The WAR ROOM

Raaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrr!!!! *excited roar*

So I am doing this and that and then my fabulous sister Titi sends me a most exciting message that the Kendrick brothers, producers of ALL my favourite CHRISTIAN movies (Facing the Giants, Fire Proof and Courageous) have a new movie due to be released this August called THE WAR ROOM.

Before she is done, I am on YouTube looking for the trailer. I saw it and this post is birthed.

Hey, if you play for #TeamNoSpoilers, stop right here and vamoose lol. I am spoiling err’thing  in this movie Hahaha

Ok if you know me, like my girl Titi, you would know how I don’t joke with those Kendrick brothers.

Facing the Giants, which was all about faith and believing even in the direst moments. gets me BAWLING every single time I see it.

Fire Proof which is about marriage gets me sooo pensive every time and teary too and Courageous,

which is about godly fatherhood/perenting gets me scabashing while I watch. I have tried so many times to blog about Courageous scene by scene but it consumes me every single time. It seems toooooo big to just capture with words. Every scene taught a profound lesson, my goodness. So when I saw the trailer and various clips from THE WAR ROOM, I knew my expectations would not be cut short. This one is about PRAYER!!! The power and necessity of prayer in our lives and it looks at it {more} from a woman’s point of view.

The movie is about this couple who have been married for 16years with a 10year old daughter. The husband, Tony Jordan is a very successful man and his wifey is doing well herself but their marriage is suffering though all looks rosy on the outside, and their wahala was affecting their daughter negatively.

THE WAR ROOM gets its bearing from Matthew 6:6a

But when you pray, go into your {WAR} ROOM, close the door and pray…

But permit me to add this one too

Let the older women give good counsel and teach what is right…wisely train the younger women how to…love their husbands and children… Titus 2: 3,4

Why?

Because the turning point for the wife came when she met this older woman in the line of work who introduced her to prayer and spoke sense into her.

Now this older woman, Ms. Clara, who was trying to sell her house and Elizabeth was the Realtor helping her. So while taking her on a tour of the house, she showed her a room, her favourite place in the house which she called her WAR ROOM.

She says she writes prayers for EVERY area of her life and maps out a prayer strategy. So before facing any ‘war’, she seeks God first and on her knees, because these battles are not physical.

To win any battle, we have to have the right strategy hence most of us have a financial strategy (for the next 10/15years), an educational strategy (especially for our children), a career strategy etc but have absolutely no strategy for prayer which has the power to change everything. We approach our prayer life very lackadaisically.

Oh that older woman, Ms Clara, spoke too much sense into her. There is this scene that just got me…

So Elizabeth Jordan, who is a Realtor, appears with some offers for the older woman’s house and as the woman is perusing it, she starts asking her questions about her family and prayer life while waiting for the coffee to brew. Of course Elizabeth is not too comfy with that but she is polite with her answers.

Where do you worship?

We occasionally attend XXX

…Is that because your Pastor only preaches occasionally?

*crickets*

Would you say your prayer life was hot or cold?

Well, just like most people, I believe in God people and I hardly have time to pray because of my full schedule with work, but I love God and He is very important to me bla bla so I can’t say it is hot or cold, it is just somewhere in the middle.

And then Ms. Clara serves her the brewed coffee only for her to realise it is lukewarm. Surprised, she asks her

Ms Clara, you like your coffee room temperature?

No baby, mine’s HOT *and then blows it for effect*

It was too funny I promise. But the lesson was not lost

Did you see how Ms Clara used the coffee temperatures to drive home her point on hot/cold prayer life? Amazing!!!

In more conversations, Ms. Clara asks her how long she prays for her hubby and when she talks again about not having time, she tells her

‘But you have time to fight LOSING BATTLES everyday with your husband… You need to do your fighting in prayer. You need to kick the REAL enemy out of your home with the Word…Plead with God to do what only HE can do and then GET OUT OF THE WAY and let Him do it…’

I mean, Ms Clara sure had deep convos with Elizabeth that helped her save her marriage.

But this was not all about the wife making the effort and the man doing nothing. Thank God for amazing godly relationships too. The man, Tony, had a best friend, Micheal, a paramedic who was also a Christian but he didn’t know what was up in his friend’s marriage. While gyming and gisting one day, he got wind that something was up in his friend’s marriage and asked him. What I loved the most about the convo was the fact that his best friend didn’t slow down even when Tony tried to tell him to back off because ‘even though we have been friends so long, it is none of your business’. Hell nope. Ok lemme try and summarise that convo. It was packed with lessons in a very humorous way.

Micheal, being a paramedic meant he had to do loads and loads of life saving CPRs so he was teasing Tony, who had just gotten another huge bonus from his own job as a salesman, that he wishes he got bonuses for every CPR he does and even more money if the person is ugly lol. That he remembers one time he had to do CPR for someone who had eaten garlic and infact the bonus for that ought to be a Hawaiian vacay lol.

Tony says he is not about that CPR life instead he would call 911 jeje. Micheal is like nah, you can’t watch someone die just because you don’t wanna administer CPR yourself and are waiting for 911 while eating your salad. I mean, what if it was your wife? And it is the way Tony reacts that makes Mike know that something’s not right with the homefront and then he confronts him, while warning him that he better not have no side chic ooo lol. Tony actually says he is tired of his wife’s junk and Mike goes

You married her, junk and all…This is not a buffet where you get to choose what you want. You get ALL of her, Bro.

Oh so you are about to do CPR on my marriage?

You see Tony, I am a Paramedic but I am also a CHRISTIAN!!! (I could have sworn they read my post if I wrote this before the movie was shot) It might be none of my business but we are FRIENDS so I’m not going to watch your marriage die, so if it is bleeding, I’m not gonna keep eating my salad…

At some point, Tony walked out on His friend saying ‘I will see you in church’ to which Mike replied ‘I’ll like to see the CHURCH in you, Bro’

Mehn, and the beautiful thing about that scene was a banner at that corner of the gym which read GET INVOLVED. Because it is oh-so-easy for us to say ‘Oh it is NOT my business’ and let someone else ‘bleed to death’. Nope, that is not what good Christian friends do for each other. Speak the truth in love.

Another thing Mike told Tony in more convo was

You can fight against your wife all you want but if God is fighting for her……..

Very pregnant statement mehn and my next post, (the timing is perfect) features a husband who shares some deep beautiful truths about his home with us. Can’t wait for y’all to read it.

I really can’t wait to see the full movie and know how everything came together (Lol, i bet you thought i was invited to some private viewing looool) It hits the cinemas August 28 and only Jesus knows when it would hit the market and then now hit Nigeria but hey if anyone of my readers is in yankee and wants to do me a favour when it is out, you know what to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgC_HLLcCQ

Prayer is so very important. Like one of the Kendrick brothers said, if we return to prayer rightly, passionately and all, God can do amazing things in our lives. Btw those brothers be ageing graciously before our eyes. Bless them

Hey, shout out to all my praying sisters out there. Yup let’s keep it burning ladies, in our WAR ROOM. Now we can even be more strategic about it.

You know, when we build our own house, I am surely having a WAR ROOM. But for now, since I don’t have one, at least I can have my War corner, table, chair, etc. Just somewhere that I know is for prayer time with God. And since we are in this beautiful e-world, I can have my WAR journal, WAR app, WAR tab, etc. and I can approach it strategically too rather than just in a blasé casual manner.

Anybody joining in?

God crazily loves you,

E’

PS:
oh and another interesting thing about this movie is the fact that since it has been announced, there have been daily prayer points and prayers going on on the website about the movie and the impact it will make in the world at large. Oh my!!! You can join in at www.warroomthemovie.com