Pastor Jeffery Mathews - Faith That Dominated Baghdad: Faith at War Through the Eyes of a Pastor

Faith That
Dominated Baghdad

Faith at War through the Eyes of a Pastor

Pastor Jeffery Mathews

AuthorHouse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: 1-800-839-8640

2010 Pastor Jeffery Mathews. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 10/12/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4520-3857-5 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4520-3856-8 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010909251

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Edited by Sister Lydia Pickett

Table of Contents

How It All Began

How Baghdad Bowed To Faith: Faith As A Law

Ten Commandents Of Faith

Why Faith Is So Dangerous To The Enemy

Faith To Dominate The Pit

Faith And The War Of Words

Faith: Where Failure Is Not An Option

Faith And The Kingdom-Minded

Faith To Break The Grip Of Bondage

Faith And The Will Of God

Acknowledgement

I thank God for allowing me the honor to be raised by and blessed by my parents, the late Joe N. Mathews Sr. and the late Mary L. Mathews who will forever live in my heart and forever be loved by their son. My father always encouraged me that I can rise above my hardships because he himself demonstrated that right before our eyes raising seven children in the projects of Trenholm Court in Montgomery, Al. after moms death while I was 12 years old.

My father always told me and showed me in many ways that a quitter never wins and a winner never quits as he told me on my first failure at the warrant officer academy. He told me also after my first failure that you are going back and you will make it and that you will be alright son, he was saying with your faith you will come out just fine. Im forever grateful of his discipline in me that I might be the overcomer that God has called us all to be that God will get the glory for what he has done. Im especially thankful for my most precious and loving wife Mildred who has been much more than a wife, she has also been my best friend from the day we met and has always been my encourager and my inspiration to keep the faith even in war while death was calling.

I have been abundantly blessed by her always positive attitude that we will get through whatever storm was before us despite of what it looks like due to having the God kind of faith and serving a true and living God. In our twenty six years of marriage, faith has always had a hand in our lives and kept us above that we may soar like eagles as we continue to press on for God that we may find many that we may be able to bless. I am forever grateful of my service in combat at Baghdad Iraq with the 231 MP Battalion, of the Alabama Army National Guard who I was blessed to deploy with to do great things with these brave men and women as a battalion led by our great leader as Battalion Commander LTC Charles Gailes who is today a General. Together we accomplished a great mission that we were called to do for our country and was abundantly blessed by God through all the danger that we faced to bring everyone back home safely to their families. Most importantly I thank my true and loving God who made it all possible that I live by faith while under much attack from the enemy at war and able to preach the gospel to the soldiers that Jesus is Lord and he is also our protection. Through this journey and experience given to me by God through faith, I am forever confident that through faith all things are truly possible for them that believe, and when we can trust God in our darkest moments, breakthrough is on its way, and it is on its way through you and me.

Introduction

Faith That Dominated Baghdad is my true story as an American soldier called to active duty to serve my country at war as a Chief Warrant Officer. It is the story of how, after experiencing much failure, I released faith through the preaching of the gospel to overcome and win the spiritual battles I faced.

Upon being called to war to fill a vacant slot as a property book officer, I heard the voice of God: I am sending you to preach the Gospel to My soldiers, to bring them hope through My word, that if they live by faith they will, along with you, see My hand at work. What I did not know was how this could possibly happen because I was not an Army chaplain. I knew that it would take faith to succeed because I would face many attacks that would come to attempt to stop the plan of God. Trusting in the word through faith, I became the Senior Minister/Pastor of the Gospel Service in Baghdad, Iraq. I knew the necessity of 1) living by faith and 2) preaching Gods word. These two things would bring me victory over the devils numerous attempts to cause me to give in and accept defeat. This is how the devil operates in the lives of the people of God all over the world, but we are not ignorant of his devices. To possess what God has for us, we must activate our faith. As I experienced mortar and rocket attacks on a daily basis, my faith began to increase, enabling me to fulfill Gods purpose by demonstrating the type of faith that arises when we really know and trust our God.

Prior to going to Iraq, I asked God for a double portion of His anointing so that as I preached the gospel to the soldiers, they would come to know Him, and their lives (through faith) would be changed forever. I witnessed many rough and brutal days and nights along with my soldiers who lives were on the line every single day. Nevertheless, the faith that comes through hearing the word kept hope alive in many of us, and God will forever get the glory. I am fully persuaded that faith, when it is in its proper position, is powerful enough to tear down walls and overcome attacks if we believe that nothing is too hard for God.

I quickly saw that Baghdad was stealing many lives, dreams, and goals. Initially, it appeared that I might be next, along with some of the faithful men and women serving with me at war. Before long, I realized through the message of the Gospel that through faith, once I planted my feet on the soil of Baghdad, Iraq, if I only believed, I could be a successful Chief Warrant Officer and fulfill my duty to God and my country. I also discovered first-hand the value of living by faith in the midst of the war, and continuing to preach the word of God through faith, even while under attack. Because of my experience, I learned that faith could dominate Baghdad and could forever dominate in every area of my life and yours! Faith That Dominated Baghdad is my story, but I believe you will find yourself in it. I pray that you embrace Gods message in this book and grow in faith as you read.

Chapter 1

How It All Began

After hearing the call from God on one pleasant and quiet Sunday morning and listening as he whispered in my ear and said to me, I want you to go to the academy to become a Warrant Officer for a special assignment, I submitted my packet and I was en route to my first attempt to the Warrant Officer Academy, Fort Rucker, Alabama. Knowing that this would be the most challenging assignment to date, both physical and mentally, of my entire twenty-year military career, I knew my faith would have to be the God kind of faith.

Fast forward: I have just experienced my third disappointment, being sent back home from the academy due to two physical fitness failures and one academic failure. Nevertheless, I believed through faith and perseverance I could overcome any hardship or disappointment if I did not quit. One thing that I was confident about was if God called me to do something as difficult as this was, there must be something ahead that would bring glory to his name through standing the test of faith. I knew through this journey in my life that one thing I wanted to do was to please God, and the bible says, But without faith it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6). Therefore, I was at a point where I could not give up because I trusted God and loved him as I knew he loved me. There were many tears of those failures from me as well as my wife, as she saw my tears. We endured through the pain for two years while I trained hard physically to overcome through faith in God what seemed impossible.