"The dream began with a blinding flash of pure white light, and an explosion's impact right near me. I sensed that all my loved ones were in proximity but because of the smoke, fire and rubble I could only see images: nothing was clear. I tried to run but only to find myself falling. I tried to cry out but my voice was no where to be found. In the distance within my reach, I saw a skillfully crafted bow next to a sheath full of arrows that glistened in the few rays of light that were left in this battlefield scene.
I looked to the left and to the right of me, and saw others with bows that were bent carelessly wrong causing their arrows to actually fly off in perverse directions, even at the peril of their loved ones, instead of at the enemy. In the flashes of light, I saw that the misguided archers would look toward Heaven and their targets with their eyes closed. I had almost succumbed to the same posture had it no been for the pleas of Your Spirit and the Precarious Safety of Your Cliff. I reached for the Bow and Quiver realizing the Battle was His." - Exert from The Scarlet Sinner.
Hosea 7:15,16 "Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. They return, but not to the Most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt."
Can we acknowledge that He is our Strength in this temporal fragile time of potential injustice? Remember the enemy truly has no weapon that can be formed against us, but those deceitful bows can threaten and reap havoc on our joy in the journey.
Psalm 78:56,57 - "Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not His testimonies: But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow."
Can we turn away from the attempts by the enemy to scar us: with his arrows of deceit that are hurled our way from broken and twisted bows? Remember the enemy can't win unless we let him preoccupy our conversations and recollections with the lies fabricated by the deceitful bows.
Terms like "He is a straight shooter" do not have the same comforting affect on me as possibly some others... To me straight shooters can also choose deceitful bows as their choice weapon of deception. Their arrows may not necessarily fly in our direction, but they do scatter and scar our thoughts and plans for the future. I have seen so called "straight shooters" over the years just turn out to be thoughtless selfish bullies, whose eye teeth desire to rip the poor from their possessions and whose eyelids are turned upward in attempt to discredit the Most High.
- A true leader cannot and will not be disconnected from Eternity.
- A true leader is not afraid to love and be loved in the face of adversity.
- A true leader will strengthen weakened hands and support feeble but loving stands.
- A true leader will strive to remove the deceitful bows from the armory of broken dreams.
- A true leader will deal hope from the Truth to those who have been wounded by lies.
- A true leader will do everything in his or her power to deliver the broken to the Captain of their souls.
Why do so many leaders succumb of the lies of the roaring lion; inclining to believe that success is a ladder formed out of the dead bodies of those... naïve enough to trust, who were in the way, and became stepping stones to the leader's personal prerogatives? Survival of the fittest?? The easy way out??
Let's rewrite the definition of success as: "becoming a strategically skillful stepping stone in the eternal life of others"; a lively stone that will breathe new life and vivid direction into the future of those who are humbly trusting God, encouraging and empowering those who desire to be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is within them.
This is the life of the Archer of Love: The one whose heart reaches for God's best Bow and truth honed arrows, and carefully takes aim with truth to defend the helpless and bring renewed life to God's disheartened warriors.
This is the way of the Archer of Hope: The one whose heart sees beyond the bitter scars and charred battlefield remains, and skillfully casts a new and lively vision of encouragement to those deemed unworthy by cruel leadership and by the battles of the past.
This is the Life of the Archer of God: The one whose fullest devotion is to his or her Most High Captain. The one whose lips flow with the Song of Jesus, and whose life emulates His love.
Be His Archer!
HLFA,
Jeff