Compassionate Samurai... Warrior of the Lamb

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

The Compassionate Samurai by Brian Klemmer is leading lives with boldness to create a world that works for everyone, with no one left out. The Samurai were the feared, and respected warriors of their day. They were known for bravery, honor, personal loyalty. Samurai means "to serve." Klemmer coined the phrase compassionate samurai to reflect someone strong on values, can make anything happen, with a life devoted to service.

Your business, organization, network can excel while living by the compassionate samurai code: commitment, personal responsibility, contribution, focus, honesty, honor, trust, abundance, boldness, and knowledge. With these tools, or ammunition, you can go into the marketplace and wage a great war. Klemmer recommends you focus on one trait every week. The last chapter summaries his key points throughout the book.

Commitment
Say it and begin taking steps. When you put your thoughts into words, it begins moving you toward your goals. Say what you mean, do what you say, and be bold in your promises... that you absolutely commit to keep. Make agreements based on priorities, avoiding trivial matters. You're committed to do more than you can. Your work ethic, dedication, and self confidence contribute to making big agreements and keeping them.

Personal Responsibility
Everything you have and don't have, and ever will have in life is because of the choices you make. Your quality of life or lack of quality of life is the result of your choices. We all have freedom. Our choices increase our freedom, or limit our freedom. No one is your problem. You take responsibility for everything. God is all-powerful. We are responsible to use the power and gifts provided to us.

Contribution
"How can I serve this person, organization, or country." The compassionate samurai gives without thought of personal gain. They are not only contributors but living gifts. They take care of themselves so they can give more to others recognizing the six benefits of giving: it feels good; you give to get; it builds loyalty; it increases your power; giving without recognition increases your power; it increases your spirituality. Giving without recognition causes something supernatural to occur-- you gain influence that's inexplicable. Thinking service before self, give them what they want, not what you want to give them.

Focus
Anchor reality to your visions. Focus turns average talent, small amounts of time, or minimal resources to produce extraordinary results. Focus leverages power.The three challenges of focus are inability to focus, focusing on things that make you ineffective, being unaware of what's around you. Life is full of distractions, so the compassionate samurai learns to not let surroundings distract them. Their focus is on service or contributions, regardless of their circumstances. They stay focused on effective things, forget failures or successes...giving full attention to what's here now. Not being "here now" kills effectiveness and intimacy. Compassionate samurai are focused but still aware of what's going on around them, without letting it impair their focus. It's a 360 degree awareness. Hearing others, taking that in consideration as you present yourself.

Honesty
Say what you mean, mean what you say. You can tell the truth and still not be honest. It's a true picture of yourself or circumstances involved. We are dishonest when we tell something that isn't true, give an illusion of what's not so, not telling what is so, pretending to know. Honesty lets your heart show. Transparent or honest. Honesty has integrity, sincerity while transparent is free of pretense, visible, being understood. Honesty is truthful on our own experiences, and uses diplomacy in respect of others... giving them the right to share feedback or not.

Honor
Hold principles above personal benefit. It's respecting others, not being condescending to others, listening to others, speaking well of others and their organizations. Honor is about respect, but learning to respect yourself as well as others. When you dishonor or belittle others, you make yourself small. Honor sees that everyone wins around you.

Trust
The ability to trust others and themselves with their life. "I love you" is a powerful phrase we should share freely, frequently with those close to us. The same holds true for the phrase, "I trust you." Those who lack trust for themselves, distrust others. So build up your trust for yourself through honor and honesty. Trust is a great personal power. it produces synergistic power in teamwork, builds intimate relationships, releases time freedom and efficiency, makes service stand out, and gives you a feeling of exhilaration. When trust is betrayed, it's very difficult to regain. Trust is built and rebuilt by making commitments and keeping them, making yourself accountable to others.

Abundance
Be willing to pay the price. Before anything happens, it must first happen in your mind. It must take root there. The compassionate samurai realizes that his wholeness and completeness doesn't depend on external circumstances. It's about being connected to God who is infinite. You are complete being connected to Him. Then your thoughts create the right habits that facilitate perpetual wealth. Even when current circumstances may be dire, train your mind to buy into your future reality and continue advancing toward it.

Keys to abundance are giving--practice tithing. Receiving freely, learn to accept graciously and feel you are worthy of it. Learn to say "thank you" and leave it at that when people compliment you. Use systems to create profits. Don't think "I can do this," think "How can I?"

There's no lack; there's more than enough. You are more than enough. Thus, there is an abundant supply of everything you need. Humility is understanding God is the supply not you.

So, the economy, recession, inflation, don't sway you. The compassionate samurai says that if abundance does not seem to exist, I'll have to create it. Take life on.

Boldness
We have courage. But are we displaying it? The compassionate samurai see problems as a set of weights. The more weight (bigger the challenge) the stronger we get when we take the problem on. Pressure is the opportunity to awaken the sleeping beauty of courage inside. Courage is an attitude of confronting danger or your greatest fear. Courage does not deny fear, it recognizes fear as reality, but acts valiantly in spite of it. Practice courage on the day by day opportunities. Climb out on the limb until it breaks, then dust yourself off and do it again.

Keep the potential rewards and benefits before you. Create your support team of lions. Make friends, help them. Leverage your strength. If God is with you, who can be against you. Courage is not an option; it's a way of life. When you are scared and want to back down, then is the time to go faster.

Knowledge
Specialized knowledge provides you the edge. Compassionate samurai pursue excellence, always seeking to surpass their current level. Satisfaction and contentment come when you are where you're supposed to be. When you're aligned to your purpose, things don't matter unless they support that purpose. No matter where you are now, you always have more to learn. Be humble enough to receive instruction even from those you see as less than you. Some of the greatest knowledge you can tap exists right in your circle of influence.

Finishing Strong
Now put the 10 traits of Compassionate Samurai character to work. Re-read each chapter again and again, and use repetition in actions.The idea is to make these qualities automatic. Klemmer has exercises in this chapter to help you do that for each quality.
http://www.klemmer.com/

Jesus had so much of the samurai characteristics. He is gentle, kind, caring. He held children with much tenderness with a preference for them. But He was militant as a warrior to the critical spirit of the Pharisees.

To the one's who hurt, He was kind and gentle, compassionate and used His powers to heal them. To the one's who were arrogant He was cutting as a sword making them aware of their coming demise. As the samurai was so loyal to his superiors, Jesus expressed great loyalties to His Superior, God the Father. He said He would do nothing outside God the Father... completely devoted to His Superior.

Jesus also warned he did not come to bring peace but a sword. He walked the earth in peace, but wickedness would come to an end violently. "Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword." 'I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!' "If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it."
(Matthew 10:33-39, NLT)

Our battle on earth is much like the Samurai's. They fought to the end courageously. Committed to fight for what they valued even if it would take them to their death. They knew the risks. Faced their risks, but they faced fear with courage. Jesus in facing the cross was in human fear. He pleaded with God for strength because the human side of him had great fear.

But the strength He drew from the Spirit of God gave Him the edge to carry out the most courageous assignment anyone has ever dared to take on. And without the Spirit of God, He could not have completed His mission which required great perseverance, courage, to overcome unbelievable physical pain, but He held on to complete what God had for Him to do that would change the world, universe forever. Only with the Supernatural Power of the Holy Spirit could He withstand all the pain, conniving and opposition to complete His mission.

As Jesus was privileged to have the Holy Spirit Power, we are too. We have the same privilege to attain the Supernatural Power of Spirit for all we face. The greater the mission, the greater the challenge, the more the Spirit will be poured into you to give you Supernatural Strength. When we seek it, we will attain it. That's why our strength is in prayer, going into the Inner Chamber of God for our Strength in Spirit.

Can we live out our purpose and mission... even if it means death to close relationships, giving up people and circumstance closest to us, even when these reject our mission? Are you so close to God you know what your mission is and you fulfill it even if it means total loss?

But loss of this life and benefits of this life, will eventually have its rewards. The compassionate samurai kept his eyes on the rewards. There are short-term rewards, those that will come eventually on earth, and long-term, those that will come in heaven. All the silver and gold belongs to us, those who follow the Lord as warriors.

"The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies."
(Haggai 2:8, NLT)

Are we warriors in Spirit, God is using in Spirit to defeat the strongholds evil in spirit that surround the universe, that war against us. The gold and silver will be returned to His Servants.
"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
(Ephesians 6:11-13, NLT)

We fight these strongholds, but we have the power to destroy them.

Those who fight to the end will.
If we don't quit, we will win.

"The Son of Man... held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death."
(Revelations 1:13,16,18, NLT)

At the final battle we will win.
Jesus will return with a Sword for the final victory
and we will win, forever winners in our faith,
in our loyalty, in our mission for Jesus' Kingdom to come on earth as in Heaven.
"And everyone will hate you because you are my followers.
But the one who endures (perseveres, suffers through) to the end will be saved."
(Mark 13:12-14, NLT)

Fight the Fight now, with the Sword of Spirit. Evil does not like good. But the Good, the Righteousness of God will prevail. We are to fight the fight against evil in the marketplace.

We are called as warriors in the marketplace.
No matter how severe the opposition, if we fight to the end, we will win. Those who endure to the end will win.
If you don't quit, you will win.
It's guaranteed. It's an eternal guarantee.

Victory will come for those who persevere, even to the end. Victories are yours along the way.The way includes a life of Spirit, a life of prayer intercession, in our prayers the Spirit, the Lord all Powerful, fights for us.

As we live a life of living in prayer and constant contact in the Spirit, the Power of Spirit wages our the wars, fights our battles and our victory is guaranteed.

Live in the Power of Spirit.
Don't quit, depend on God's Spirit
and His unmatchable Power and... you will win!