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Steps Through Failure to Success

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I like to take cue from the following statement: “In most endeavor, overcoming slings, arrows, setbacks, and rejection is a crucial element for a crucial success.”, by Alex Dalenberg. It has been a common but profound statement that there is no royal road to success; otherwise, the world will not have gotten series of flat, low, or undulating plains as well as valleys, deep canyons, precipices, plateaus and mountains.

The point I am making bothers on success and failure which are a common phenomenon in the life every individual. However, my concern is to state clearly that failure in one or many endeavors does not mean that one is a total failure in life. Every individual wants to be proud and be seen as successful and not a failure.

In any event, life is a journey through bearable and unbearable terrains. The bottom line requires putting courage into life. Almost all the successful people would have experienced failure many a-time in the past. A fact of life that is undeniable, is that failure can be a stepping stone to an enduring success that can become a legacy to unborn generations

My dear sister once failed a promotional examination which was humiliating to her. It was so painful to her that it turned out to be a spontaneous wake-up call for putting better effort in her studies. Thereafter, she started making the first position in class until she left school and that failure birthed success throughout her school career. It happens in small and great endeavors in life.

Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey started life in a hard way which could have led to failure in life but she braced up through life’s harrowing experiences to become a TV star. She has since become a philanthropist and now in business in helping lots of girl-child in South Africa. In business, the like of great philanthropist Henry Ford (1863-1947) tasted the bitter pills of failure before embarking on successful motor manufacturing industry. One of his children became President of the United States of America.

In politics, Abraham Lincoln turned failure into success to become President of the United States of America, Despite failing so many times to do well in elections ,unarguably the trials and errors taught him to perfect his strategies and later became an unforgettable 16th President of the United States of America from 1861-1865. In spite of all odds, he accepted failure as an inevitable fact of life. His recilience made him fulfill the adage “When the going is tough, the tough gets going”. He amazed wealth of experience that crystalized to become his stepping stone to his eventual success. Since then, he had always been a looking glass self or a reference point to many Presidents across the aisle

In politics, Abraham Lincoln turned failure to success to become President of the United States of America. Despite failing so many times to do well in elections, unarguably, the trials and errors taught him to perfect his strategies and later became the unforgettable 16th President of the United States from 1861-1865. It is instuctive that he was able to accept failure as an inevitable fact of life. His resilience made him fulfill the adage “When the going is tough the tough gets going”. He amassed wealth of experience that crystalized to become his stepping stone to his eventual success. Since then, he had always been a looking-glass self or a reference point to many Presidents across the aisle within the political spectrum of his country.

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THROUGH FAILURE TO SUCCESS

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I like to take a cue from the following statement; “In most every endeavor overcoming slings, arrows, setbacks, and rejection is a crucial element for ultimte success” by Alex Dalenberg. It has been a common but profound statement that there is no royal road to success. Were it to be so, the earth won’t have had series of flat, undulating plains, plateaux, mountains, deep gorges and precipices.

The point I am making bothers on success and failure which are a common phenomenon in the life of every individual. However, I have to state clearly that failure as one of man’s many endeavors, does not mean that one is a total failure in life. Every person expects to be seen as successful and not a failure.

In any event, life is a journey through bearable and unbearable terrains that calls for the courage that one puts into life come rain, come sunshine. Almost all successful individuals have experienced failure many a-time in the past. A fact of life that is undeniable is that failures are not supposed to be the end of the road, rather they are expected to be sure stepping stone to success that can lead to an enduring legacy to unborn generations.

My half sister once failed a promotional examination. It was extremely painful to her. It turned out to be a spontaneous wake-up call to put in more effort at her studies resulting in taking the first position throughout her remaining years in school. That failure birthed success that followed her into adult life.

Oprah Winfrey started life in a hard way suggestive of failure in life. She braced up herself in spite of all odds to become what she became; a TV star for decades, now one of the richest women of note, as well as a philanthropist. Her early threatening failure turned into a situation of “Rag to Riches”. She graduated from the school of failure to become a celebrated success.

In business, Henry Ford, American Industrialist (1863-1947) earlier in life, tasted the bitter pills of failure before his business boomed in the Motor manufacturing industry. Ford Foudation is the legacy left behind as testimony for his enduring legacy.

Abraham Lincoln, an American Lawyer and statesman (1809-1865) experienced a chain of failures in politics, but with rugged determination and courage he got to know the possible causes of his seemingly unending failures. He has an attitude which I love to describe as that of ” when the going is tough , the tough gets going”. He became the 16th President of the United States from 1861- 1865. His eventual success included wartime leadership, unifier of the Union and abolition of slavery. Till today history has projected him as the greatest in American Presidents in history across the aisle.

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The lying tongues

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Lying tongues are associated with false prophets and teachers of the holy Word of God. I would like to evaluate them as agents of the devil. Mildly put, they are agents of destabilization in the Church of God as of old up to now. They would have studied the Word of God to a reasonable depth. This tends to give them leverage and give them the opportunity to sound convincing. Within their own heart, they have different agenda that lead into turning young or weak Christians from the genuine way of the Lord. To the Almighty God, it is a complete abomination.

They are wolf in sheep’s skin whose sole but hidden purpose is self-aggrandizement, simply put self-seekers. It is not peculiar to Christians of contemporary era but had begun even in Prophet Jeremiah’s historical times. For instance in Jeremiah 14, the bible recounted the sins of the Jews and God decided to punish them with famine. The main reason was sin against the God of Israel. The Lord explained to Jeremiah what he would do mainly because the prophets were not genuine and were guilty of false prophesy. Disaster was looming large but the false prophets, were busy with their lying tongue and perverting the truth as God had made it clear. In Jeremiah 14: 13-14, the bible recorded:  “Alas, Sovereign God! The prophets keep telling them, You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed   I will give you lasting peace in the place.” Then the Lord said to me   “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatrous and the delusion of their own minds. Jeremiah 14: 13-14 (NIV)

In the Churches today, it behoves born-again Christians to avoid the consequences of the act of being false teachers, prophets, pastors, evangelist, bishops, deacons and even the class of Church workers.

Love is the greatest

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There are many types of love. The implication is that there is comparison in order to arrive at that which is the greatest. The commonest is the love between two basic sexes. Such is romantic or passionate love of the body. There are others like friendly love, affectionate love of parent-child love and selfless love as well as committed love. The concern of this writing is the love of God that goes beyond what any human being can ever demonstrate as much as had been recorded in the history of man over the ages.

The usual reference in the bible is 1Corinthians 13: 1-13 in which it has been established as an attribute of God. No one else can ever be like God of the universe. He gave his only begotten son as a sacrificial lamb for the remission of their sins. It is stated in Hebrew 10:4 (KJV) “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.” To demonstrate God’s agape love for humanity is wrapped up in John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”(KJV)

On the premise that Christ is God incarnate, he demonstrated the rarest love for the humanity as read in John 15: 13 (KJV). It says, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. To a large extent, is poses difficulty to believers to forgive as many times as Jesus prescribed to his desciples to forgive up to “seventy times seven times” in Matthew 18: 21-22 (KJV) As we all are work in progress, it is important to make conscious effort to bear the agony from those who incessantly sin against us and ensure calling for devine help to intervene and meet evil with good.

Within a church setting, unity has to be forged among members. There should be mutual love among members, while endeavoring to showcase their adherent to the fruit of the spirit . Ephesians 5: 21-22 (KJV). Believers should realize that whatever their level in the church hierarchy like having the ability to prophesy and to speak in tongues, without the love of God or being Christ-like it would be a case of empty vessel making the most sound.. It is safe to conclude in the saying in 1Corinthians 13:13 (NIV) “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love, But the greatest of these is love.

Having The Right mindset

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Mindset is a person’s disposition which might be favorable, repudiative, or in consonance with the societal norms and God’s will for a person. We can easily look at the definition of the word as expressed in the Oxford dictionary which says; “it is the established set of attitudes held by someone. By this, it is pertinent to view the definition in terms of the good and the bad or being in the middle of the road. The word of God encourages man to be either cold or hot but definitely not lukewarm to avoid being rejected.

Further looking into what Christ meant, He was talking about the preferences of the contemporary society where party goers preferred their drinks in either hot or cold. Otherwise , such drink was out of tune in the level of acceptance. Where inappropriate drink was presented , it was expectedly spit out, like in Revelation 3 : 16 NJV. It is comparable to situation of Christians who are not in hot pursuit of God’s ideals are difficult to place. Hot or cold had a defined acceptable characteristic then.

King Saul, in II Samuel 15 : 1-28 presented a scenario of disobedience to God. He for reason best known to him refused to completely wipe out the Amalekites. He chose to spare King Agag and brought home livestocks that were supposed to have been destroyed. His rejection was the act of being spewed out and the dynasty taken away from him and family forever.

Life as a Christian or not calls for keeping ones mind in the right perspective with both God and his or her fellow humans. Developing the right mindset involves self-trust, goal-setting, patience, being courageous or having never-say-die attitude, being focused –(No divided attention), being positive and of course, ability to learn new skills or be teachable without stress.

Mystery of Iniquity

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Another way of looking at the above title is to find synonymous words that bear true affinity to those whose behavior is not Christlike. Such believers are far from being faithful and obedient Christians. These are the synonyms out of many more that can be found. While mystery is something that is not understood iniquity is synonymous with the following words as lawlessness, deception, selfishness (in its perjurative sense), and such as lying or unrighteousness.

II Thessalonians 2: 7-8 writes, “For the mystery of iniquity thus already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” KJV Nov, 2011 By implication, those who have failed to obey and honor God in their daily life are found among Christians. The bible described them as those who have given themselves to Satan and Satanic behaviors. By the same token Christians who have back-slidden have consciously or otherwise aligned themselves to the devil.

The Church of God has a role to play to bring back the lost sheep of the family of God by ensuring the true gospel of God is taught. Church leaders should do what they preach by abstaining from non-Christlike behaviors. They really need to lead the crusade to obey and honor God and Jesus Christ our redeemer with a view to preventing parishioners from missing the rapture. There is need to expose Satan’s devices to lure away believers by teaching sound doctrines.

Exposing the devil and its deceptive devises 1 John 2:14b says, “You are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” This entails revealingSatan’s work in all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders or other wicked deceptions. In practical terms, our daily wrong doings often ignored or counted as inconsequential make the little drops of water that make the mighty ocean of iniquity.

Consequence of the mystery of deception, iniquity, or lawlessness in the life of any believer, by God’s standard, means the loss of eternity for eternal condemnation, sorrow and anguish.

RACECAR DRIVER’S MINDSET

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Driving is the ability to guide self, other human beings and even designated tools that impact on other machineries for harmonious functioning whatever the size or complexity. In other words, it is an art that is to be mastered. The simple status of driving a car or any vehicle requires certain abilities and to talk of driving racecars requires greater knowledge based on training and personal innate ability that exceed that of drivers of both luxury cars , private or commercial.

A racecar driver’s mindset can therefore be compared to the attributes of leaders that work to direct others in the pursuit of success if goals are to be achieved. Mechanically, I have learnt about another meaning of “a driver”. It fits a dictionary meaning which says of a driver as a piece on computer software that controls input and output operations. A leader or government can also act as a driver to the company or nation.

The founder of Emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates was Rasheed bin Saeed AlMaktoum (1910-1990). He ruled the Emirate for 32 years (1958-1990). The momentum he created since1956 has never slowed down or abandoned . By the same token, not all live line cable electrical operators in an electrical company can qualify to be live line electrical operators. They usually undergo special training in competence and alertness or be psychologically fit for the job at any time.

Racecar driver is expected to have certain important skills and attributes needed for such a professional job. Driving ability to be able to drive at top speed which can be up to 200 miles an hour and possibly within a confined race track. Another is mechanical knowledge of how to understand the various sounds and performances that can translate to strains and distress and can also lead to unexpected breakdown, the next is healthiness requiring physical fitness and reflexes. The well-tuned reflexes will always enable the driver to favorably respond to the changing situations during the competition. This tends to avoid collision as the competitors continue to race ahead within the route mapped out for the race. They need to be psychologically balanced.

Very much related to the psychological status of the drivers is fast moment of decicion making to avoid collisions. At the height of competition, there is no time to prevaricate or time for indecision before nipping collision in the bud, that can occur within the twinkle of an eye. Such driving requires foresight and cooperation leading to successful competition to the benefit of the profit motive of their sponsors. These are just some of the mindset for the success of the usually hyped expensive and flamboyantly prestigious competition.

It is expected that the mindset of racecar drivers should be the paramount concern to our leaders, managers or captains of industry, educational and religious leaders. People should work towards team-building and be adaptive, psychologically balanced, and get educated in a form of continuing education to step up the tempo of readiness for purposeful achievement in individual and corporate enterprises.

CALLING ON GOD AT PERILOUS TIMES

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It is only when man is confronted with desperate situation that he tends to resort to resharpening his potent weapons. So it is with the recent resurgence in the use of Psalm  93 and others in order to keep corona virus at a distance or to be dealt a death blow by divine power. This Psalm talks of the majesty of the Lord. At times when disaster confronts we who call ourselves children of God following period of apostasy, we always wake up to address God as to how gracious He has always been.

In  this Psalm from verse 2-5, it is recorded: “The floods have lifted up, Oh Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lifted up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea; than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure. Holiness becomes thine house, Oh Lord, for ever.” Climate change is a world phenomenon, it therefore behoves every country to take premptive measures to be able to assuage the consequencies of the remenace of flooding like or other disasters.

Nigeria is currently suffering the inability to prepare to meet the challenges of flooding, very unpreedented  indeed. It was widely reported that about 33 out of 36 states have been submerged up to first floor of houses in many  states.Lokoja in Kogi State has been submerged  as well as in Bayelsa and River States, all acroos the Niger Delta. It is like people are tempting  God. At this stage, there is no remedial measure that can be as worthy as having doing the action before disaster struck. such shall be like shutting the door after the horse has been stolen.

In invoking God’s power, there has to be a consistency of dependency relationship between man and his creator . I am more concerned with Christians who we know are using the Psalms as their weapon against evil events or situations. Look through Facebook pages, there are a large number of prayers and invocation using the psalm and others like Psalms 91, 35, 69 or 109 as the ingredent for garnishing their prayers  asking God to bind or uproot the devil behind the flood, fire, internicine and international wars as well. Taking precautionary measures are spiritual measures being taken to avert and even prevent periperlous times.

We all believe that God is benevolent and is always there for us who believe in the existence of the deity we call God. But then, how do we feel if someone who had chosen to be on a non-speaking terms with us just hurriedly start to ask for favor? Human beings may tend to hesitate to oblige, but our maker will always oblige if the seeker returns to him with penitent heart without having doubts over the acceptance of his or her prayer request(s).

In essence, it behoves believer not to wait until situation had become desperately bad before reminding God that, HE is his shield and buckler. It has to be an on-going practice so that an ardent believer does not need to unnecessarily panic when things go awry and may spin out of control before bombarding the throne of grace for urgent help. An adage for a learner says we should not wait for any war to start before assembling weapons of war.

TRUST IN GOD

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It is an interesting exercise for people to consider why we have to trust in God and what we stand to gain therefrom. There are many definitions for the word trust. It can be defined as absolute reliance in or total dependence on God. It can be understood to mean an unyielding faith in God no matter what. The reason for trusting God is also to mean the advantages that can be derived from such action through “faith” in Jehovah.

It guarantees peace of mind as read in Isaiah 23: 3; “Thou will keep him in perfect peace, because he trusteth in thee.” (KJV 2013) There are similar connotations found in Nahum 1: 7-9 and Psalm 31:19. Goodness and provision of needs are derivable from trusting in God. It is a common sitiatuation that the arm of man may fail at the very time of need. There is also that trusting God has always been an everlasting strength to those who trust in him. Shadrach, Meshack and Abednigo are an enduring sample of those who trust in God even at the chance of being roasted in deadly fire.

However, faith without work is as “Trust” not complimented with “Obedience” which may lead to failure. God’s promise of a child to be his heir got fulfilled after a long waiting up to and including when God asked for Isaac to be sacrificed to HIM. Abraham painfully obeyed and God was delighted in him and blessed him the more.Trust and obedience are mutually exclusive or at least complimentary.

One can actually state that Trust and Obedience are mutually exclusive and are needed for the fulfilment of what we are trusting God for. llSamuel 30: 7-10 can be seen as David in the stage of trusting God ; while verses 11-15 represented David’s waiting in faith as mark of obedience to God’s message to pursue the Amalakites by which he met the abandoned Egyptian servant of an Amalakite’s master and got the right clue as to how to trace the whereabout of David’s enemies llSamuel 30: 16-18 represented.

Fulfilment came as David’s soldiers trounced the reveling Amalakites. If when it was necessary for him to pursue his enemies but failed to obey or take action, it would have been that his trusting God did not yield any positive result. In addition to annihilating his enemies he got back all that were initially lost to the invaders. Not doubting the word of God, one can conclude in the words of Psalm 125:1 that says; “They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.

END TIME: OLD AND NEW WARNINGS

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It is interesting to draw a parallel between the days of Noah and Christ era. There exists similarity between the two in terms of the need for man’s pathway to salvation through loyalty, humility and unalloyed obedience to God at all times. Noah was human while Christ was God incarnate. Noah carried out God’s instruction to build an Ark so as to get people saved from the flood that would wipe out humanity except they got into the Ark. Christ unarguably had shared in the divinity of the Almighty God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let us look at Jesus Christ and his mission on earth. His was not a physical but a spiritual Ark that is not man-built. He came that man must be saved from all his iniquities and through HIM people must work out their salvation with fear and trembling. What Noah’s people did to warrant God’s condemnation included irreverent behavior through forgetting their creator and valued worldly or mundane things more than Jehovah. In Genesis chapters 6 and 7, the bible narrated how contemporary poeole were opposed to the work of building the Ark.

Jesus’ mission was a continuation of what Noah strove to do. Prophets Isaiah in, Isaiah 9:6 prophesied the birth of Jesus about 400 years before he was born. Prophet Micah in Micah 5:2 did prophesy the birth of Christ up to his birthplace centuries before HE was actually born is Bethlehem. In Matthew 1:18 – 23 Isaiah’s prophesy was fulfilled. There came the Son of Man in His glory to teach the way of the Lord to the people.

The coming of Christ was the Annunciation or the rallying cry to get the Jews and peoples of the world to repent from their apostacy or renunciation of their agelong believe in Yahweh (The Ark). Both Hosea and Apostle Paul had a conclusion that pointed to failure to abide in God would always attract condemnation; the Ark and the flood as much as Christ’s death on the cross for remission of sin with consequent salvation for eternal life or rejection of the good news and ensuing condemnation to eternal sorrow and anguish.

UNDERSTANDING PSALM 23

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Psalm 23 is more or less God’s voucher for all believers with which to obtain HIS power, protection, and all other provisions as well, enabling us not to fear, fall or falter. The Psalm touched on the physical and spiritual life of any believer.  The Psalmist declared “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.  For everything we need to be able to survive, live a happy life, we need to realize that (we) the sheep owe our life and livelihood to the shepherd, who is God in Christ, as the good shepherd. Even though, human beings cannot create life but as a shepherd, Jesus was ready to risk His life for his sheep. God sees the heart while man looks at the face to judge others. David showed his quality of a shepherd in his fight against Goliath in defense of the children of Israel  known as the People of God. In terms of known prowess, David is apparently no match for his opponent, but as a shepherd that he was, he without traditional battle gear faced Goliath, a professional warrior, like he did when he fought a lion and a bear at different times and killed them. As he brought the terror of both lion and bear to an end, so he conquered Goliath and brought victory for the Jews and saved them from the constant harassment and shame from the warlike Philistines. David like the good shepherd risked his life for the children of Israel but the greater shepherd, “The God of Israel” fought the battle for David otherwise, Goliath could have fed birds of the air with the flesh of David. Praise the eternal good shepherd. When the shepherd is behind anyone or a church and its congregation there shall be victory, provision of food and prosperity, protection against all attacks of  enemies, either physical or spiritual. Once the shepherd abides with his sheep they cannot lack anything even during drought or famine. Where young lions hunger and suffer lack, those with the good shepherd shall not lack any good thing Psalm 34: 10. In strict compliance with the will of God, the strong, rich and prosperous  are all expected to be the good shepherd for the weaker ones or the less privileged in the society. The blind is supposed to be shown the way by the eyed-individuals. To be Christlike is to be like the good shepherd.

Furthermore to the point of  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want”;  digging deep into David’s Psalm 23, it is clear that the sheep owe many things to the shepherd. It is the shepherd that makes provision of pen or manger for the lots of sheep concerning accommodation, or taking them to the location where livestock feeds are available. The nomadic  Fulani of Northern Nigeria know where to get feeds for their livestock and can walk long distances from place to place in search of good pasture for the cattle. In the land of Israel of David’s time up to Christ era, the importance of shepherds cannot be over emphasized because they were responsible for the economic mainstay of the nation. No wonder the prevalence of stables here and there, one of which became the delivery theater for Christ as predicted of old. Jesus was born in a manger signifying his mission of going to be the good shepherd. Jesus is always with all the children of God and especially those that have accepted Him as their Lord and savior. Sheep rearing as of today still operates on the same concept of the shepherd making provision for his sheep fold. In mechanized sheep-rearing or livestock farming total care is still the same, including the service of vet doctors to care for the health of the livestock within the existing controlled environment. Apart from the pasture, the shepherd cares for watering their sheep. Even seven daughters of Jethro in the land of Midian knew how to  keep their father’s flock. Exodus 2: 16-17 stressed how the need of the sheep was satisfied. God the higher shepherd provided Moses who drove away stronger male shepherds that had always cheated the female shepherds (daughters of Jethro). No wonder Moses became the shepherd who God, the Omni-Omnipotent father, used to lead the Jews out of Egypt. The struggle was long and tedious but the Supreme shepherd empowered Moses. As God directed, various disasters befell the recalcitrant Pharoah and his people while the people of God were preserved. Assuming when Moses instructed the his people to dub their front door with the blood of the lamb to ensure that angel of death meant to kill the Egyptians passed them over, if  some did not. they could have suffered the same fate with the Egyptians.

The concept of being a shepherd is to be found in the innumerable names of God such as Jehovah Jireh (God that provides) as in Genesis 22: 14. It states “And Abraham called the name, The Lord-will-Provide as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided” NKJV (MacAthur ed). The shepherd does not take the back stage, he is always positioned in the front leading and directing the sheep. This fits into Jehovah Nissi in Exodus 17: 15-16 “And Moses built an alter and called its name , The-Lord-is-My-Banner, for he said , “Because the Lord has sworn: “The lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” NKJV (MacAthur ed) No banner is kept behind any troop either on patrol or parade.