I just completed a course through Operation Restored Warrior. It was about breaking soul ties, agreements not of God, seeing yourself as the Lord sees you and cleaning out your heart. I’m not going to lie, parts of the course were very difficult, but I faced those dark places with the Lord. One of the questions stumped me for a while: What’s your pose? In other words, what do you use as a self-protection mechanism? I asked the Lord, then, as I do, I forgot about it so that when He told me, I could hear Him clearly.
A couple of weeks prior to taking this course, I joined my friend, Tracey, at a women’s outpost meeting from Mighty Oaks Warrior Program. I shared my whole testimony with her and she asked, “How did you do it? How did you not get destroyed by all of the things you went through?” I told her it was the Lord, but there was more to it, which the ORW course revealed. Not Jesus and, but the flesh mechanism I used as self-protection. Let me explain.
I met Jesus at a Vacation Bible School when I was six years old but didn’t have anyone to help me grown in my relationship with Him so I didn’t know I met Him. In my late 20s, after train wrecking my life, I met Him knowingly, but thought I was powerless against all the stuff that keeps you from freedom in Christ and continued the destruction. Ron and I were new believers and didn’t have anyone come alongside us to help us grow. It took a lot of years and mistakes to begin to see that I wasn’t powerless. I have the complete Godhead living in me! Thank You, Lord! Back to the answer to my question.
The Lord spoke one word to me. It was: nonchalance. It stumped me so I looked it up. Nonchalance means a cool unconcern or indifference. Then I looked up the word pose. It means an attitude assumed for effect or pretense. The Lord showed me that I used nonchalance as a shield, making it look like I didn’t care, and through that, I was able to brush stuff off.
What stuck out to me was the word shield. Look at this! It’s what immediately came to my heart!
Psalm 3:3 But Thou, O LORD, art a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
A shield is anything used to protect. He is my Protector, my Shield, my ever-present Help, and the One who speaks truth to me about who and Who’s I am. Amen Father!! Here are some more Scriptures to bless you:
Psalm 5:12 For it is Thou who dost bless the righteous man, O LORD, Thou dost surround him with favor as with a shield.
Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults (leaps for joy), And with my song I shall thank Him.
Psalm 31:20 Thou dost hide them in the secret place of Thy presence from the conspiracies of man; Thou dost keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
Psalm 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; Thou dost preserve me from trouble; Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. (Means to ponder, think on this.)
Psalm 32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.
Psalm 119:114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Thy word.
So beloved ones, what’s your pose? I encourage you to get with the Lord to see if you have any shields up other than Him.
May you be blessed as you draw near to Him and allow Him to tell you who you are. If you want to do the ORW course, go to: operationrestoredwarrior.org This course was started for active duty military, veterans and first responders, but CMSgt, USAF, (Ret.), MSC Paul Lavelle, the founder and president has opened it up for anyone. If you do it, please consider donating so that others can go to the in person class. It helps to pay for their transportation.
Thank You, Jesus, for Life and Freedom. Amen.
