Who Do You Want To Be Like? Why not be Jesusesque?

Potter’s House Men’s Meeting

1. Embracing the Warrior Spirit: Becoming More Jesusesque.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE LIKE?

On December 31, 1968 I saw the man that I wanted to become. I was 22, a recent college graduate, and a passenger on a flight traveling to Pensacola, Florida to report for duty as a naval aviation cadet. I was seated in a right side aisle seat about half way back and this man, about four rows from the front, stood up to stretch.

As I observed him I immediately had the thought, “I want to be like him. I want to be like him!” He was about 6’2”, athletic build, a naval officer standing, full of confidence, there in a dress blue uniform, 2 gold stripes on the sleeves indicating he was a “lieutenant”. My current quest, the gold aviator wings, caught my eye contrasting with the dark blue background. Even as a novice to the warrior ethos I understood the four or five rows of ribbons under the gold wings meant this man had been in combat…he was a warrior.

As a cadet I could not get the image of this unknown naval aviator out of my mind…kind of a tall Tom Cruise look. This momentary visual connection proved to be sheer motivation as I encountered numerous difficult challenges in the “cadet crucible”. I must say that I can still see him standing there, 47 years ago, as if it were yesterday.

But to “look like him” I had pass through Marine Corps Drill Instructors, combat veterans all…these marines specifically screened to then be trusted to test the mettle of we preppies to see who was serious…to see who would lead men in combat. The academic crucible learn aerodynamics and mathematics was a challenge for a political science major. The physical crucible, run the obstacle course and the C course…swim a mile in a flight suit with shoes on after treading water and then drown proofing for 12 minutes, I had never swam more than dozen strokes at one time. I had to be totally transformed…to share his profile...to become like him!

I share this with you because discipleship really is a Kingdom imperative…not some vague option we have. These Marines loved us enough to invest their very best into us. It is a very practical example of discipleship in action. Sgt Godwin, SSgt Rapes, GySgt Stowe, I remember their faces very well today…they were making disciples.

I did, over the next three years, “become like him”. I completed navy flight training in 16 months…won my gold wings, became a helicopter gunship pilot, flew 507 combat missions…earned my five rows of ribbons, and was promoted to lieutenant…had my two gold stripes on the sleeve of my dress blues. My thinking about myself at that time could be summarized like this: “Even though I lived and operated in the valley of the shadow of death…the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam supporting Navy SEALs…I would fear no evil because I was the toughest __________in the valley.”

Then I met another officer in 1981 when I was a Lieutenant Commander. He exceeded me by far in rank and personal achievement. He was General Charles “Charlie” Duke an astronaut…one of 12 men who had “walked on the moon”. In fact, he was #10. Charlie told me about someone that he was following after…someone he wanted to be like…Jesus Christ. As a general he had enormous credibility and spoke with confidence, humility, and above all sincerity. He wanted to introduce me to his friend, his role model…Jesus Christ.

Since that evening I adopted a new role model and “I want to be like Him…I want to become like Him!...Jesus Christ. He is the One who was there when the moon that Charlie walked on was hung in space. Charlie told me that when he was standing on the moon and looked out into the blackness of space…he could see the earth hanging there like a bright blue sapphire.

We all have this in common…our past is behind us and our future is in front of us. Gentlemen, what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to who lives within us. “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4; & Rom 12:2, To no longer conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is---His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Eph 1:18, …that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.

Warrior Spirit is defined as The passionate desire and determination in the heart of a man to prepare himself and to perfect himself for the stance against evil…in the service of others.

I was searching the internet looking for such a definition when I was writing my book, Born To Be a Warrior, but could not find one. Warrior Spirit was there but no one had, to my research, defined the term. So one day as I was praying this down load came rather quickly…the warrior spirit is…and I wrote it down. I read it over and then said “shazam! That’s exactly what Jesus did…that describes what Jesus did for all humanity. That’s Jesusesque!” This one word gave me a fresh sense of my identity…Jesusesque!

Here we discuss the definition’s key words…which is most every word. The ‘warrior spirit’ describes Jesus in human form…ergo ‘Jesusesque’.

To fully embrace the warrior spirit it is necessary to embrace and enter into the warrior ethos. An ‘ethos’ is simply the distinguishing character or tone of a religious, racial, social, or other group. So in the warrior ethos we think in terms like: training for battle; mastery of self; sacrificial service; weapon mastery; unit cohesion; mission objective; tactical imperatives; enemy impairment; enemy defeat; service with honor and etc. The warrior spirit causes the warrior ethos to come alive.

De Oppresso Liber or To Liberate the Oppressed is the motto of United States Special Forces. It seems to me that Isaiah 61:1 sets an identical mission objective in the spiritual realm. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. …1 John 3:8 tells us that Our King has specifically come “to destroy the works of the Devil”.

Then I will briefly describe my journey from a lone cadet “mentored and loved” by Marine Corps Drill Instructors to my first combat engagement. Psalm 144:1

“It’s not the will to win that matters…but it’s the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.” Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant

No one should leave this conference without knowing that you were born to be a warrior. For of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been’. John Greenleaf Whittier

Describe Jesus’ encounter with Satan coming out of the wilderness. (Luke 4 and Matthew 4). In my book I describe this with a martial arts context…Jesus skillfully using 3 scriptures from Deuteronomy to dispatch Satan in ultimate extreme spiritual combat. Page 234 in my book.

From this battle we see that the essence of war is a violent struggle between two hostiles, and irreconcilable wills, each trying to impose itself on the other.

2. A Man Needs a Code to Live By: A Warrior Code

“You cannot fight the French merely with red uniforms; there must be men inside them!” Thomas Carlyle

I can tell you with absolute certainty that all military and all law enforcement personnel who put on the uniform are not warriors, and living by a code is a fuzzy idea at best. A code is a heart issue! All of the military services adopted “core values” in the early 80’s because of a discernable lack of healthy core values in the minds of young recruits. I remember this time very well! This is even more true in the culture of 2015.

I deal with core values in chapter 24 of my book. The word “core” comes to us from the Latin root ‘cor’ which literally means heart. It is the same root word for courage and coronary…the heart of an apple is the core. Core values, like the apple seed, define who we are…not only what we ought to be, but what we can be…what we can become. Core values require no external justification! They stand alone as intrinsic values to guide us…they are silent sentinels to guard our thoughts and actions.

Core values are key for a man to develop his personal code to live by. Core values are the cardinal precepts or tenets held by organizations or individuals. They are a small set of essential maxims which serve to mold and guide individual or corporate conduct. I must emphasize that they must be drawn from the heart and should be the product of prayer and reflection. I chose three for my code to live by in 1986 and incorporated them into a Personal vision and mission statement.

When a man has a personal code it serves to help build his character, govern his temperament, sustain and refresh him when he grows weary, and guide him through the fog---the difficult challenges---and unfamiliar passages of life. Such a code also serves to bond us with heroes of the faith of the past (Hebrews 12:1); those who established the heritage, traditions, and values we now embrace and cherish.

As men and as Christians, we need a code to live by and in an increasingly dangerous world that must be a warrior code. We must capture the masculine DNA and ride it towards, not away from, the adventure of life. We must prepare to face the danger in our culture, intentionally seek to be equipped for battle, and confidently engage the dragons who threaten our families, our Faith, our very way of life. Only then can we fulfill our destiny and rescue the real beauty---our wives, our children, our faith, our nation---all that we hold dear.

“The warrior code takes a soldier and makes him a knight. It connects the natural life of a fighter to the supernatural understanding of the warrior calling. His duties are transformed into holy sacrifices; his sense of self is reformed into the image of the servant in pursuit of valor. He becomes part of a fellowship, a noble tradition that flows thru him and carries him beyond the mediocre and the vain.” Steven Mansfield, The Faith of the American Soldier

I have worn a warrior suit most of my adult life as a navy combat pilot, state guardsman, and law enforcement official. I can say, without reservation, that Steven Mansfield has uncovered a great truth that transcends historical and cultural divides.

“The soldier’s trade, if it is to mean anything at all, has to be anchored in an unshakeable code of honor. Otherwise those of us who follow the drums become nothing more than a bunch of hired assassins walking around in gaudy clothes…a disgrace to God and mankind.” Karl Von Clausewitz

A warrior code is necessary in our fallen world because of the presence of evil and the chaos and violence it produces. This violence appears early on at the scene of the first homicide in which Cain, in an outburst of anger, murders his brother Abel. Today the seemingly growing presence of evil makes the presence of a warrior code all the more necessary.

Men like Daniel had a distinctive code to live by and he served as the representative of, not just one, but a sequence of four kings. Though powerful men tried to destroy Daniel they could find no wrong in him because, remember? “He was neither negligent nor corrupt”…a man of integrity.

I also think of my dad, my hero, who is among those in “the great cloud of witnesses”. My dad Rev. E.W. “Shorty” Barnes pastored for 60 years in those East Tennessee hills. As far as I know my dad did not have a written code to live by…but the life of service and sacrifice he lived was a “living letter read by all men.”

A navy SEAL acquaintance, Chris Sajnog, writes that…”Warrior is not a title solely for those who have served in combat, but that every culture in history has required warriors for survival.” Our culture generally still revers and honors those who serve in the military and particularly those who serve in combat as well as law enforcement/first responders. The culture desperately needs men who are infused with the warrior spirit, men who have a passion to prepare and perfect themselves to stand against evil in the service of others in their daily lives.

A man needs to have a code that defines him personally…then he will be bullet-proofed from being defined by the culture around him. Here I will briefly define and discuss a few suggested core values that I cover in my book… Integrity, Honor, Courage, Duty, Loyalty, Selfless Service. Most men will list “integrity” as a value but they really do not know the meaning of the word…whole, undivided, complete, (page 151)

Very few know the definition of courage…”the act of facing and dealing with those things determined to be dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant rather than withdrawing from them”. The opposite is of course cowardice. We’ll drop a couple great quotes from Chesterton or Churchill, and treat the other words likewise.

I will suggest they personally adopt 3 to 5, not necessarily these alone, and write them as part of a personal vision/mission statement (PVMS). My PV/MS is attached.

Personal Vision and Mission Statement for John R. “Barney” Barnes

(Originally Developed in October 1986)

My Motto: Duty, Honor, Service

My Vision for My Life

To become a man of excellence in every area of my life---as a husband, father, son, grandfather, brother, neighbor, Naval Officer and American---by having the very character and mind of Jesus Christ formed in me, as a conscious decision of my will.

My Mission in Life

To become a disciple of Jesus Christ and to be transformed into His likeness and character by the renewing of my mind. To press on and take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me in service to my God and my fellow man. To press on and lean forward into the effort that thrusts me toward the mark, my goal, that is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Implementing Imperatives

To actively desire to be corrected, molded, perfected and strengthened as a disciple of Christ. To always be a trainable asset in the Kingdom

To prepare and dedicate myself for the service to others: My God; my family; my country; my church; my community

To be a man under authority: Biblical, Constitutional and Moral.

To stand tall in difficult times and be a beacon of light in dark places.

To consistently be focused on wreaking havoc on the Kingdom of Satan and on completing successively each and every assigned mission.

To establish righteousness and moral excellence as the standard of human conduct in my every sphere of influence---in my home, my church, my work, and my community.

To inspire, motivate, and encourage men of all ages--- to do great exploits in the name of Jesus Christ and to be patriots ever vigilant to defend our Constitution and our liberty established therein.

3. Getting Out From Behind Our Walls/Establishing WUS Free Zones

As Christian leaders we must avoid letting our church buildings becoming walled forts that the Roman Legions had such disdain for. The church building is a wonderful asset and Jesus often taught in the local temple. However, much of His ministry was out in the market place where the people were…He was not insulated by walls from the culture.

Wusification: Defining the WUS. Global, relentless assault on the masculine gender is one of the greatest threats to everything we hold dear.

At the time of Christ, Edward Gibbon in his classic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, reminds us that the Roman Legion viewed it as pusillanimous to camp behind a wall rather that out in the open along main arteries of commerce.

Well, pusillanimous does not enjoy much usage in today’s lexicon but it the root word for “WUS” and of course “wussification”, terms used to deride and mock the masculine gender. It means of contemptable timidity. Cowardly. Destitute of manly strength and firmness of mind. When I was a young boy, and someone said “I double dog dare you to do that” and if you didn’t someone might say…”well you’re just a pussy!” Anyone remember that?

Passive men are not warriors---they are generally men of low expectation and therefore low achievement---they weaken the church---they weaken the culture…starting with their own family.

As men, we sometimes find security behind the walls of our schedules or the walls of “our time” that separates us from family, fellow workers, Christian brothers…and even God. We are prevented from assuming a defensive posture against the array of cultural influences that have their crosshairs on the backs of those we love most…the institutions and traditions we cherish most. Our wives, children, and grandchildren certainly will recognize a “wus” when they see one…as will anyone at a PTO or city/county council meeting.

There are numerous non-wus moments in the Bible but Nehemiah 4:14 is just about my favorite. Remember the scene…everyone seems to be speaking against Nehemiah’s passionate vision to rebuild the walls. The Jews who lived nearby told them 10 times over “Wherever you turn they will attack”. So Nehemiah looks over the situation, tactically deploys his forces by family with sword, spear, and bow…then stands up and declares, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” I say this because the best place, in my view, to draw your line in the sand…to plant your spear…is in front of what God has ordained…your family! God’s basic fighting unit! So let’s comment on the dynamics around this scripture.

Terminix, the pesticide company, has a great commercial running with a martial flavor. The commercial ends with “This is our battle cry…Not Here! Not Now! Not in my House! I’ve sort of adopted this when I see some vile cultural influence trying to penetrate airways, computers, attitudes, etc. Not in my House!

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise. Tacitus (AD 56-117)

4. The Quest for the Masculine Gender

“We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings to be fruitful.” C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

Around November of 2012, I experienced these 3 “down loads” and one dream in the early morning hours, just before my normal get up time. I recorded them and now I believe I am supposed to share with other men.

1. “With laser-like surgical precision I separated the feminine gender out from ‘man’ and left you the man in total possession of the masculine gender. You must protect and defend the masculine gender and the feminine gender…at all cost.” I then read Gen 1:27 and 2:22, where the feminine gender is created, and realized the unrelenting assault on the masculine gender was 1) an assault on God’s creation and 2) one of the greatest possible threats to God’s plan, the family.

2. “You look and observe that some men seem to level off and fail to grow, develop, and mature as Christians and ask, ‘why is this?’ It is because they cease to feast on my Word daily and spend time with me.”

3. Discipleship was explained with great simplicity and clarity. “True discipleship is desiring to, and then taking men, who desire to go, to the high country and thru the valleys that you have traversed before…you take them to places where you have been, where they have never been… for they do not know the way.”

4. In a dream I found myself lying in a hospital type bed with several IVs hooked up to me and shadowy hooded, creepy characters attending me. I realized the IVs were deadly and that I must use my remaining strength to quickly extract myself (self-extraction) or I would die. I did so…When I got clear I then realized the IVs were ‘religion’, a deadly drip!

“There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure”. Mark Twain

The Five Things: Seek Adventure, Encountering Danger, Doing Battle, Slaying Dragons, and Rescuing Maidens…Now that’s what men were made for!

As a young boy growing up in rural East Tennessee these five activities were often played out in the very fertile imaginations of the minds of young boys, especially on long summer days. As the added element of darkness would begin to settle in, the thought of our daring, bravery, and “bad guys everywhere” was all the more possible. Of course we had a variety of war games to engage in, sides were chosen, and great cavalry battles (on stick horses) ensued.

Indulging in these war games was not something our parents taught us and there were no movies or television to watch at that time. The heart desire was revealing the divine design… thereby awakening purpose and destiny…(repeat) That destiny coded in our DNA as young boys created in God’s image. Exodus 15:3 declares that our Father God is a warrior.

This explains why we men flock to see certain movies…it is not a matter of asking a group of men, “have you seen Brave Heart or Gladiator?”…but rather “how many times?” I was sitting on a couch with 3 grandchildren watching some cartoons recently when I made an amazing discovery…cartoons have the same basic theme as these “man movies”. A hero or two, bad guys, epic battles to save the world, powerful diabolical creatures who are dispatched and neutralized at the hands of the young heroes…and the beauty is rescued, in this case an entire city!

So let us briefly look at these ‘five things’ and I would like for you to see the relational progression from adventure to rescue. Adventure in of itself gets boring after a while…much as an adventure movie begins, danger is soon introduced to move the story along. Danger can also get boring if no real danger is shown to exist. Then the evil danger of some sort is manifest which takes us into the next phase, battle: the action, the shoot-out, explosions, chaos, yeah!

However, what everyone is waiting for, the exciting conclusion where, against all odds, the ebb and flow of evil and good…the evil force is conquered. This is when we discover that the real conclusion of the story is that the fair maiden, Gotham City, or maybe even the whole world has been rescued from “the forces of darkness”. And they ride off into the sunset. Remember the conclusion of most any James Bond movie?!!

If we could just view our life as Christian men rightly, it really is a life of adventure…a life of knowing Him and making Him known. As we take stands to protect family we will need to take risks and encounter danger. Remember the battles we will fight are spiritual not natural…though some could be in the natural realm. There are dragons out there…and you may get assigned a mission to slay one or two. After all that’s what we were made for…to neutralize threats…to save the beauty. You say, “what beauty?” How about our wives, our children, our faith, our communities, our very way of life?

I will tell the story of Sir George from page 29-30 of my book. Challenge the men to “find work that only a knight can do”

5. Stepping Up: Taking a Stand for Christ in 2015

In The Code of the Samurai we find this ancient observation that remains true in 2015, “When you go out your door, it is like seeing the enemy. Since you are a professional warrior and wear two swords at your side, you should never forget the spirit of combat at any time. A warrior who wears two swords at his side but does not put the spirit of combat into his heart is nothing but a peasant or a merchant wearing the skin of a warrior.” At this point we can learn some Japanese…Gambati!---Keep your helmet strings tight. (Velcro…No)

As a Christian man you do not want to just “wear the skin of a warrior”. You can carry two Bibles, or smart device Bible app, to church to Bible study, to small group…but do you have the spirit of combat in your heart? Are you part of a Band of Brothers?

In 2015 America, when you go out your door, it is like seeing the enemy…so we men must put the spirit of combat in our heart. Peter warned us to be vigilant, to be on guard, for the Devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

2015 America is not just in moral decline, this land I love is in a moral free fall. In my lifetime we have traversed from wholesome television programs that cast men in biblical masculine roles to today’s programs that cast men in effeminate and emasculated roles. Programming like Father Knows Best, Sheriff Andy Griffin, and Leave it to Beaver actually taught good character and healthy moral values.

In 2015 the airways are filled with moral depravity and debauchery like Three and a Half Men and many others. Where the abortion of babies was once thought to be an abomination is now embraced and promoted as a Constitutional “right”. Sodomy is no longer a crime but a protected right.

We have come to the point in our history that the survival of our culture, the freedom to practice our faith, the preserving of our way of life…the future of our children and grandchildren, requires that we men step up, that we take a stand for Christ! As we take this courageous step, to reject passivity and accept our responsibilities, we launch ourselves into what we men were born for, a life of real adventure! A life of establishing righteousness as our moral standard!

My friend, General Jerry Boykin tells us that “God never rewards passivity in men, that men are made for battle, including spiritual battle, and that men intuitively desire a battle to fight.” Young and old…men and women…everyone yearns for heroes.

There is a pronounced awe, even reverence, in our culture associated with the term elite warrior. Over the past few decades we have witnessed the numerous battlefield successes of Delta Force, Navy SEAL, Green Beret, Marine Corp Recon, Air Force PJ’s, and other Allied elite units. There have also been some battlefield losses associated with these elite units, the timeless reality and nature of war. Intrepid acts of valor and self-sacrifice have been woven into the fabric of both the battlefield successes and the battlefield losses.

Throughout the history of warfare, the success or failure of great campaigns have often been determined by the effective employment of elite units operating in concert with the larger conventional force. Besides the aforementioned, some other notable examples would be Alexander the Great’s Companions, Suleiman the Magnificent Janissaries, and Napoleon’s Old Guard. At this point you may well note that these are all examples of natural warfare and rightly ask,…“Is there a spiritual warfare application?”…or even “What does this have to do with my church life?”

Well, let’s unwrap this a bit. Elite warriors/elite units, who are they? To begin with they are not “elitist”! Rather, they are masters of the fundamentals of their trade, seasoned disciples; They possess a maturity developed through training and operational experience; They relentlessly pursue self-improvement; They absolutely understand the imperative of unit cohesion; They wear stress and uncertainty well; They share cherished values and a love of life and love for each other; They are absolutely accountable and quickly and decisively cover a team member’s mistake rather than call attention to it; and they love the mission and their calling---for which they are willing to die. I was once privileged to serve in such a unit in combat.

In the New Testament we find the consummate special operations warrior in the man Jesus Christ. He began recruiting, building, and making disciples. In His mission to conquer sin and the grave, He was relentless---to do only what He saw Father doing, He was faithful---to serve others, to love others---He was passionate. In short, Jesus exemplified every quality in the above paragraph and so much more. Finally He assaulted a hill looming on the horizon…armed with only a cross. He took that hill and instead of a flag---He planted Himself on that cross because…He loved you and me.

The ladies may not desire to fight in a war, in fact, studies now show that over 90% of women in uniform do not seek front line combat positions. However, the ladies surely seem to like the heroes of these action movies…a man who will fight for them. A man who will look in their eyes and say…”no matter how long it takes babe…or how far I must travel, I will find you…I will fight for you…I will save you”. What many men fail to comprehend is that they can be that real live action hero…the one those closest to them yearn for.

Though sometimes dormant, adventure is a deeply spiritual longing in the heart of every man. Such adventure though is not for passive, effeminate men because it puts our masculinity to the test. Though he may fear the test, every man really wants to know if he has what it takes. Every man intuitively wants to answer that question like this…”YES I DO! I do have what it takes!” We want our women and children to believe…”He has what it takes!”

In reality, we men really do want to believe, in our hearts, that we were born to be warriors…to be courageous, to be men of honor, to be men of integrity. How can a man not believe what is imprinted in his DNA…having been created in his Father’s image? While the enemy’s chief strategy is to deceive us…to have us believe a lie and live emasculated and passive lives…all the while, our women and children are desperately counting on us…to believe the Truth!

There are many scriptures that describe such a man, a warrior whose life is one of training and operational testing so necessary to ensure his readiness to effectively engage evil in the service of others. Here are just two: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. 1 Corinthians 16:13. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith….1 Peter 5:8-9a

It is a tactical imperative that you, as a Christian man in 2015, know the WORD, and allow it to become one with you…to hide it in your heart. In warrior circles we talk about becoming “at one” with our weapon so that the weapon is a part of you and becomes an extension of you…and, more importantly, an extension of the authority you represent. The Roman Centurion well understood his realm of authority, (Matthew 8 and Luke 7) and well understood this principle of warrior/weapon under authority and that it applies to both natural and spiritual realms. Jesus was amazed at his insight and his faith!

In the natural realm, one of the greatest of the Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, is legendary for his maxim, “Know your sword”. Such knowledge can only come from daily and intimate interaction wielding the weapon. When I was flying helicopter combat missions (507) we pilots and our door gunners “knew our sword”…we were “at one” with individual weapons as well as the total gunship weapon package. This included two gunships operating together “as one”. So we followed the scriptural example of going “two by two”, never attacking alone.

Private Ryan has been saved…if you saw the movie that mission is complete. However, all around you there are other great and noble quests…captives that need to be saved and rescued. Now is the time to step up…take a stand for righteousness. How else can you “rescue the beauty” and fulfill your destiny and purpose as a man?

“It didn’t hurt to have a general so bold, that he was dangerous”. General John J. Pershing said of General George S. Patton.

Your Hands as Weapons

Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. King David

The above passage, Psalm 144:1, brings back memories of my own experiences as a combat aviator. I used my right hand to maneuver the gunship, my right thumb to launch rockets, my right index finger to fire the mini-guns, and my left hand for power control. Such actions were normally in concert with engaging an enemy whose hands had also been trained for war.

“Hand/hands” appear very often in Scripture, in fact over 1800 times. The first two references, Genesis 3:22 and 4:11, both speak of serious sin and serious consequences. In the first instance God is banishing Adam and Eve from the Garden…“He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.”

In the second instance God is pronouncing a curse upon Cain and driving him from…“the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” Our hands are truly extensions of ourselves, our thoughts, desires and passions, as demonstrated in these two passages.

You may have heard of a fighter or martial artist who had their hands “registered” as dangerous weapons. That is the theme I would like to briefly develop here, the use of our hands as a weapon in the spiritual realm. To be a threat to the enemy in spiritual combat, the Christian man must be skillful with his hands.

Just for a moment, if you can, take your hands and hold them chest high at 12 to 15 inches with palms facing you. Look at them for a moment, the right and then the left, these are “your” hands. They contain “your” unique identity…your finger prints and palm prints…both can be used to identify you. When I was in law enforcement our forensic chief used a single palm print on a safety railing around an apartment to convict a serial rapist. The deeds you do with your hands in the spiritual realm also leave a print…that connects and places you at various scenes.

Jesus was a “hands on” type of man and He is our consummate example. Of course, He was a carpenter and worked with His hands, but that is not what I’m referring to. The Scriptures often describe Jesus reaching out his hands to touch, to affirm, to clear the temple, to bless, to raise up…to wash the feet of other men. And so Jesus left his finger prints and palm prints where: demons had fled; sickness had been healed; hopelessness banished; blessing had been transmitted; and order established. The Kingdom of God was thereby made manifest.

Look at your hands once again for a moment. These are powerful weapons when used like Jesus…who masterfully wielded the sword of the Spirit in the arena of life. America’s boys and young men desperately need to feel the touch of a godly man’s hand on their shoulder. America’s wives and daughters are desperate for the strong, gentle touch of a husband or father. Such action will strike fear in the camp of the enemy…like launching a spiritual rocket!

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Ecclesiastes 9:10

Barney Barnes 7-3-15