Leadership and National Police Week: TCLEM Newsletter

Dear Fellow Sheepdogs and Shepherds (the latter being a biblical definition of true servant-leadership):

This week’s newsletter and profession relevant/tactical Bible study comes on the eve of National Police Week (May 15-21) and the 23rd Annual Candlelight Vigil this Friday at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC. I encourage you to go to www.nleomf.com/programs/policeweek/ and check out the events. That said, and with our line of duty death count continuing its dramatic rise, the Holy Spirit is again prompting me to share a strong “911” sense of urgency about sharing the truth and hope that comes via a life-saving/life-changing personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know Him as Savior? Is He the Lord of your life? Do you understand the reality of what it means to reject Christ and die in your sin? No matter what false teacher Rob Bell is saying, the Bible -- God's inerrent word -- is clear: hell is the real and sure destination for the unsaved and cops do NOT get a free pass based on our service.

Accordingly, this week’s study will serve as both our next installment on servant-leadership and yet another opportunity for the lost and backslidden to turn from their sin and get right with God. If you’re in the Denver area, please join us. If you are rather in the majority (national and international readership) not, I’ll post my usual recap in next week’s newsletter and I encourage you to adapt it to your own studies.

Speaking of recaps, here is my latest one from last week’s study on prayer:

Tactical Law Enforcement Bible Study RECAP -- PRAYER!

Inasmuch as last week’s study fell on the National Day of Prayer, we hosted our own event and I taught a lesson on what prayer is and how to make it central in all aspects of your lives.

To make it relevant for us as law enforcement officers, my approach to this study encompasses the same 5-W’s (plus a “H”) we us in our police reports: WHAT, WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW.

WHAT is prayer? For true Christians, prayer (proseuche in the Greek) is “communion with God.” It is through prayer that we actually experience relationship (not “religion”) with God and the quality of our prayer life determines the quality of our relationship with Him. Prayer is talking to God, listening to God, enjoying God’s presence, and so much more. Prayer is not about repeating words or formulas (Matthew 6:7). Rather, God is looking for meaningful RELATIONSHIP with us. See also Luke 18:11 and Proverbs 28:9.

WHO (or to Whom) should we pray? Christ gives us God’s perfect pattern (not THE prayer but rather an outline for prayer) in what is commonly referred to as the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. This could be a whole study in and of itself!

WHERE do we pray? Anywhere and everywhere! The Lord wants to hear from us/be with us. That said, we still need to maintain our sheepdog/shepherd mentality as warriors -- when I lead prayer, my eyes remain open so that I can protect those in my care and with the idea that with God’s help nothing is going to happen to them on my watch. Judges 7 reveals that God’s chosen 300 cops/soldiers kept their eyes open and heads up (their very selection was based on that mindset)!

WHY pray?

(1) Because we love God. In the same way a man and woman in love desire to spend time together, we spend time with God in prayer because we love Him and want to spend time with Him – and He with us.

(2) Because we depend on God as our source and as our life (Colossians 3:4).

(3) Because we need to be able to resist temptation. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation -- Matthew 26:41.

(4) Because it is necessary to invite God into our lives to save us, to communicate with us, and so much more.

(5) Because God commands us to prayer and to do so without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17, Luke 18:1), earnestly and with vigilance (Colossians 4:2).

HOW should we pray? Michael Youseff wrote that prayer should be penitent, persistent and persuasive as displayed by Abraham’s intercession for Sodom (a picture of what the United States is becoming) in Genesis 18:16-33. Youseff writes, “To impact our nation – and beyond – we must continue interceding with penitent, persistent and persuasive prayer. Are you willing to intercede on behalf of others and stand in the gap for those who need Him?”

Moreover, we are told to pray His word (the Bible: see Proverbs 4:20-22, Joshua 1:8, Daniel 9:2, 10-15). Even Jesus prayed His own word when tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:4,7 and 10 in which Christ quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, and 6:13, respectively.).

Finally, Matthew 26:39 shows us how our Savior prayed in the midst of His terror and stress about the torture and horrendous death he would soon face on our behalf: His prayer was lonely, humble, filial (“Abba, Father…”), persevering, and in resignation to His Father’s will (Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will — Luke 22:42).

I concluded our study by praying “The Warrior’s Prayer” (Psalm 91) and recommend that you do the same (again, from the heart, not as some kind of bogus "magic" formula).

I encourage you to have daily quiet time in prayer and study of His word as well ongoing dialogue (another word for prayer) with God throughout your day -- and watch what our Lord will begin to do in your life and that of others.

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NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

-- The latest PRAYER REQUESTS and our local MEETING SCHEDULE have been posted here on our website immediately following this one. I update them on a near-daily basis so check back frequently. I strongly encourage you to email me your prayer needs…never a problem. Also don’t forget that next week’s meeting will be on Friday, May 20th, at Calvary Chapel Aurora.

-- The profession-relevant organization Responder Life is kicking off with a flurry of events and I strongly recommend you check them out (link on our website as well): www.responderlife.com/newsletter/rlnewsletter.pdf and www.responderlife.com.

DENVER-AREA NEWS:

(1) In addition to our own fellowship, we are also helping promote a number of other Denver-area Christian law enforcement groups. Our own Mark Roggeman writes, In addition to The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry/FCPO-Denver Bible studies in Littleton and Aurora, the Peace Officers for Christ Int. (POFCI) along with Denver Police Chaplain Lonnie Trujillo are currently hosting two additional Bible studies:
(a) Every Tuesday at Brooklyn’s restaurant by INVESCO Field( Broncos Stadium) at 12:30 PM.
(b) Every Saturday at DIA (Denver Airport) in The Chapel located in the main terminal at 9:00 AM.
We are also in the process of planning another study up north in Thornton.

Mark can be reached via his POFCI FB page at www.facebook.com/home.php#!/home.php?sk=group_136309447633 or via email at MRoggeman@aol.com.

I also strongly recommend the Tuesday Night Dialogue service at Calvary South Denver in Littleton – quite a few of us attend and/or serve in this powerful, warrior-relevant service that begins at 7:00 PM.

(2) The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry/FCPO-Denver will be participating in the Blue Knights Top Cop law enforcement motorcycle competition in Lakewood on June 5th and a fun ride on June 4th. Check it out at www.topguncops.com. We are a sponsor and have a table set up so as to minister to our fellow officers. Stay tuned for more details and consider helping out.

(3) Grace FM! I continue to strongly recommend the teaching and music available on Grace FM (89.7 FM) and nationally via http://897gracefm.com/. Outstanding!

More to follow on our website and on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Centurion-Law-Enforcement-Ministry-FCPO-Denver/165229383527705
AND
www.facebook.com/home.php#!/FCPODenver.

That’s it for this week folks. Let’s stay the course with our hearts and lives on fire (no backslidden, lukewarm stuff here) for Christ! As always, please email me your suggestions, prayer requests, encouragement, godly correction, etc. Pray for us as well…can’t ever get enough of that kind of support!