Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Apr | 18 | Mi-nute Men or Minute Men!

Key Word:- FIGHT

Title:- Mi-nute Men or Minute Men!

Isaiah 40:9 "O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

Some people have said it was Longfellow’s poem that made Paul Revere and his ride, an important event in American History.

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

The content of the poem, the facts of the ride, the man himself, and even the supposed cry of “The British are Coming,” have all been subjects of historical dispute. Even so, these facts remain true:

  • People were aware of the times.
  • People were watching and waiting.
  • People were ready at a minutes notice to bear arms and fight for what they thought was right!
Friends, where are the watchers and the minute men of the church today? Where are the prophets and the proclaimers, the true disciples and disdainers of all that glitters and is not gold? Where are the spiritual fighters and the holy men of old?

Our enemies are not primarily flesh and blood, but our warfare is mostly and primarily spiritual. So, where are the spiritual fighting men of this our day, where are the warrior women? When looking back at our time to put a stamp of victory on the pages of His story, who will call these days and years 'famous'? Who will seek to remember them, or maybe rather seek not to remember them for fear of shame and embarrassement as the stamp of victory has had to be replaced with the smudge of defeat.

The Words of another American, William P Merril, maybe should be sung at the multitude of leadership, family and marriage conferences that teach men how to be ‘nice’ and to ‘get along’, maybe this should be the old new song that shakes the salt cellar of the church so much, that the damp and lumpy masculine mess which it now is, begins to come apart a little?
 
Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where His feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God


Listen: - Another popular lyric poem from long ago reads like this: -Then the horses hooves pounded, The galloping, galloping of his steeds.’Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly, Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the mighty.’” Judges 5:22,23

Pray: - Lord, awaken me, heal me, help me, arm me, that I may be mentioned in eternal dispatches and known on the field of battle. O my God do not let my carelessness become my curse. In me, I ask it O Lord, in me I say, “Rise up O Lord, O Lord our God may Your enemies all be scattered!” Lord, come shake my damp old saltcellar, shake it Lord, shake it hard over the pages of my history!





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