Fight for the Heart of Your King
I've talked about the book The Barbarian Way before. But I'm reading it again, so it deserves another mention.
The author Erwin Raphael McManus opens the book by talking about Robert the Bruce. The jerk in Braveheart who totally betrayed Mel Gibson. But whatever..(worth a mention, but not the point).
We know that after William Wallace died, Robert the Bruce led the Scots to freedom, but legend tells us (according to McManus--I'm getting all of this from his book, so don't sue me if HE got it wrong. :) )that when the Bruce was dying he asked for a worthy knight to carry his heart into battle. A man surnamed Douglas took up the cause and carried the embalmed heart of the Bruce in a jar around his neck. During a fight he was fatally wounded, but before he died he tossed the jar into the midst of the enemy shouting, "Fight for the heart of your King"
The allegory of course is that we must fight for the heart of OUR King. Jesus.
This book hits me in a core place that just craves barbarism. Don't you ever just want to sit at a rough-hewn wooden table with a half-cooked roasted chicken in front of you, yank off a whole leg quarter and tear at it with your teeth, then drink down a whole pint of ale and burp without saying excuse me? (If you don't and it disturbs you that I do, then you're not a barbarian....yet!)
I'm not very civilized anyway which makes it difficult to feel like I fit in when I go to places where authors, editors, and agents schmooze and talk about smart things that I totally don't get. I just want to live for Jesus. I want to live hard, play hard, and fight hard. It's the Irish peasant in me, I guess. I'm not one to give up. I hang on to what's important to me. And I refuse to shrink away with a cry of "I'm unworthy to be in mere man's presence". Because I know I'm called to carry the Heart of Jesus into battle. He's positioned me for His cause, whatever form my position takes, and I can't shrink back in fear or accept rejection or stop the fight for any reason. I WILL Follow where HE leads even if no one else thinks I should go there. I Know the voice of my King. And I don't give a flip what people expect of me. I'm following Him, if I fail, I fail Him, if I succeed, I succeed for His glory! Man doesn't impress me and I stopped trying to gain approval a long time ago--because most leaders don't like me no matter what I do or how hard I try--I either want to do too much, or I do too little. :)
But Jesus...He's WILD about me. He LOVES that I want to fight for Him. He knows me in this gritty, down to earth place that "man" doesn't get about me. But he sees this potential and keeps letting me carry His heart into battle. He amazes me. I know I'm not fit to carry his heart, but He allows me to anyway.
Jesus...I'm fighting for Your Heart today. Your glory, the prize of seeing you face to face. I don't want to get comfortable and soft, so if that means it's time to step up the game, run harder, figure out a new strategy, pump more iron (metaphoriclly speaking) then you lead and I'll follow your heart. You see, folks, it's not about that next contract, a bigger check, or position of honor. It's just not. Who cares about all that garbage? That's immaterial in the grand scheme of things. It's all about this man who was violently murdered on a cross after hours of torture. This man whose life and death and life again are the very core of that which I base my life and you should too. This man, whose life is my life and whose death is my death and whose Heaven is my gain. It's not about me. It's not about my kids or my husband or my mom or my church. It's all about Him. Yesterday, today, and forever.
"Jesus, I'll follow you to the end, no guarantees asked except you'll be at the end of the road to meet me when I get there. And I will know I have lived my life in truth. Whatever you bring into my life, "Yes" to it."
Ann Keimel I'm Running to Win
The author Erwin Raphael McManus opens the book by talking about Robert the Bruce. The jerk in Braveheart who totally betrayed Mel Gibson. But whatever..(worth a mention, but not the point).
We know that after William Wallace died, Robert the Bruce led the Scots to freedom, but legend tells us (according to McManus--I'm getting all of this from his book, so don't sue me if HE got it wrong. :) )that when the Bruce was dying he asked for a worthy knight to carry his heart into battle. A man surnamed Douglas took up the cause and carried the embalmed heart of the Bruce in a jar around his neck. During a fight he was fatally wounded, but before he died he tossed the jar into the midst of the enemy shouting, "Fight for the heart of your King"
The allegory of course is that we must fight for the heart of OUR King. Jesus.
This book hits me in a core place that just craves barbarism. Don't you ever just want to sit at a rough-hewn wooden table with a half-cooked roasted chicken in front of you, yank off a whole leg quarter and tear at it with your teeth, then drink down a whole pint of ale and burp without saying excuse me? (If you don't and it disturbs you that I do, then you're not a barbarian....yet!)
I'm not very civilized anyway which makes it difficult to feel like I fit in when I go to places where authors, editors, and agents schmooze and talk about smart things that I totally don't get. I just want to live for Jesus. I want to live hard, play hard, and fight hard. It's the Irish peasant in me, I guess. I'm not one to give up. I hang on to what's important to me. And I refuse to shrink away with a cry of "I'm unworthy to be in mere man's presence". Because I know I'm called to carry the Heart of Jesus into battle. He's positioned me for His cause, whatever form my position takes, and I can't shrink back in fear or accept rejection or stop the fight for any reason. I WILL Follow where HE leads even if no one else thinks I should go there. I Know the voice of my King. And I don't give a flip what people expect of me. I'm following Him, if I fail, I fail Him, if I succeed, I succeed for His glory! Man doesn't impress me and I stopped trying to gain approval a long time ago--because most leaders don't like me no matter what I do or how hard I try--I either want to do too much, or I do too little. :)
But Jesus...He's WILD about me. He LOVES that I want to fight for Him. He knows me in this gritty, down to earth place that "man" doesn't get about me. But he sees this potential and keeps letting me carry His heart into battle. He amazes me. I know I'm not fit to carry his heart, but He allows me to anyway.
Jesus...I'm fighting for Your Heart today. Your glory, the prize of seeing you face to face. I don't want to get comfortable and soft, so if that means it's time to step up the game, run harder, figure out a new strategy, pump more iron (metaphoriclly speaking) then you lead and I'll follow your heart. You see, folks, it's not about that next contract, a bigger check, or position of honor. It's just not. Who cares about all that garbage? That's immaterial in the grand scheme of things. It's all about this man who was violently murdered on a cross after hours of torture. This man whose life and death and life again are the very core of that which I base my life and you should too. This man, whose life is my life and whose death is my death and whose Heaven is my gain. It's not about me. It's not about my kids or my husband or my mom or my church. It's all about Him. Yesterday, today, and forever.
"Jesus, I'll follow you to the end, no guarantees asked except you'll be at the end of the road to meet me when I get there. And I will know I have lived my life in truth. Whatever you bring into my life, "Yes" to it."
Ann Keimel I'm Running to Win
posted by Tracey Bateman at 9:45 AM
2 Comments:
Amen and AMEN!
Beautiful, encouraging post!
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