Week 36 - #Prepare “Rally”

"It's Time To Rally"

2 Samuel 3:21

"So Abner told David, "Give me permission to go out and rally all of Israel to your majesty the king so they can enter into a formal agreement with you to reign over everything that your heart desires." So David sent Abner off, and he went away in peace."

Nehemiah 4:20

"Wherever you hear the trumpet sound, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!”

Psalm 80:2

"before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.Rally Your power and come to save us."

Isaiah 11:10

"At that time, as to the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the nations, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is glorious."

Judges 20:22

"But the Israelite army rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day."

To rally: "to muster for a common purpose . . . to arouse for action . . . to come together again to renew an effort." 

That's the way Webster defines the verb. He says the noun means: "a mustering of scattered forces to renew an effort; a summoning up of strength or courage."

As a former high school football coach and then principal, my favorite type of “rally" was a “pep" rally.

Yes, I was always somewhat relieved when the pep rally was over, because of the potential issues associated with gathering over 2000 students, tightly enclosed in one small space. But, I also understood this kind of rally to be essential in helping to create the full high school experience for all stakeholders involved.

So what are some of the things you deem essential to rally for?

Let me suggest something that might seem unusual in your normal way of thinking.

I recommend in your "preparation" this week, for you to consider to rally around your deepest wounds. Yep that’s right. I said wounds.

I’m talking about those hurts you have endured in life, somewhat buried, something perhaps you have overcome, but still carry. Maybe collateral damage caused by another, a disappointment, or failure. A deep wound taking up residence inside you.

So why rally?

Because although you have weathered this wound, you have continued to allow it to hold you hostage. And by rallying around it, and acknowledging its pain, you will discover opportunities to share a story needing to be set free, and shared thus benefiting others.

And quite frankly through your sharing, rallying around your deepest wounds will bring needed healing while providing a platform for reaching your full potential, and allowing God to fully use you to His maximum.

In his book “Falling Upward,” Richard Rohr, describes what God wants for us all, to be on the “heroic journey.”

Rohr writes about the importance of discovering the secret key of unlocking the “second half” of our life. He shared, if we fail to acknowledge our deepest wounds, we will continue to fall short towards becoming all God has for us.

Discarding or avoiding, and failing to rally around those wounds deeply cutting us to the core, essentially prevents us from moving upward..

DADs, if we don’t want to be stuck in the first half of life, then we must "prepare to rally" around the wounds we have yet to truly and intentionally acknowledge.

And DADs, by “summoning up this courage,” preparing to rally around our wounds, will enable us to face our past struggles, to more fully know ourselves, but even greater, to more fully know God.

To God be the glory!

DADs “get in the game”…

Today is game day…and so is every day…

God gives you! So…C’mon Men Suit Up!

**Today we prepare to “Rally.” 

Next week we will consider how critical it is to prepare to “Persevere."

Note: *For this new year of 2021, the combination of my age (understanding my own fragile mortality), this current and ongoing global pandemic, and most recently the personal loss I’ve experienced of one of my students, has amplified the need to land on one word...#Prepare.

In this "pursuit to prepare" I am determined to dedicate the 52 weeks of 2021 blogging every Week about one aspect of preparation God lays on my heart.

As mentioned in week 1, the word “prepare” means “to establish, fix, or apply.” It conveys the idea of deliberate effort over a prolonged period of time.