Psalms 37:37-40 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.
A "beachhead" is the first objective, the primary location for a military force landing on an enemy shore, which, when secured can be used to gain further advancement.
On June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed on the beach at Normandy during the height of World War 2. It was an extremely dangerous mission. Failing to secure the beachhead at Normandy would have led to a major defeat on that day. While the allies did succeed in securing the beachhead the cost was very high as many soldiers lost their lives.
The enemy knows the significance of the beachhead, that it is a place of breaking through with great potential for further losses on his part, and he defends it with great intensity. At Normandy, brave, committed and valiant soldiers stormed the beach and opened the way for far greater victory for the allies.
The "beachhead" is a powerful metaphor for us believers in Yeshua (Jesus), who are involved in a spiritual war. Each one of us is called to be a "beachhead" for the Lord's love and truth, His influence, the breaking through of His light into this dark world.
Yet to be effective, our own lives must be increasingly secured by the Lord. For those of us who are serious and involved in the battle, the Lord will be shining His light into our own dark places and gaining ground and influence in our lives, characters, and actions. We ourselves will be His "beachhead" for breakthrough into the lives of others. But realize, it won't be easy or without cost!
Is God taking more and more control of your life? Is the battle for your heart and soul raging and seeming to become more and more costly? Remember D-Day and the lives laid down there for the sake of freedom; and remember both the cost and the incredible significance of the allied victory. Your sacrifices will reap eternal rewards, when Yeshua, Himself will say to you – "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" -- "for you were 'my beachhead!'"
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The church at Laodicea received a stern warning in chapter 3 of John’s Revelation. We would do well to reflect on it.
The word “Laodicea” is a compound in the Greek; “Laos” which principally means “people”, and “dike”, defined as “principle or decision”. One rendering might read, “rule of the people”, or, in modern terms, “Democracy”. In the western world, we have an affection and even a deep commitment to Democracy. Yet this form of government, “rule of the people” is fatally flawed… because we are fatally flawed by our sin nature…
As we continue to probe the lessons from the salt covenant, we now inquire into our part in the covenant.
Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the “bread of life”. It was His body that was broken on our behalf as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Notice that He never once called us to be the “bread of life”! He is the ONLY “Bread of Life” – the true bread who came down from Heaven which anyone may eat and not die. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is His flesh, given for the life of the world.
For years, when I visited my father-in-law’s home in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, we would break bread and bless the bread with the traditional blessing – “Baruch Ata Adonai Eleheynu Melech HaOlam Ha-Motzi Lechem Min Ha’aretz” – which translated means,”Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has given us bread from the earth”. After the blessing, my father-in-law would take salt and sprinkle the challah bread as he broke and passed it to everyone at the table.
One day a passerby saw a homeless man on the roadside. He stopped for a moment to hand him some loose change and casually said “God bless you, my friend”.
“I thank God,” said the homeless man, “I am never unhappy.”
Here in Israel we have an interesting geographical phenomenon – there are two landlocked seas. One is alive and one is dead. The sea full of life is the Kinneret, better known as the Sea of Galilee. The dead sea is…….you guessed it, the Dead Sea. Now the Kinneret is constantly emptying as it flows through the Jordan River valley…. into the Dead Sea. But the Dead Sea does not empty its water at all. Instead, the Dead Sea is continually shrinking, because the intense heat at this lowest place on Earth actually evaporates more water than is flowing in. Do you see a parable here?
One of my passions is studying history, especially the American Civil War. Here is an amusing story about General Stonewall Jackson’s famous Valley Campaign. During the war, Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other.