For most people, the word “warrior” conjures up images of rifle-toting soldiers in fatigues, martial art ninja’s, or MMA cage fighters. Some of you may have seen such warrior movies as Braveheart, The Last Samurai, or The Last of the Mohicans. Even in such movies, the setting is always of a man on a journey, on a journey to find his heart.
As I define it, the path of the warrior is the journey of the heart. To find one’s heart is a battle, maybe the greatest battle of your life.
The Pain of Disconnection
We live in a world of hatred, shame, and betrayal. People are mean; people break our hearts. To engage in life is to expose yourself to pain. Everyone who chooses to love is going to experience heartbreak.
It’s interesting that whenever you talk to people about love, they always share about losing it. Shame overshadows our memories. Each of us are wired for connection. It’s basic to being human. We want connection and thus, when we experience disconnection, it really hurts. We may easily forget what we had for dinner last night, but we don’t easily forget betrayal.
A Fight for Freedom
The path of the heart is the way of the warrior, for the way out of shame is a fight for freedom. You have to fight for a whole heart. You have to battle for healing. It neither comes easily nor peacefully. If you don’t engage with a warrior spirit, you will never have a heart set free.
Learning how to war for our heart is the journey into freedom. God has given us the command to love Him with all of our heart. To war for a heart of forgiveness, love, and peace is anything but easy. But it can be done. Take it from me and many others, who have exposed the fallacy of shame and entered into the warrior heart of freedom, it can be done. It is worth the fight.
Battling for Freedom,
Pastor Steve