I know the truth that it takes time to retrain our brains, but there are times that I get tired of fighting the battle for my mind. In fact, I was so busy fighting the battle in my head yesterday that I almost hit a car coming out of a parking space! I said to God, while putting my heart back into my chest, “Will this battle ever be over with? I’m so tired of it!” Then I heard the Spirit gently say, “I know you are. Hang in there. It’s worth it.”
He was simply reinforcing what I heard from Jesus, my Boss, in my weekly staff meeting (1 Peter 5:4). He talked about how I will face much opposition in accomplishing the mission He has for me. He told me the main tool my enemy will use will be to attack my mind. (Another biblical truth tool is that we act consistently with the way we think.) I can either fight through it and experience victory and peace or give up and feel unsatisfied and discontented. The choice was mine.
I just happened to be in Jeremiah 20:7-12 in my BIG reading where Jeremiah was basically saying the same thing, “Lord, I’m tired of the battle. I’m tired of getting attacked, even by my friends! Yet, I can’t do anything but follow You. You are a mighty warrior.” Good stuff, right? But there was more as I was also in Psalm 57. Verses 2-3 read, “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; God sends His love and His faithfulness.”
My job is to listen to and follow Jesus. His job is to fulfill His purpose for my life as I follow Him. The beauty is that I can cry out to my Mighty Warrior while I follow. Yes, there is a battle. It will not be easy, but the fight is well worth being close to Jesus.
Oh yeah, pray that I don’t hit any cars along the way!
Set Fre“E” Nowww
Monthly Archives: May 2013
Who’s In Your Head?
A well known golfer recently lost a tournament because he let his opponent into his head. Understand golf is an individual sport. No one controls your shots but you. Yet, he let what a fellow player was doing affect his game. He kept hitting bad shot after bad shot instead of putting the ball in the cup in a few strokes simply because of what was going on inside his head. He went from the cusp of victory to the throes of defeat.
We have an enemy who wants to rob us of victory by getting into our heads. Don’t let him! We can put specific truths at the point of the lie from God’s Word into our brains. We can hold up our shield of faith built with those truths that will extinguish his darts (i.e. lies).
We control our choices because we are children of God. And as such, we can ask the Spirit for the power to expose the lies in our head and exchange them with the truths He gives us. We can ask the Spirit for strength to hold up our shield of faith (i.e. focusing on specific truths) to keep our enemy’s lies from even getting into our head.
Your daily victory over the area(s) of your life the Spirit wants to replace with Jesus is based on who you listen to. Hopefully, you’ve only let one person into your head – Jesus.
S“E”t Free Now“W”w
Stay Down or Grow Up
Fish don’t know their wet. Since all they’ve ever known is water, why would they ever think about the concept of “dry”? We are like fish until the Spirit shines the light of Jesus into our lives.
At this point in our lives all we know is all we know, but what we know may be wrong! We have no idea as to the damage caused by the old nature to our brains. We can’t comprehend all the past unfiltered thoughts that have entered our brains. In other words, we don’t see the need to change until Someone points it out.
Therefore, I want to give another thought on why God commands us to be holy. It’s in our best interest to be so! Holiness turns us into the person He created us to be. We started off as fallen creatures. Through faith we became children of God. The Spirit then begins the process of returning us to the image of Jesus. The Spirit is raising our game, not ruining our fun, by making us holy.
Wasted potential is a complete waste. Holiness is a good thing as it means we’re becoming more like our God-given potential – Jesus. Today, you have a choice. Stay down by laying your biblical tools down and or grow up through picking them up. I pray you pick them up.
S“E”t Free Nowww
The Abundant Life not a Good One
“Holiness, holiness is what I long for. Holiness is what I need. Holiness, holiness is what You want from me.” I love the words to that song. Yet so many believers have an odd concept of holiness.
Some think it means they have to do something for Jesus; while others believe it’s God taking all the fun out of life. Neither are true. Holiness is about getting closer to Jesus, the source of true living.
Jesus came to give us 24/7 joy, not temporal fun. He came to give us eternal life, not a daily to-do list. Real living is found in His presence. The process of which comes through allowing the Spirit to make us more like Jesus or holiness. The Spirit does this by us using our biblical tools moment by moment throughout our day.
Jesus came to give us an abundant life, not a good one. Please, don’t settle for anything less. Use your tools today!
“Set Free Noww“W”
Battle Ready
On a beach almost 30 years ago a US President gave a speech commemorating D-Day, the day the Allies began the last push to restore European freedom. In this speech he tells the story of one Private Peter Zanatta as told to his daughter Lisa. She writes, “I know that my father watched many of his friends be killed. I know that he must have died inside a little each time. But his explanation to me was, ‘You did what you had to do, and you kept on going.’”
Jesus was killed to provide us with freedom. It’s our job, through the Spirit’s power, to pick up and use our biblical tools everyday to stay free (Gal. 5:1). Some days this will be easier to do than others. We’re in enemy territory fighting an enemy who wants to take our freedom away. Yet our thinking must be, “We have to do what we have to do, and we have to keep going.”
We know what defeat looks and feels like. How about we decide to learn and experience something knew about our awesome Savior today? The only way this can happen is to pick up our biblical tools each day whether we feel like it or not. Victory is gained by those who keep going one faith step at a time.
The President ended his speech by saying, “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.” Let’s always remember what our Jesus did for us. Let’s smile today in great pride in who our Jesus is and what He can do for us. It’s now up to us, through the Spirit’s power, to keep our biblical tools in hand to be prepared for the daily battles we know are coming (Matt. 26:41). Let’s be battle ready today.
“Set Free Nowww”