{"id":6465,"date":"2015-11-17T06:25:33","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T06:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=6465"},"modified":"2016-01-07T12:20:16","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T12:20:16","slug":"wheres-your-lentil-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/wheres-your-lentil-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s your lentil field?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the job I now have at CVM it is difficult to hide the fact that I am a Christian, it\u2019s sort of obvious as just about all we do is about introducing 1,000,000 men to Jesus Christ. Even before that I was pastoring a church and before that a Chaplain for a drug rehabilitation project with men, my faith has been part of that and visible.<\/p>\n<p>What I realized is that for loads of men this is not the case, you can do your job for years and years and never reveal your covert Christian identity. I have had jobs too where this has been the case and I started to think about that.<\/p>\n<p>I know you might not want to do this right now if you are at home with your feet up, but imagine your work place, the field where you stand and spend a lot of your life. This field is being fought for and a battle is going on right there, in the places where we work.<\/p>\n<p>In the Bible, you can read about King David\u2019s 3 closest warriors, one of them was called Shammah, son of Agee. This man watched the Israelite army, his mates, run from a field of lentils chased by the Philistine army. Shammah refused to run and stood in the field to fight. What happened? Well he fought with the presence of the LORD and held the ground, an incredible victory in a field of lentils.<\/p>\n<p>So what? Well I believe Shammah matters for us today. The field you stand in is constantly under siege, \u2018keep quiet, don\u2019t talk about Jesus here, don\u2019t offer to pray for them, don\u2019t invite them to church, don\u2019t pray for him, don\u2019t let them see you\u2019re a Christian!\u2019 If someone talks about God and Christians you might wince and hope the radar hasn\u2019t picked you up! Have you been there?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know why Shammah stood in that lentil field, was the field important? Was he tired of running? Did he believe he could beat them all single-handedly? Was he that confident? I don\u2019t know why he didn\u2019t run, but he didn\u2019t, he drew a line in that field and claimed it for the LORD. I like that.<\/p>\n<p>As you fight in the field your feet are in you may be laughed at, ridiculed, lose mates or miss a promotion. Let\u2019s be honest, that might happen. Or you might find men around you start to take steps closer to a decision that will impact their eternity, and God moves in that field and starts to amaze you!<\/p>\n<p>Shammah\u2019s name in Hebrew (as far as I can see, as I failed Hebrew lessons) formed part of a word that would mean: The Lord is present! I like that, as I stand in the field, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I know that God is with me, present. Can we be men who refuse to run, who look for ways and opportunities to make Jesus known in our field? Can we be men who don\u2019t give up praying for the lives of those who stand in that field with us?<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/wheres-your-lentil-field\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the job I now have at CVM it is difficult to hide the fact that I am a Christian, it\u2019s sort of obvious as just about all we do is about introducing 1,000,000 men to Jesus Christ. Even before that I was pastoring a church and before that a Chaplain for a drug rehabilitation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[227,1160,682,1159],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1Gh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7628,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/the-10-most-important-things-you-need-to-know-in-life-pt-710\/","url_meta":{"origin":6465,"position":0},"title":"The 10 Most Important Things You Need To Know In Life (Pt 7\/10)","date":"25 July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"4. Leave it looking great I remember hearing a story about a stadium in the UK that was used for a big national event by the Jehovah Witnesses. After the event they had teams of Jehovah Witnesses come into the venue to clean it. They cleaned everywhere, even areas they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/4-needs.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/news\/identity\/","url_meta":{"origin":6465,"position":1},"title":"Identity","date":"19 October 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A one day men's conference hosted by Premier Christian Radio in Central London, IDENTITY is for Christian men who really want to understand who they are in Christ, to take off false self-images and claim our true identity.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6147,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/the-workplace-an-exciting-mission-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":6465,"position":2},"title":"The Workplace \u2013 An Exciting Mission Field?","date":"16 June 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The workplace; a place where we spend most of our week, a place where as Christian men we can influence our co-workers, suppliers and customers with the Gospel. Or is it? Are we really showing God\u2019s love in our attitudes, work ethics and conversations? Do we struggle to live by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/work-stations-plus-espresso.jpg?fit=600%2C411&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1075,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/news\/cvm-conferences-for-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":6465,"position":3},"title":"CVM Conferences for 2011","date":"2 November 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"We've just sent out an email with breaking news of our conferences next year. (Don't get our emails? - sign up here). There's so much going on that we wanted to let everyone now. So, in short, we have: 14 stops on our Regional Day nationwide tour. You can find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6880,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/making-the-man-v\/","url_meta":{"origin":6465,"position":4},"title":"Making the Man  (Part V)","date":"12 April 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"#5 Decline of self-discipline As you might expect from Proverbs in the Bible, is this wisdom about self-control and discipline: \u2018A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.\u2019 Proverbs 25:28 Cities of that day had just about all their defense in the walls, you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/making-the-man.png?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7445,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/international-womens-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":6465,"position":5},"title":"International Women\u2019s Day","date":"8 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day today \u2013 so why is Christian Vision for Men highlighting this? 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