Part 1. A Warrior Spirit
“My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26

This theme and series will become a book one day. Six years I’ve held this God-breathed phrase within me returning to it’s refuge time and again and I’m still seeing new depths of meaning. These words made so much sense and unraveled so much at the same time. Allow me to explain.

Upon following Jesus, everything and I mean everything was turning to gold. My life literally went from completely abandoned, wounded, and isolated to being surrounded by the absolute best people, things working out, and feeling unconditional love for what felt like the first time in my life, at least in a way I recognized. Soon to follow, my life took a turn and things stopped turning to gold. Following Jesus, living for God, the whole faith thing… was hard. The “honeymoon” period that follows conversion progressed to the day-to-business of working out of salvation.

Blunt honesty were the traits of a dear friend and she said to me, “God’s been nice to you, this is how it is for the rest of us.” Doubt sank in and introduced the question, “Did I make the right decision? Is following Jesus worth all this trouble?” Very simply, the challenge a lot of us find ourselves facing is following Jesus isn’t something we can do in our own strength, our own will power, our own volition all the time- all along it’s meant to be a two-way-street type of relationship. Jumping ship and going back to my old self-serving life crossed my mind a few times, however here I am today, still on board and in the boat with Jesus. What changed? Deep inside, I knew what I encountered was real – I met Jesus. Nothing could shake the knowing I held. Likewise, if you have begun following Jesus, you probably have something similar, down in your gut. You just know. Even life has been unfair to you, you still know. Even if you’ve wandered far from God, you still know though it’s been a while since you felt the closeness you once held dear. As doubt reared its head when life sent me a few curve balls, relationships ended, or people hurt me, something more powerful began to reveal itself in me and I welcomed it expectantly.

A warrior spirit.

Hindsight is 20/20. You know the saying. These words couldn’t be more true, even more so walking with Jesus, in my opinion! Looking back, I see the people, places, and things God used to build a warrior spirit within me. Enter my first mentor; this woman has taught me so much over the years. Most importantly, she taught me there will always be a fight and my inner spirit man needs to be strong. Discerningly, she saw a warrior spirit in me before I did and committed to walking a part of the journey with me. God out of His great love for you and me places people in our lives to reveal what He has placed inside of us. You have a warrior spirit, too.

A warrior spirit is exactly what it sounds like, exactly how you would imagine it. Strong, powerful, enduring, committed, loyal, faithful. Spirit in the greek language is pneuma and it refers to the part of man that connects and communicates with God. In other words, connecting and communicating with God makes you strong. A warrior spirit is possible for you. Why does this matter? Why should you care? Or… if you have wandered away from the Lord, why should you come back?

The kingdom of God, the Church, our communities, our families and workplaces all need more warriors; all of these areas will require you to fight on some level. Warrior’s definition – a brave or experienced soldier or fighter. You and I will have many opportunities to be brave in this life. Whether in the face of illness, lost relationships, family strife, or when life is simply not fair, we can choose to connect with the obstacles themselves (aka fighting alone) or we can connect to God and draw from His well of salvation and strength. Lord knows there have been endless obstacles for me… Physical, tangible challenges and also the invisible kind where no one can see it or even really knows, but I never forgot they were there. (We’ll get into those in a couple weeks.) But because of that knowing inside, and if you’ve welcomed the beckoning of something more inside of you, you are onto something… life changing.

You can’t spell warrior without war.

The older I get, the more people I meet completely comfortable not doing anything hard or feeling the need to be brave. Honestly, it’s fine. For me though, and hopefully you as well, something inside is roaring. Maybe you’re like me and it’s hard to explain, you just know there is something inside of you telling you to rise up, be strong, BE BRAVE. You know it will be hard, but you’re willing nonetheless. Following Jesus can be a fight sometimes- a fight to hold onto your peace, confidence, joy, you name it, it’s all worth fighting for.

Friend, you warrior spirit is calling out and it’s time to engage. You were created to be a warrior, and it starts within your spirit- your direct line of connection to God Himself. I’ll leave you with a few words my mentor shared with me years ago, “Strengthen your spirit man. Do the work.” These words stuck because it was the beautiful collision of my God-given identity and what I could do to walk in it. You and I were made to be brave and represent God in this way this side of Heaven.

It won’t be without a fight. No one said it would be easy.

You can’t spell warrior without war.

Love & Prayers,
Haley