"THE BRAVEHEARTS"

THE BRAVEHEARTS - AUDIO LINK

It has been a while since my last post and I am very excited about this new season of ministering to the Body. This first devotional will in a way set the tone of this new season.  You may have noticed that most of my posts the past two years have been mainly about the wilderness years up to the last few where Father led me to speak more about reaching the Jordan.  And so our journey continues into the land of Canaan. 

From the ontset in the first few verses in the book of Joshua the tenor is set for what is to follow.  Men were chosen amongst the tribes to go forth and conquer the land that the Most High has promised by covenant with their then leader, Moses.  Joshua, their new leader, was to lead them into possessing the land.  Let’s read the first few verses for context.

Joshua 1: 1 – 7

¹ Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,

² Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

³ Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

⁴ From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

⁵ There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

⁶ Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

⁷ Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.

It starts with the words, Moses My servant is dead, now you go Joshua…

Moses not only speaks of the law, but he speaks of the wilderness.  The very place the Most High teaches His children that they cannot fulfill the law in any capacity and makes them in themselves as the wilderness, barren.  Only to reach the Jordan, where He will take them through by His own power and ability.  The wilderness, the place where they were taught to WALK by faith.

As they were about to go into Canaan they are told twice to be strong and of good courage.  Needless to say that they knew this would not be a picnic.  Their intention was war and so all their faculties had to be realigned and adjusted to think as warriors and no longer civilians.  Only the warriors were allowed to cross over to make war.  Their families and friends, being civilians were to wait before they could cross over.  In Canaan they are being taught to LIVE by faith.

It is said that in the military there is a maxim that goes…

“Train as you will fight”

I also read that in the military, the first and foremost lesson is to master your mind.  This is not just to prepare for battles, but to make them long for it.  This is quite a disposition and one I think that does not come overnight or by mere willpower.  Rather this has to be wrought into the soldier.  So what is a military mindset?  It is a state of mind achieved AFTER completing intensive training and has the following mental attributes.

·        Discipline

·        Courage

·        Purpose

I am sure there are many more.  The soldier is placed in various circumstances over and over until these attributes are firmly established in him.  Once this is done, he is no longer a civilian, but a soldier and a soldier forever.  And we know this is the reason why veterans struggle with adjusting to civilian life after they have come back from combat, beside the emotional trauma experienced.  The whole person, body, soul and spirit have gone through a metamorphous.  He is no longer the same person in any shape or form.  His whole being is a soldier.  An 84 year retired Command Sergeant Major, Brigade Level of 36 year military service said the following,

“Once required, a soldier’s mindset lasts forever”. 

If this is the result of earthly training, how much more that of spiritual training.  And we would like to say that we are all soldiers, but some of us find ourselves still in the wilderness.  This is good.  Not everybody is called to be soldiers.  Individual Training is based on a focus on what you will specifically do in the force.  In the same way, when you get to Canaan, you are now pretty sure of your calling.  That is to say that specific purpose He has called you for.  In no ways is it general. 

Even though I am using the analogy of soldiers of this century and the example of Joshua, we have to realize that we are living in the dispensation of the New Testament.  Our warfare is considerably different than theirs.  Ours is of the mind, although our enemies of the spirits of the air.  Paul was not dressed as Joshua, neither did he have a sword with him slicing the Greek philosophers so that there was just blood and guts everywhere.  But rather, the sword He had was that of the Word of God.  The same sword we have.  This sword slayed not the man, but the spirit working through the man.  And so it would behoove us not to overstep our boundaries and see ourselves as mighty men, when in the spirit our swords look like a pocket knife.  Our war is not the same as Joshua and his mighty men, but they serve as an example for us to learn from.

2 Timothy 3: 16 - 17

¹⁶ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Paul was not referring to the New Testament when he mentioned scriptures in this chapter as they have not been written yet.  He was referring to the writings of the Old Testament.  I’m afraid we tend to see ourselves as these mighty men of valor, ready to possess the land at a moment’s call, but it just does not work that way.  We have to be prepared and go through our Advanced Individual Training and our hearts have to be molded into that of being brave and courageous.  In essence we have to become the BRAVEHEARTS of Yeshua, the Captain of the Hosts.

At that note I want to tell you of an encounter that I experienced about a year ago, which I believe was divinely directed.  I received a phone call from our Special Forces here in South Africa, called “Scorpions”.  I was asked whether I know a person with the name Bruce.  They said that my number was the number they had for this Bruce.  I did not know a Bruce.  That was the end of the conversation.  Very strange.  Surely they would have the means to know to whom a phone number belongs to.  Nevertheless, this peaked my interest and I knew that Father wanted to show me something.  Immediately my thoughts went to the enemy, the Scorpions, being those amongst whom Ezekiel would find himself.

Ezekiel 1: 6

⁶ And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

The thorns, thistles  and scorpions all relate to words, which would be what constitute strongholds, imaginations and thoughts, especially deception apart from verbal slander and attacks.  Yeshua said, I am the truth and then later in John 17, "Thy word is truth".  The enemy is the father of lies.  Both these constitute words, which creates reality in those who believe.  Whether truth or lie.  

Naturally my attention went to the name Bruce and it led me to Robert the Bruce, a king from Scotland during the 14^th Century.  Interestingly, William Wallace of the movie, “Braveheart” was not the real Braveheart, but King Robert the Bruce.  It was as if the enemy phoned me to want to know whether I knew the King.  Well, the important thing was that Father wanted me to find out more about King Robert the Bruce, the real Braveheart.  So I followed the breadcrumbs.  To start I would just like to say that I am not saying that he was a good man or that I agree with everything he did.  This was not Father’s focus, nor mine.  The focus was the storyline.  From out of this discovery Father led me to write various devotionals that I will post as He directs.  This devotional serves in a way as an introduction.  

The name Robert means Bright Fame or Bright Glory and the Bert in Ro-bert means birth.  So we can safely say the birth of glory.  This makes us of course think of our King, who is the King of glory, being the express image of the invisible God (Col. 1: 15).  At one point in his life he vowed to the pope of that time, that he would partake in the crusades defending Christendom.  Of course we know that many were slaughtered in these crusades in the name of Christianity, but Robert the Bruce for some reason did not fulfill his vow.  On his deathbed he was struck with remorse for not fulfilling his vow to the pope and to God and called for his best friend, sir James Douglas, to pledge to him that he would do something very important for him after his death.  Sir James Douglas was to cut out Robert the Bruce’s heart and take it with him into every battle.  Robert the Bruce felt that this was in a way him still fulfilling his vow unto pope and God.  Sir James Douglas did so, claiming his heart and wore the heart of his King around his neck into battle.  Grabbing the chain on which the heart hung, he swung it violently around as he ran into battle shouting, “Lead on Braveheart as thou dost!”  As the heart fell to the ground, Douglas leapt on top of it, protecting his King’s heart to the last. 

When I read that I thought of John 15 where Yeshua tells His disciples that they are His friends and that no one has greater love than he who lays his life down for his friends. 

At that time during much uproar and civil unrest, when different parties came upon each other, they would shout loudly as they approach, “Are you with Comyn or the Bruce?”  On whose side are you?  The Scorpions wanted to know from me, “Are you a friend of the King?”  Indeed the enemy is searching and wanting to know who are really on the King’s side.  They recognize a braveheart of the King.  In Acts 19 we read…

Acts 19: 15 - 17

¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷ And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

They could see that these people that wanted to drive them out had not that particular thing needed.  They did not wear the heart of the King around their neck.  To have the mindset of a warrior is to have the heart of the King.  “Be brave and courageous" Joshua and his company was told.  Take My heart into battle.”

The devotionals that follow is based on creating that brave heart, the heart of the King in you whom He has chosen and prepared thus far.  I will be talking about many different topics and they may at times appear non-related, but they are all divinely entwined.  They all make up the making of a mindset of a warrior, which is the heart of the King, the Captain of Hosts that leads us into battle.

I received a dream slightly more than a year ago that falls with the word I received a year after the dream. 

In this dream I was lying on a couch reading a book.  I was engrossed in the book.  All of a sudden I heard the father of the house playing with one of the children. They were playing with water guns.  Immediately I jumped up all excited and ran to get my water gun to participate in this fun activity.  I rushed behind a couch, on my knees squirting the water at the father who by now has also jumped behind the same couch on the opposite side.  Great fun.  All of a sudden the scene changed and I found myself outside this house looking up at an enormous mountain draped with thick, dark clouds.  These clouds were very dark and ominous, but what really stood out is that the clouds were made of boulders or solid rock.  At that moment I thought in my dream, “Does He really want to me to go to that mountain up there?”  All of a sudden to my left the same clouds extended further, but in the shape of an enormous eye.  I saw how the eyelid opened up and I could see what looked like a screen the inside of the house I just came from.  That was the end of the dream.

The interpretation of the dream is…

The house resembles the comfort of learning in safety.  The different things that occurred in the house is what I have learned.  I have learned to be in His rest, hence why I was laying on the couch.  I have studied His Word in His rest so to speak.  I have also learned what it is to be a child and have grown in intimacy with the Father.  But the change of scenery was to say that time for games is over.  I have My eye on you, and I have watched what have been happening in your heart (which is what the house stands for).  I am calling you up.  He led me then to two scriptures.

Psalm 32: 8 - 9

⁸ I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

⁹ Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

1 Corinthians 13: 11 - 13

¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

¹² For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

¹³ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

The time for games is truly over, especially when we see what is happening around us.  We just cannot afford to not focus and set our minds to prepare ourselves for the time to come.  He has promised that He will instruct and teach us in the way we should go, He will guide us with His eye.  However, if we fail to focus and press in with all our heart to obtain the heart of the King into battle, we will become casualties by our own disobedience and wrong disposition.  I end this devotional with a word Father gave me.  

 

Word received on 18^th November 2021

 

Warrior in Waiting

At this time of preparation, as you wait to be sent out, listen to every instruction I give to you as the Captain of the Hosts.  No longer a civilian, always a soldier.  Prepared in the furnace to endure the furnace.  Set your face as a flint and adjust your disposition. 

Think as a warrior

Move as a warrior

Understand as a warrior

Have I not said that when you become a man, a son of My Kingdom, you put away childish things?  The time for games is over.  Now is the time of war.  Making war not in your own wisdom and understanding, not in the ways of man, but in the Spirit, by the Spirit. 

For you can do nothing of your own.  Therefore, dependence and obedience is of utmost importance.  Instant obedience to My commands.  To not flinch, back off or stand back in the face of adversity, but to advance one step at a time, one foot at a time on the enemy’s neck. 

Time for games is over.

Warrior in waiting, wait upon Me as I renew your strength as an eagle.  My eagles fly above storms.  So wait expectantly for My call.  It will come and when it does, you will be ready.  Do not doubt, do not fear and do not be anxious.

Look to Me

Follow Me

Obey Me

I am ever with you.

From the above word Father is saying that no more thinking as a child.  I want you to think, move and understand as a soldier.  You are to look to Me, follow and obey Me.  Changing our disposition, our mindset concerning the time we will go in as His soldiers, requires more of us than that of civilians.  We have to become Bravehearts, but this can only be if we do exactly what He says.  We ourselves can do nothing, but as we carry His heart in our breasts into battle, we can safely say...

"DO NOT BE AFRAID, NOR DISMAYED, BECAUSE OF THIS GREAT MULTITUDE, FOR THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS BUT GOD'S."

2 Chronicles 20: 15

The following few devotionals will be from lessons learned from King Robert the Bruce and it is my prayer that there will be a shift in mind and heart to truly start to focus on the preperation for the time to come.