War Room

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a glorious new opportunity begins to dawn on the Texas Gulf Coast! 

Did you see the movie, War Room? It is a Christian drama that was written by the brothers, Alex & Stephen Kendrick. This is a brief description I found to help you understand the concept behind the War Room:

"Miss Clara shows Elizabeth a special closet she has dedicated to praying, and calls it her "War Room" because as she puts it, 'In order to stand up and fight the enemy, you need to get on your knees and pray.'"

Inspired by this movie, I wanted to create my own War Room. My sweet, so very beautiful, Bride wanted to help me. She went to this little closet upstairs in our house and cleaned it out. She proudly announced she had found my War Room. The thing is, I am not really a tiny, neat little closet kinda guy! :) No, I had a different idea for my War Room. We have a barn garage...a garage which looks like a barn and has a loft above it. Yes, this would be my War Room.

For those of you who don't know, the Happy Friday greetings from the Texas Gulf Coast are soon going to become greetings from our Sweet Home in Alabama. Yes, the Haslam family is moving! With this, last Saturday, my Sweet Girl and I went up to clean out my War Room. As we went up there, the emotions of how much that room has meant to me overwhelmed me. I felt very emotional...not sad, but more in awe, euphoric. I had spent so much time there! I asked Kath how much time she guessed I had spent there and she wouldn't even take a guess! It is hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. My mind raced back - when my Mom made her final journey home I went up to the War Room and did push ups until I couldn't push up any more...talking to God the whole time. When we were waiting for Hurricane Harvey to make landfall, I went to the War Room and carved and talked to God. When the storms of life would rage, I would go up to the War Room, carve and talk to God. I have spent countless hours in that War Room, carving gifts for family & friends, talking to God and praying for them the whole time.

Yes, my War Room became a very, very special place to me. Over these past 4 years in that War Room I have learned the deep truth behind the statement, "In order to stand up and fight the enemy, you need to get on your knees and pray." Or, you sit, carve and pray! :)

Please allow me to tell you a little bit about my War Room. As you crest the steps going into my War Room, there is a small wall to your right. This is the wall that I made my praise wall. I had written on a piece of paper, "Praises" and on heart shaped post it notes I had written a bunch of different times God had answered prayers. There were the names of family & friends. There was the restoration of relationships, the healing from illnesses and injuries, the finding of jobs and the deliverance from the storms of life. I should note, not every praise was answered the way I had asked God to answer it, however, each one was answered.

As you turn to your left, you enter into this vast room...filled with wood & sawdust. Everyone in the Haslam family finds this disgusting except me and my chocolate lab...she loves the smell of it all! :)

On the short little wall back to your left, I had dedicated to my #1 priorities. There I had placed a picture of Kathy, Payton, Gehrig & Landry. I had asked each of them to write their favorite scripture on a piece of paper and I hung these on the wall as well. I also asked them to give me a list of things I could be praying for them. These lists were hung on the wall. As I sat at my table carving, this is the wall I faced.

As you are sitting at the table, there is a long wall to your right. This wall is covered in post-it notes with scriptures, thoughts and sayings written on them. They are all in my handwriting and the post-notes themselves kinda tell a story. There are notes written on paper from different hotels - I had spent 1 1/2 years traveling every other week, there are notes written on all different colors of post it notes, scribbled on scrap pieces of paper, etc. As I daily sought God and His leading in my life, if I read, saw or heard something that spoke to my heart, I wrote it down and it went up in the War Room.

It was amazing as I took all of this down last Saturday. Re-reading the praises, the scriptures, the quotes. There were so many times I had walked up those stairs, feeling so desperate and God had met me there every single time! :)

I want to do a couple of things this morning. First, I am going to share a several of the things I had written down. I thought that, perhaps, something I had written down will speak to someone this morning. Now, in all honesty, I didn't intentionally pick these out for any specific reason. Last night I simply went through the bag that contained all of those post-it notes and randomly gathered several of them.

I am not sure where I got this first group of things from. I think they came from the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Each of these groupings were written on a separate post-it note.

"For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - Ephesians 2:10
Point to Ponder:
Service is not optional."

"Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. - Colossians 1:16
Point to Ponder:
It's Not About Me!"
*I had underlined "It's Not About Me!" twice.

"For God has said, I will never leave you; I will never abandon you. - Hebrews 13:5
Point to Ponder:
God is real, no matter how I feel."

"Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to get to know you intimately.
Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. - James 4:8
Point to Ponder:
I am as close to God as I choose to be."

"May He fulfill by His power all your desire for goodness and complete your work of faith. - 2 Thessalonians 1:11
I am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born. - Isaiah 44:2
What areas am I struggling to accept?"

"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken. - Psalm 55:22
*I had underlined "never,"
Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him. - Colossians 1:16
It's not about me."

"God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves His purpose through them all. - 1 Corinthians 12:6
Point to Ponder:
I was shaped for serving God.
As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart. - Proverbs 27:19"
*Good thing I write small...that post-it was full!!! :)

"I am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born. - Isaiah 44:2
Point to Ponder:
I am not an accident.
What areas of me am I struggling to accept."

"You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you. - Isaiah 26:3
Point to Ponder:
Living on purpose is the path to peace."

"Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence Him. - Psalm 25:14
Point to Ponder:
God wants to be my best friend."

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. - Mark 12:30
Point to Ponder:
God wants all of me."

"Share each others troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2
Point to Ponder:
I need others in my life."

And then, I had several scriptures I had written and stapled to the wall. Here is a small sampling.
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. - Proverbs 3:5-7 or 9" (can't read my own writing!) :)

"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7"

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. - 1 Corinthians 15:58"

"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. - Psalm 37:5"

"For I know that plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11"

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Philippians 4:13"

"Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. - Proverbs 16:3"
*I underlined "will"

"And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. - Romans 5:5"

And finally, I had several sayings/quotes I had posted. Here are a few:
"When criticism comes - and it will - I must make up my mind not to worry about defending myself. Use it as an opportunity to be a witness of the love, grace and mercy of Jesus."

"Your decisions reveal your priorities."

"You only have control over three things:
1) The thoughts you think
2) The images you visualize
3) The actions you take"

"Faith
Hope
Believe"

So, Sweet Friends, I want to encourage you to create a War Room. You don't have to put up scriptures, quotes, signs or anything else. It is simply the place where you are going to consistently go to meet with God. Consider it like your favorite booth at a restaurant or coffee shop. The place where you are going to go meet a dear friend. It has had a profound impact on my life and I am truly looking forward to creating my new War Room in Alabama.

I had shared this quote on Twitter yesterday:
"Every life is a profession of faith and exercises and inevitable and silent influence." - Henri Frederic Amiel
Connecting this to what I have written about this morning, I offer two additional thoughts/questions:
1. We are all putting our faith in something. What are you putting your faith in?
2. I think we all have a War Room of some sort. Some people, when the struggles and challenges come, go to bars, go fishing, go shopping, etc. We all get hit by the storms of life and nature...where do you go? 
Nobody can tell you in whom or what you should put your faith and nobody can tell you where to go or what to do when the storms come. These are things that each one of us has to decide on our own. I can only testify to what I have found in my life. :)

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for your or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families!

Kev