GIVE UP!!!! :-)

(I had to encourage myself here...I've been in the fight of my life, recently...the enemy is trying to keep me in a fog! ugh! I hate that even worse than warfare...it's like he's trying to "drug" me or gag me to keep me quiet! Too bad for him!!!...even when I can't sing or pray, the Holy Spirit in me is praying to the Father, in Jesus' Name & He is a faithful High Priest!)

I just reread these words that were written to encourage Washington's weary troops in the Revolutionary War. They were soooooooo weary...they'd been abandoned by many who'd stood with them at first. They were weary, worn, out of supplies & had rags for shoes...leaving bloody footprints in the snow. They could see no reason to keep fighting in a war that they had no human way of winning...they were vastly outnumbered...but there was one thing the enemy was NOT counting on...that these weary, broken soldiers would rally one last time & in the freezing cold of winter...ATTACK! And that's what WE must do, for we have a way deadlier enemy than the British troops & a much higher freedom to offer those we are fighting for...and OUR freedom has already been purchased -- not by our bloody footprints, marching through the snow, but by the Blood of Jesus!!

So, on this Memorial Day, I close w/the words of Thomas Paine, written on December 23rd, 1776, to encourage Washington's battle-weary troops:

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.