Hello reader friends! Did you miss my Spring 2021 Newsletter, which went out to subscribers earlier this month? If you aren’t subscribed, the form is either on the right of your screen, or scroll down to it below this post.
I send out two main newsletters a year, Spring and Fall (and a short note whenever some juicy bit of book news, a contest, giveaway, or something else fun, falls in between). There’s more than book news in those two main mailings. One of those things is me sharing what’s been on my heart over the past few months, spiritually speaking. Here’s a peek at what you missed this month if you aren’t yet signed up for my newsletter (but please do sign up! It’s the best way I have to keep in touch with you).
Life to the Full… Fight for It!
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” ~ Jesus of Nazareth, John’s Gospel
Life to the full. I tend to think more about this promise as Spring unfolds, especially at Easter. But as this world’s ways grow farther beyond my comprehension, I get more and more impatient for my true home and kingdom, where righteous reigns in the form of Jesus himself.
Yet I don’t think Jesus meant his promise of life to the full to apply only to that eternal someday, when this life is over. Eternal life begins for us as soon as we repent of sin, accept the covering of Christ’s sacrificial death, and confess him as Lord. So why, most days, does it seem like a battle embrace that gift of life to the full, much less to live it?
Because that’s exactly what this life is. A battle. The first half of John 10:10 makes that clear. “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
In his book Waking the Dead John Eldredge writes, “You won’t understand your life, you won’t see clearly what has happened to you or how to live forward from here, unless you see it as a battle. A war against your heart. And you are going to need your whole heart for what’s coming next.”
In other words, we have to fight daily for our life to the full, against the wiles of that thief, the enemy of our souls. In order to fight we need to arm ourselves, as Paul explicitly tells us in Ephesians 6, “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the strategies of the devil.” That’s a fighting stance, no doubt about it.
Knowing that we are engaged in warfare (like it or not), and that our lives and loved ones depend on our awareness of this fact, it would be wise to frequently reread that entire Ephesians 6 passage, asking the Holy Spirit to teach us how to arm ourselves for the battles each day brings. And not just Ephesians 6, but every word of every book Paul, Peter, and other early Church leaders wrote to outfit the saints for war.
Ian Cameron and Seona, who readers met in the pages of Mountain Laurel, are set to learn how great a struggle that battle for life to the full can be in Mountain Laurel‘s upcoming sequel, Shiloh.
Ian Cameron desires to create a home set apart for the peace and nurturing of those he loves, linked to him by blood and by choice. Ian is claiming ground for the Kingdom in his own heart and leading the way for others to do likewise. But the enemy who wars against his soul finds a way to slip in, wrecking havoc with Ian’s efforts to forge a life reflecting the grace and peace God desires his children to know. Ian and Seona must learn what it means to fight for that life to the full, and to arm their loved ones for the battle.
I invite you to continue the journey with Ian and Seona (and with Neil and Willa MacGregor and Joseph Tames-His-Horse from Burning Sky) and many more of the Kindred series characters when Shiloh releases. Their journey will encourage your heart for the battles you face.
