Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Marshall Your Troops

God led me to an interesting verse recently... "Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us." Micah 5:1

Do you ever read a verse and think "Now where did that come from and what does it have to do with me and my life?"  But knowing that all scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking and correcting.. I knew this one had as much value as all the rest and I was certain God led me there.

So I read it again... Marshal your troops really popped out at me and has stuck with me ... other translations say Muster yourself.. gather... prepare... so I did a bit of digging and found that the Hebrew word used here for Marshal is gadad and it means to penetrate, cut, attack, invade.. it can be to cut into OR to cut oneself, to prune... PRUNE!  That immediately took me to John 15:1-2 where Jesus says "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."  

For me, I feel God is saying "There is a battle raging and you need to get it together!  Get rid of all that excess dead stuff in your life that doesn't serve a purpose or glorify me.  Surrender and let me shape you into the person I have planned for you to be as you walk through this battlefield." 

I also like the definition included the word Prepare. We need to be prepared for battle everyday.  The Word tells us we are in a battle and we also know we have weapons to aid us in the fight:

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."  2 Cor. 10:3-4

We need to be in the Word daily... sharpening our swords... making ourselves ready.

Praying your troops are marshaled and you are prepared for the battle... you are in it whether you want to be or not and whether you acknowledge it or not... BUT remember that the victory has been won!

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