The Fight

John 14:1
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

So often lately I’ve been noticing people trying to instill fear into our lives causing me to work even harder than normal to remain happy.

I have become more cynical and grumpier in my thoughts than normal and want to make it stop. Last week, I remembered two teachings I heard many years go called the Christian Survival Guide and Christian First-Aid Kit. I found them and have started to re-listened to each of the teachings in the series. The teachings center around this verse as well as others in John 14, 15, and 16 which were Jesus' last instructions on how to live until He returns.

As I was cleaning the kitchen this morning, I was thinking about this verse then realized how great a sin it is when we allow our heart to become troubled. I understood that letting that happen removes joy in our lives. As a result whenever I start feeling troubled I immediately shake it off since I don’t want my thoughts to take away my happiness.

However, I never realized how great a sin it was to become troubled. It’s like saying I don’t trust you Jesus. Or telling Jesus He’s a liar and I don’t believe what He’s instructed me how to live. That I know more than He does and I don’t care. It’s turning my back against God which is the last thing I ever want to do.

God is the only One who I trust these days as well as my family. But even with my family, they have their own lives to deal with. But God’s main priority is me and you as well. His main reason for choosing us to exist is for us to be His child and for Him to be our Father. To provide everything we need to survive. He is the only One who really knows us and who loves us unconditionally at all times.

I’ve tried to love others like 1 Corinthians 13 and it’s difficult. Not impossible, but difficult since we’ve been programmed to believe what the world thinks.

There is a radio program I have found myself listening to that I stopped several years ago because it got on my nerves which it is once again. It’s based on fear-mongering with no trust in God. Don’t get me wrong this program is like so many others. They instill fear with the promise of having an answer.

Even the commercials on this show do the same. If we stand back isn’t that what commercials often do? They produce a fear in us then they make it sound like they are the hero that has come to our rescue. Isn't that what politicians do? For some ungodly reason they don't believe God has given us the ability of providing for ourselves. The truth is that they want us to become slaves to them.

Quite frankly, I’m fed up with all of that. I love my life now, like I never have in the past since I know and understand the Word of God and how the Bible is our guide for successful living.

We live in difficult times but God wants us to be happy in spite of what is going on around us or to us. We are only on this earth for a short time in comparison to eternity. We never really die, we just leave this realm for another one.

God’s intention was for us to live for eternity here on Earth until Adam messed that up. Our bodies were meant to last forever until Adam messed that up. He lived for almost a thousand years. He ushered in all the things that cause death. He had everything and was able to be deceived into thinking he was missing something. There was only one thing that God instructed him not to do and he allowed his mind to drift away from trusting God and he did the vary thing that God didn’t want him to do and he lost everything as a result. That's what a troubled heart will do. It causes loss in our lives.

Every day we do the same thing. We are never content with what we have and we are never content with God’s instructions. For some reason we feel we know more than God. That we know what’s best. What fools we are.

Jesus told us not to be troubled. If we would meditate on it for a few hours we will realize how dangerous it is for us to be trouble-minded. Being troubled no longer gives us the ability to make rational decisions. It clouds our minds. It’s takes away the ability of God handling the situation for us. He cannot intervene on our behalf since we’ve decided to take His place.

It took me getting sick and tired of the life I was living each day. I am still sick and tired of what the world tries to do to my thoughts. It tries to rob me of the truth and I refuse to be deceived any longer. God told us when all fails to “stand.” When we are about to give up and have tried everything we can, to “stand.” Well, I’m standing. I’m standing on the Word of God. I’m standing against the deception in this world. I’m standing against the lies of the enemy.

We are at war and I’m a warrior. Our enemy isn’t people. Our enemy is satan and his demons. There is a real spiritual war going on and we are the “spoil” so to speak. Well, I’m nobody’s spoil. I’m standing against evil. I will fail now and then but just like a fighter in the ring, I might go down for a few seconds but I will get up time and time again. I will win this war. I will win the fight. God told me I would if I follow His ways and I believe Him.

I am more than a conqueror. Satan may count me as a sheep for the slaughter but this is one gal who will not be slaughtered by him. Jesus has given me dominion over satan and I will not relinquish that dominion back to him. He may get it for a brief second but I’ll grab it back from him and kick his sorry ass back to hell where he belongs.

Romans 8:34-39
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I’m a warrior. Thankfully, God has instill that into us so we have the ability to “stand” against evil. To “stand” against the robbers who come to steal, kill and destroy us. To “stand” against those who want us to make them lord in our life. To “stand” against those who say they will “save” us. Yeah, right. There is only one Savior and that is Jesus.

It’s remarkable how our lives change the instant we have that attitude. It’s remarkable how excited God becomes when we “stand” with Him. He floods us with knowledge to be a conqueror. He arms us with the weapons we need to fight off the enemy, who is satan. The power that comes to us is remarkable.

I’m am so grateful, I made that decision several years ago to listen and obey God to the best of my ability knowing that it would be an every day challenge. But it’s a challenge I’m willing to accept to enjoy this wonderful life that God has given to me. Thank you, Lord for always being by my side so I no longer have a troubled heart or walk alone.

A Loving Father's Guidance

Today I reflected once again on conviction vs. condemnation as a sense of conviction stirred within me.

So many people today avoid God because of either condemnation or conviction only because they don’t understand the difference. When God convicts us, it is out of His love for us. It is His way of guiding us away from potential trouble. Condemnation on the other hand is from satan. It's critical that we can recognize the difference so that we can retain joy in our life.

Conviction is God’s way of speaking to us. For example, if a thought comes such as “I really need to…”, “I shouldn’t have…” that is from God. It’s His way of trying to show us a better way of handling a situation. It isn’t meant for us to feel badly about ourselves. It’s His way of saying we can improve. How often have we spoken too quickly only to regret what we said. God will convict us of that so that we can avoid that regret in the future. He will try to urge us to take a few seconds before reacting to see if what we are about to utter is appropriate or necessary or even possibly to allow Him to coach us in a better way to handle the situation or give us better words to speak.

Condemnation on the other hand is from satan who tries to tear us down. Words such as “you’re such a loser”, “you’ll never get it right”, “what makes you think you deserve…”, “you always say the wrong thing”, “no one likes you.” He will personally attack you. Those thoughts we need to chase away with a stiff warning to satan that you are not about to fall into his trap.

Satan will try to bring to your attention your weak areas. Especially those things which you regret doing. He will bring things that happened years ago back to your thoughts to make you hate yourself, or cry, or become angry. Those are not from God. God doesn’t remember your past mistakes. God only cares about your future not your past. That is extremely important to remember.

Granted we will be judged on everything we’ve done in our life on the Day of Judgment. However, if we are born again our sins are forgiven and we can come boldly before God’s throne. As long as we have repented of the sins we are aware of committing all will be good. It’s impossible for us to repent on all the sins we’ve ever committed since we often aren’t aware of all of them. God knows our heart. He knows whether we are repentive or not. God knows if we’ve make Jesus Lord of our life, or if we’ve made ourself lord and savior.

Don't get me wrong, sin is deadly. Sin will rob us of God's best for our lives. Convictions are areas where we are committing sin which we need to take seriously.

I saw a tweet that started to arise anger inside of me. Instead of reacting immediately like I would have in the past, I waited for Jesus to bring a scripture to my attention. It didn’t take long before a minister tweeted a sermon "What Kind Of Christian Are You". I listened and immediately the minister quoted a verse from the Bible which was a direct answer to the situation. There are times, God brings to my attention where I'm wrong. Or gives me a different way of examining the situation. We never know where the answer will come from but we will always know when it is God speaking to us through other people.

I’ve learned to trust the Lord more than myself and He always comes through. What a wonderful Father we have that He is always present in our lives to guide us, comfort us, teach us, and shower us with His love.