When It’s Time To Make War
Tammy Hendricksmeyer

You know that God thing you’ve been doing? And how, all of a sudden, Hell has come against you? Like the bottom fell out and you’re gasping for some sane air? Like the sky has already fallen on your head and you’re hoping that it’ll knock some sense into you?

You know that thing you’ve been saying? And how all of sudden, like a backwards lash, it’s smacking you in the face, mocking you with a nanny-nanny-boo-boo because it knows you failed just one hour ago?

You know how you’ve been trying so hard to keep the little irritations at a minimum, to keep yelling at bay, or red steam from coming out your ears? And how you did well? For one whole blessed, single day and even two? You believe in resurrections, but nobody said they had to be good.

So maybe it’s true. Maybe you need to take care of some things. Maybe you need to spend some time with people who matter in your one precious life. Maybe you will slow down and smell the roses in a game of Scrabble, Uno, or in nature hikes, bike rides, or by the patio reclining.

But something’s whispering, “Maybe you aren’t cut out for the God-thing.” Because deep down when no one’s looking, you’re trying hard not to jinx everything. When lots of good things happen, you’re waiting for the Mack truck. Whoever said you could hold all this goodness? Not you. You think yourself incapable of bigger-than-you things of God.

So that’s when you consider quitting, laying it down for someone else who can take the pressure. Because you? This is not you. You are not a take-the-bulls-by-the-horn, kind of gal. This is for the birds.

Except for God, He does not leave you alone. So you go back. To the drawing board, to the beginning, to what’s really happening here, you go back and look at the tactics to wonder if there’s a liar among you.

Then you consider who benefits from quitting and you know the enemy does. And what a false line, a subtle nudge almost unnoticed, but a familiar line like some faded photograph that is oddly comforting by the known edges and smudged prints. It’s been handed down, and it’s kept you quiet.

Shut up in your bones.

And when everything in you is trying to stay silent, God interrupts you. He calls you out like some Moses and you’re begging for an Aaron, an Anybody, but you. He says, to you no less, “Speak. Go. Do not fear or be dismayed by the look on their faces.” So, you muster all your trust. You determine to follow where He is leading. But you don’t stop asking for help.

This is the time to believe, perhaps to shout, “I am pre-approved because Christ approved me!” And with a rock-steady, study the King who’s anointed you to preach good news, the One who holds the keys to Death, and is storming the gates.

This is why you carry on. Suited up in the full armor, you will carry on. You’ll speak. Give glory. You’ll march on and unsheathe the Sword. Because Christ is in you, overturning tables and making you a house of prayer.

And you’ve determined you’ll go in fear or knocking knees because you’ll believe: “I’m preapproved to do anything He sets me to do.” You’re moving forward and taking back ground. Because it’s time to cast down lies and grab hold of the Truth. It’s time to make war.

Tammy’s learned inter-personal relationships can both wreck you and build you up. She is passionate about communities finding one another and is a renaissance woman who has scattered pigeons at Notre Dame, swam the coral reefs of Okinawa, scaled fortresses in Nuremburg, and viewed the Eiffel Tower safely from the ground. She sings corny jingles, homeschools for now, throws her head back when laughing, and occasionally drives an old John Deere tractor in tim-buck-two. She’s the co-Visionary for Outside the City Gate while she quietly blogs at her personal one: If Meadows Speak. She’s also hangs out on Facebook and Twitter.

THE LOVE IDOL MOVEMENT

Click here to find out more about the Love Idol movement.

Click here to purchase the book that inspired the movement.

Click here to join us on Facebook as we lay down our Love Idols and declare our #preapproved status in Christ.

THE PRINTABLES

Click here to print the black and white preapproved cutouts.
Place these where ever your Love Idols have lurked!

A pink PreApproved printable: to frame, to put on your refrigerator, to give to a friend.
Click here to print. My gift to you, brave soul!