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The Voice to Listen to…

Jul23

My most difficult battles are fought within the arena of self! As a Christian, I understand that I am made up of my body, soul, and spirit. My body while alive on this earth is in a constant civil war between my soul (ruled by my flesh) and my spirit (ruled by God’s Holy Spirit at the point when I believed in and accepted Christ). But I must choose who rules. And therein lies the struggle.

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.Galatians 5:17

*For too many years, I experienced more defeat than victory. (Fiery Darts 3rd Edition, p. 14) And it wasn’t until God made me aware of the weapons (fiery darts) of Ephesians 6:16 that I began to understand why.

As a young adult (that’s been a long time ago now!), I succumbed to the enemy’s main line of attack: keeping me distracted from daily spending time with God in prayer and in His Word. I naively thought that by attending church faithfully, reading my Bible now and then, praying often, taking to heart the Truths I heard in sermons, and just basically trying to be a good Christians that would suffice in overcoming the attacks from the enemy. I would have victories, yes, but some of my greatest failures occurred during those years. Why?

By not setting aside daily time with God in prayer and the reading of my Bible, God’s Spirit within me was simply not getting fed enough . I fell prey to human reasoning and false assumptions fed to me by my flesh. The weapons I needed to fight my battles successfully were within the pages of Scripture. By not availing myself to God’s instruction on what the weapons were and how to use them, my vulnerability to the manipulation and deception of the enemy increased.

Now that I’m older and thankfully wiser (due to the instruction from God’s word about the weapons available to me), I am more alert to the enemy’s attacks. Thus my victories have increased. For example, as a 76 year old, I have questions about my future. How much more time I might have left with my children and grandchildren? Will I still have decent health or not? Will I still be able to stay in my home? If I’m not careful those questions (note they are all self-centered) will pop up in my mind and my flesh will attempt to grab them. Fear, despair, doubt, worry, all stand by, on the ready to receive the baton and run.

But God has taught me a cleaver trick. He asks me a question of His own when those questions arise. “Whose voice is speaking to you?” Because I have learned from time spent with God in prayer and His word, I have been made aware of the following:

God gives us the ability to think. We are capable of our own independent thoughts and we will frequently have thoughts such as “I’m hungry” or “I’m tired.” But it’s also important to keep in mind that the enemy will also speak to us in the form of thoughts in the first-person singular, such as “I can’t do this.” We must take those thoughts and determine if they are consistent with God’s word.

Thus I knew that thoughts of my future that invoked fear, despair, doubt, or worry were not consistent with God’s word. For example, God tells me in 2 Timothy 1:7, that He has not given me the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a strong mind. In Philippians 4:6-7, I’m reminded, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. These are just two examples (they are in abundance in the Scriptures) of how to distinguish between God’s voice and the enemy’s voice.

So when these negative questions arise originating in my flesh and influenced by the enemy, I counter them with this prayer based on Isaiah 54:17, May this weapon formed against me not prevail… It stops there. The battle is won.

But allow me to add those fiery darts will return again and again. It’s not a one time battle. As long as we live we will wage war with the enemy. He won’t give up, until we are secure in heaven. It’s just the truth of the matter. But thankfully God sent Christ to secure our heavenly home and equip us with the weapons we need to fight successfully against our enemy, Satan, while we live here on earth.

*Remember, my book Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice can be purchased as an e-book. If you are interested, please check the sideboard.

A note from Jesus…

Feb23

Do you remember when you first came to me?

It was a glorious moment, wasn’t it.

Do you remember the peace you felt then?

Sleeping at night came a lot easier because of such peace, didn’t it.

Do you remember, as time progressed, the struggles you brought to me?

Each struggle only made you stronger, when you brought them to me, didn’t it.

But, remember when you began spending less and less time bringing your troubles to me?

Those struggles increased and almost overwhelmed you at times, didn’t they.

Did you happen to notice you were spending less time with Me in prayer and My word?

Peace lessened and justifying your action increased, didn’t they.

Yet, the peace you lack can be restored.


He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Ps 23:3 NKJV

Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long. Ps. 25:4

Dear One, I will close with this.

Matthew 16:24-26

24-26 Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat;  I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for? (The Message)

Our perspective on life reveals?

Mar3

Perspective

For the last few days, it seems that my Bible study time and my devotional time have been drawing my attention to a common theme: the denial of Self!

Back a few weeks ago, I began in earnest to seek God’s wisdom concerning the difficulties I was facing. It’s beginning to dawn upon me that my perspective toward those difficulties are skewed towards self. My inner thoughts reflected the struggle within of who I was going to please, my old Self (the person I was before Christ) or my new Self (the person I was after accepting Christ). The following verse was highlighted in both my study and devotional time.

Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it. Matthew 16:24-25

We all endure hard times. There’s no escaping them. But God has a plan regarding those hard times! So does Satan! But allow me to preface this claim by saying, “If you don’t believe in the existence of God and Satan, you will drown in a sea of uncertainty. Life and the hard times that go along with it, will serve no purpose. The only certain claim is that we will ALL face death someday! What then?”

Recently my mother in law broke free of the bonds that tied her to this earth. She had lived a good life, full of the joys of serving God. However, she endured trying times, far more than most. Yet, she would be the first to say she had a joyful life. So what was joyful about her very difficult life? Way back toward the early part of her life, when it was likely at it hardest, she claimed the promise of God on how to save her life! She learned the secret of what it meant to take up her cross daily and follow Christ. 

So what does it mean to take up our cross daily?

After we give our life to Christ, it is His life, by the power of His spirit that takes up residence in our being. But the conflict is that our new spirit, (given to us at salvation, who seeks to please Christ) must share space with our old spirit (given to us at birth, who seeks to please Self). The clash between the two is real. Therefore it is imperative that we have a solid grasp of the truth of the following verse:

15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT

That is the crux of the matter. It’s all about choosing who to please: God or Self. Until we are willing to receive the new life ruled by Christ in exchange for the old life ruled by Self, we can’t really understand the point Matthew 16:24-25 is making. How do we save our lives by loosing our lives?

It’s quite simple actually. If we can’t turn loose of the life that Self dictates, (you know, doing what we want to do even if it requires being disobedient to God and all the turmoil that goes along with such a choice) then we will not be able to experience the life Christ died to give us. (You know, a life that is reflected in Philippines 4:6-7, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.)

Therefore, we can choose to allow Christ to guide our choices. The outcome of such a choice is a life built on a strong foundation.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-26

Or we can choose to allow Self to dictate our choices. The outcome of such a choice is a life built on a weak and unstable foundation.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7:26-27

What does our foundation look like? Have we been seeking to please Self or have we been seeking to please God? The question is answered by the perspective we assume when making our daily choices.

When doubt threatens our peace…

Feb22

And have mercy on those who doubt; Jude 1:22 ESV

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 ESV

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 ESV

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands Psalm 138:8 ESV

And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Psalm 50:15 ESV

For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 ESV

Doubt can wear away our resolve and threaten our peace. Especially, when the problem we have prayed over for years, remains seemingly unaffected by our prayers. It may take us awhile to allow the truths of the above verses to sink in and route out the thoughts of doubt. Nevertheless, it is what we must do, if we desire to send those doubtful thoughts packing. Thoughts of doubt resist thoughts of peace but then thoughts of peace resist thoughts of doubt!