Hello and Merry Christmas, Friends!
As 2024 winds down, let’s take a moment to reflect on our journey of the past 12 months. It’s a good time to celebrate your achievements and the wisdom you have gained in your personal growth, faith, and shooting experiences.
While preparing this month’s blog, I am reminded that five years ago, on December 18, 2019, God gave me a vision imparted to me through a beautiful prophetic dream. He directed me to write a book called Guys, Guns & God: A Practical Guide to Build Confidence, Competence, and Integrity.
I am thrilled and honored that God spoke to me in my dream, and I’m happy that the book has been published and in circulation for about a year now. I can assure you there were many times during the past 5 years that I felt overwhelmed and wanted to give up and quit.
However, I could complete and publish this unique instrument due to God’s divine interventions of a clear direction and my faith in Him. I also have extreme gratitude that He also put certain people in my life at those specific times when I truly needed encouragement, guidance, and support.
I consider His guidance a gift from our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful that my Sovereign Lord provided that prophetic dream and a sense of hope to continue encouraging others to take this personal journey to show how discipline, faith, and a little firepower can bring out the best in us to glorify Him.
Grateful Reflections
During this time of year, it’s normal to reflect on what has happened in the past 12 months and contemplate what will occur in the new year. Please take a moment and reflect on the Proverbs and life lessons that have guided you so far this year and see how their lessons have come to fruition in your life.
“In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, you will have a bright future, and your hopes will not be cut short.”
PROVERBS 24: 14 (NLT)
Wisdom comes from God; therefore, achieving wisdom is one of God’s greatest gifts to you. Whoever accepts God’s gift of wisdom gains a promising future and, above all, hope.
Hope is generally defined as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; a feeling of trust.” People hope for many things unrelated to God, such as relationships, job promotions, winning money, etc. However, biblical hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and the strength of His faithfulness.
Trusting in God will deliver us from sin, and death transcends the worldly hope so prevalent in our culture today. Christians’ hope is the expectation of Jesus’ return and going to Heaven. We hope for an eternity in Heaven with God.
God will place hope in your heart and bless your future if you listen to Him. Wisdom allows us to access a good life, which all men hope for.
Real Stories, Real Lessons
Over the years, I have learned much about my desires, talents, skills, and spiritual gifts. My faith and understanding of divine guidance have grown as I have matured spiritually.
Sometimes, God wakes me from a deep sleep after dreams. I now realize how important it is to get up from bed and get somewhere where I can capture these vivid dreams in my notebook.
On December 18, 2019, one of these dreams became the manuscript and, over four years, a published book, Guys, Guns, and God. Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit led me to go to my office in my home and pull out some notebooks I use to capture thoughts, ideas, and reminders for myself.
I often look at my notes from that incredible night; some were very specific. During my dream, God gave me the title of Guys, Guns, and God and wanted me to connect the book to the Book of Proverbs. I had written down a reference to the 20 Proverbs, where there are 31 Proverbs. I wrote everything I could recall from my dream in my notebooks.
I want to share some additional notes on the blueprint of what God wanted to see in Guys, Guns, and God.
