Warring further still...

Knowing that this season in my life is where it should be is probably easier to accept, than for me to accept the truths of what God Himself has spoken to me about the future. I will tell you that what I am walking through is difficult and hard, but what God has spoken to me is even harder. Not because it will be painful, although I am sure it will be at times, but because of the reality and gravity of what it is. I am in a season of prepping, I believe, in my life for the next season of living out what I know God has said. He has given me direction in many areas of my life and yet I am in this waiting game. Tonight I was reminded that as Jesus had the cross before Him, those hours in the garden right before were necessary. He needed to go and seek the face of His Father. He needed to go further still. (Matt. 26:38-39) He wrestled with the dread for the task He was about to undertake. I know that God isn't asking us to take on all the sins of the world for all the ages ever to be, BUT He has asked us to undertake some pretty difficult circumstances in our lives. Big or small, when it is JUST us and God, we must choose to go further still. When we are surrounded on all sides and are just having a hard time in our own minds, we need to go further still. When God asks us to wait on Him, for His timing and plan, we are to go further still. When we are asked by God Himself to walk in a direction that may be scary or hard, He is asking us to go further still. When we are living in a situation that isn't ideal but it is where God has us, we are asked to go further still. When God asks us to go through an illness, whether it be ours or someone else's, that is His prodding us to go further still. When God asks us to fight for something we aren't sure about, that is His desire for us to go further still. When there is warfare to be done for family and friends, and the ONLY one to do that warfare is you, He is calling you to go further still. 

When we are asked to go further still, what does that look like? What would our warfare look like at this point? This is just an observation but I believe that God has this for us all. I believe that not always is it a painful issue we walk through to be called to go further still. I believe that in warfare, whether it be for ourselves or others, that we are to always go further still. We are to fight with everything we have and that means going further still. There is a scene in Braveheart where William Wallace encourages his men to advance. They are waiting for his leading and once they engage the enemy a bit, they do what? They go further still, willing to lay their lives down for one thing, FREEDOM!!! They advance and they continue to advance, they continue to go further still. It is the same in our lives, if we are not the ones to go further still, the enemy will advance. And I mean he will advance with a vengeance. I want to be the kind of warrior who goes further still. Just like Jesus did in that garden, it says earlier in that chapter that He was with the 12, then went with the 3 and then went further still. I want to be the kind of warrior who goes further still. Just like Jesus did, no matter how hard it was or how alone He felt, He went further still, it was something He had to carry alone. He had to advance alone. He had to stay until the bitter end. He, leaving the 3, went further still. I want to do that, I want to be the kind of woman that when I wake up in the morning Satan says: "MAN, She's UP!" I want to go further still. When someone isn't lovely to you, I want to love them and love them further still. I think you get my point, God asks us to go further still in many areas, not just the painful ones, in Love, in Joy, in Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy, and warring for others. In all of these things we are to go further still, Jesus did, and if we want to be like Him, why would our requirements be any different than going further still. I read this quote and have used it in other posts but I believe that it is timely for us today.

Being Hawaiian, I had to add a picture of some Hawaiian Warriors, and since they don't wear a lot of clothing, I thought this picture would best. 

"A warrior is one who is engaged aggressively in or experienced in battle. A warrior possesses the dedication that money can't buy. A warrior is someone who fights, not because of what [he/]she is getting out of it, but because of what [he/]she can give. A warrior is a soldier with a "die for the cause" attitude. A warrior will do whatever it takes to ensure victory. A soldier signs up to join the fight; a warrior stays until it is finished." -Warrior Chicks, Holly Wagner