Breakfast with Might Men of Valor

"They helped David against the band of raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor and were commanders in the army” (1 Chron 12:21).

I just returned from having breakfast with three good friends, John Regan, Ari Carr and Kent Patterson. We discussed the recent trip that Kent and I made to Israel and the things God taught us. We also talked at length about the struggles each of us are facing personally and “professionally” in living the lives and ministries God has called us to. We talked about the battle of warring with the forces of Satan in this world as we seek to advance God’s kingdom among his people. We spent a large part of the time talking about the war that we battle within ourselves as we seek to be Christ’s obedient servants and sons of the King, specifically the temptation to forget who we are and what we have been tasked to do for our God. Our motto has become, “How should the son of the King respond?”

As adopted sons (Rom 8:14 & Eph 1:5), we are the sons of the King. We have a father who is personal, our father, and who is also the King of all creation. We have the duty and privilege to fulfill the role our father has given us, one that is carried out in enemy occupied territory. This part of being in enemy occupied territory is what makes the carrying out of our role a battle.

It is easy to forget that we are the sons of the King and our father will not abandon us in the carrying out of our mission. The temptation is to forget who we are and react like banished sons who have to watch out for ourselves and take care of number one. If we give in to this attitude we will give the enemy the victory he seeks.

In the course of this struggle it is good to have mighty men of valor as brothers who will fight with you and for you, both metaphorically and literally. Kent, Ari, John and I are these kind of brothers. Perhaps I am over dramatizing and romanticizing the struggle of the Christian, but even if I am, the truth remains that this life and obedience to God in any area requires those whom God sends into your life to walk and aid you in life. When victory occurs, whether in this life or the next, the joy and sense of fulfillment will be sweetest among those who struggled together.

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; . . . And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us.” King Henry V in Shakespeare’s King Henry V