Part of our citizenship is doing our best to understand the tribulations our predecessors confronted in building this nation.”
–John Vermillion

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient. One stormy night I tossed on my bed, unable to sleep as I thought of the terrible sufferings of our soldiers and sailors. I spent an hour in agonizing prayer.”
–Abraham Lincoln

I don’t want to spend too much time writing negatively, but I do want to mention a few things that have happened in the past few years concerning our military policies and God.

–March 2015, A decorated Navy SEAL chaplain was relieved of duty for providing counseling that contained religious views on things such as faith, marriage, and sexuality.
–March 2014, Maxwell Air Force Base bans Gideons from handing out Bibles to willing recruits, a practice that had bee occurring for years.
–July 2013, An Air Force chaplain who posted an article on the importance of faith and the origin of the phrase “There are no atheists in foxholes” was officially ordered to remove his post because some were offended by the use of that famous World War II phrase.
–June 2013, The Obama administration “strong objects” to a Defense Authorization to protect the constitutionally-guaranteed religious rights of soldiers and chaplains, claiming that it would have an “adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment.”

There are several other directives that have happened in the recent years. Goodness, the people who protect our country cannot invoke the name of the One who they seek for protection.
Soldiers throughout our history have been eager for spiritual support from chaplains, services, and Bibles. It was recorded that soldiers during the Civil War wore out their Bibles and needed new ones. There was hunger for the promises of the Lord. It is recorded that around 300,000 soldiers accepted Christ during the Civil War. Those are the ones recorded – how many more on the battlefield with shot and shells around them made a confession of faith?
I found the following from a book by Terry Tuley (Stories of Faith and Courage from the Civil War). It is from the diary of 1st Lieutenant Albert Goodloe.

“While here at Morton we received a good supply of Bibles, Testaments, hymn books, and tracts, which had heretofore been ordered. The need of these we had felt very keenly for some time in carrying forward our religious undertakings…they came to a multitude of new converts to the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to many more who were earnest inquirers after the truth…. To be sure there were never many of us who were never without our pocket Bibles, but there were many others who had none, having lost theirs or worn them out…and especially did we have an urgent need for a good supply of hymn books. What a mighty chorus of voices there was raised in songs of praises to our God by the soldiers when the hymn books were given out in the congregation.”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
–Matthew 5:6 (NIV)

Listen to the wind,
Wonder what it’s sayin'”
–Bob Nolan

“God hides his work beneath a series of imperceptible events, both in grace and nature, and thus he subjects us to the mysteries of faith.”
–Fenelon

I’ve heard the wind howl while on the mountaintop. I’ve heard it moan through the trees while relaxing in the meadow near a cool stream. I’ve been through the hurricane with the winds blowing continually and I’ve barricaded myself in the onslaught of the twisting tornado. I’ve felt the force of the wind in the blizzard as its icy breath tears through the body like a knife. I’ve camped in the forests when the force of the wind threatened to blow our camp off the mountain.
The wind can bring devastation or it can bring sweet relief on a hot day. Imagine sitting by a nice stream, flowing over small cataracts with the soft, cooling breeze. Here the wind is not raging, but soothing, bringing relief. In all of that, what is the wind saying? Is it whispering or is it howling? Does it bring relief, or does it bring angst? This is March–the month of the wind. Kites will fly, but there may also be storms.
My wife always tells me of the first time I took her to Colorado. We had one of those winds blow down through the canyons. She thought the house was going to blow down, and perhaps she thought that’s what life with me would be like–a rushing wind. Hmmm, you’ll have to ask her whether it has or not.
From where does the wind come? Where does it go? There are the continual high winds of the jet stream which blow in a general direction, but always changing. They bring changes in the weather, thus affecting nature and man. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is similar to the wind. He is mystical, and He knows the ways of the Father. “The wind blows where it likes, you can hear the sound of it, but you have no idea where it comes from and where it goes. Nor can you tell how a man is born by the wind of the Spirit.” (John 3:8, Phillips)
It is pertinent to realize that the wind is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit. We can hear it, we can see what it does, but we do not know its ways. The same is true of the Spirit. We hear Him speaking, often in different ways, we see the result of the Spirit’s work, but why does He does He do the things He does? Why does He allow this and not that? The Spirit works in mysterious ways. He forced Jesus into the wilderness; we balk at that, but He often does the same thing to us.
Listen to the “Wind”…

March–in like a lion, out like a lamb. The winds do blow and howl and the storms rage. It doesn’t have to be the month of March. It doesn’t even have to be a natural storm, but it can be one of the soul, of the spirit. Life on the sin-tossed sea is often raging. There is no rest and no hope. But, when the soul finds Jesus, the raging storm of the soul ceases and we can rest in Him.

“My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea;
So burdened with sin and distressed,
Till I heard a sweet voice saying, ‘Make me your choice,’
And I entered the Haven of Rest.”
–H. L. Gilmore

At first we might try and fight the waves and storms in our own strength. Soon, however, the strength of the body and soul gives way to the assailing storm. We can’t handle life anymore and are soon to be undone, wrecked, and in despair. Then Jesus comes….

“I yielded myself to His tender embrace,
And faith taking hold of the Word,
My fetters fell off, and I anchored my soul;
The Haven of Rest is my Lord.

The song of my soul, since the Lord made me whole,
Has been the old story so blest,
Of Jesus who’ll save whosoever will have
A home in the Haven of Rest.”

Now when the storm rages; when the tempest tests our very being; when the devil rises up against us, it is no longer our feeble arms that work, but the strong arm of the Lord. He holds us and shields us and at the same time either speaks to the storm or wards it off with His other arm. We can rest secure no matter the challenges of life, in the Haven of Rest.

“How precious the tho’t that we all may recline,
Like John the beloved and blest,
On Jesus’ strong arm, where no tempest can harm,
Secure in the Haven of Rest.

O come to the Savior, He patiently waits
To save by His power divine;
Come, anchor your soul in the Haven of Rest,
And say, ‘My Beloved in mine.'”

No more do we walk unwearyingly through life. No more do we drift, not knowing where we are bound. No more do we fear the storms that come our way. The chorus, so powerful, yet so soothing to the soul, helps us realize that truly we are SAFE in the Haven of Rest.

“I’ve anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest,
I’ll sail the wide seas no more;
The tempest may sweep o’er the wild stormy deep;
In Jesus, I’m safe evermore.”

If you really believe in God, anything that may happen to you will drive you nearer to God and anything that drives you nearer to Him is a ‘good thing’ for you.”
 –D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“We have become ‘familiar’ with God; we are on ‘easy terms’ with Him; we speak to Him and about Him as we would to our next door neighbor.  We scarcely know what it means to worship God acceptably ‘with reverence and godly awe.’  And with our shallow and emasculated ideas of God we get a shallowness and superficiality and flippancy in our religious life.”
–John Daniel Jones    

One of the greatest dangers among Christians, and it is derived from the culture, is that we are entitled individuals.  In the church that comes to mean that we are to be showered with blessings.  Now don’t get me wrong, as the old song goes, “showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need…” and we certainly need them, but what doe we mean by blessings?
Most of the time, in the church of today, when someone speaks of blessings they mean the gaining of material, physical, and emotional blessings.  If we do, according to Gary Wilkerson, we have “reduced the Lord to just another American commodity.”  That is dangerous.  God is not a commodity to be consumed.  In fact, He is the One who is the consumer–a consuming fire.  In fact, He cares more for us than to just give and give and give.  Part of the reason we are blessed is to come to know the Blesser is a greater way.  Wilkerson puts it this way, “If we get everything we dream of, that’s not favor, that’s lust.  True favor isn’t found in the blessing itself–it’s found in the One who does the blessing.”  Remember, God is jealous and “He won’t allow himself to be used as a means of fulfilling our lusts and self-gain.”
That being said, that doesn’t mean that the heavenly Father doesn’t bestow upon His children blessings.  If our earthly father gives good gifts, how much more does the heavenly Father?  God blesses us mainly in two ways:  1)  “He favors us with the nearness of His presence through our stormy times, and 2) He favors us through His tangible blessings.” (Wilkerson)  God wants us to realize His presence and His power.  For us to only want material and physical blessings is really limiting what the Lord can do for us.  He wants to develop spiritual character in us–His character.
Often, when we ask for a particular blessing, and it doesn’t come to pass we can get discouraged.  We can blame God, deny Him, become bitter and when we do that we are acting like little children at their games.  When a Christian is disappointed and loses his joy there is a danger to his soul.  The enemy can creep in unawares with a sinister smile.  He wants for you to be disappointed in God; he wants to obscure God’s work in your life.
Instead of asking for something you want for a blessing, go to the Lord and ask Him for something He knows you need.  Now to some that might be scary.  But that’s where trust comes in, for He will only give good gifts.

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
–Luke 11:13 (NASB)