Category Archives: Spiritual Warfare

Break the Cycle of Fatherlessness

Leave a reply

This Sunday, we celebrate an important day; Fathers Day.  A day where we recognize Dads and thank them for all they do in our lives.  As men, Dads have a very critical role to raise up children.  It’s a role that I have taken very seriously myself to ensure my kids grow with sound character, a heart for God, and a desire to live according to His purpose.  I believe that this is such a critical aspect of raising children.  If they are geared toward God in life, then He can begin to go to work on their hearts and guide them as they become adults and He leads the rest of the way.

Unfortunately, there is a problem.  There is a continued growing trend of dads who completely check out in one way or another.  They abandon their responsibilities and leave their kids to fend for themselves to figure things out.  All too often a mom is left to play both roles.  This is a big problem. It’s a heart problem.  All too often these guys, I won’t call them men, are so focused on themselves that they refuse to put any sort of priority into being a dad.

This does not just have to do with guys who leave their families.  There are also guys who are there, physically.  They are still married and are around, but they don’t father their children.  They checkout in a number of ways.  Some are so focused on their own career success and selfish ambitions that they are always emotionally checked-out by the time they do come home.  Many other checkout in number of other ways.  The simple fact is that there is a big heart problem with many guys today.  They refuse to be the men they are called and created to be.  They refuse to the warriors for Christ they are meant to be to raise up their kids with heart for God.

So what happens?  Our kids end up severely wounded in a number of ways and then often times as they grow-up, unable to cope with these wounds they cycle begins to repeat itself with the next generation.

We have a problem men.  Our wives and our children need us.  We have a specific call to raise our children in Truth and to love God first.  Not abandon them to figure it out on their own.  Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says that we are to, “Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall team them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up”  We are teach our children to love God first with all that they are.

Paul said in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children in anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Colossians 3:21 says, “Fathers do not exasperate (aggravate) your children, so that they will not lose heart.” 2 John 1:4 says, “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in Truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.”

We have an important responsibility men.  All to often this is forgotten for many number of reasons whether the dad is in the house our now.  There was a time when even I was not aware of this responsibility.  It starts here though.  When we teach our children to seek God first and to love Him first, the kingdom is theirs and they can truly live the life that they were meant to live.

It’s an incredible responsibility that God has entrusted us with.  Even if you have father wounds in your life that you’ve had to deal with, you can break that cycle.  You don’t have to continue that trail of brokenness.  You have that choice.  You can break that cycle now.  Seek God’s intimate counsel. Don’t let the enemy bring you back to your own wounds and sins that may cause you to checkout from your kids lives.  Break the cycle.  Be the son of God you were meant to be and let that reflect in how your kids are raised to be children of God as well.  It starts with us.

Abundant Life That’s Worth Fighting For

Leave a reply

In John 10:10, Jesus tells us two substantial pieces for why He came and the war we are in.  He says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  This is pretty substantial when you look at the two together.  Jesus is talking about the life that is offered to us through Him.  Life to the full.  Life that is fully alive.  Life that is made to glorify God.  At the same time, there is a thief, the enemy, the devil, that comes to steal and kill and destroy.  Jesus is well aware of the war that is waged with evil.  He is well aware that when He came, He had infiltrated into enemy territory and that the war was going to get intense.

You see, in this life we are in constant battles.  Day after day, they can be big, they can be small.  We are dealing with a world that fills us with temptation and sufferings.  I don’t care who are, we all have to deal with this.  This temptation and suffering comes as a result of an enemy who is looking to steal, kill, and destroy the life that is offered through Jesus.  I’m not talking prosperity Gospel either.  I’m talking about a life that has fully repented of all your sin and junk in your life.  Fully renounced it and left it at the feet of the cross with Jesus.  A life that is seeking everyday, the counsel and healing that is offered through Christ.  Jesus not only came to offer forgiveness for sin, but to heal our broken hearts, Isaiah 61:1.  He came to heal us and set us free from this world and from sin and death.  Then a life that looks to seek and walk with God everyday.  Seek his counsel and learn to have those daily conversations with God for guidance through our lives and then follow wherever He leads.

It’s a classic battle between good and evil.  The enemy wants to take our lives and Jesus brings us life.  When we recognize this and learn the Truth of this world and of Jesus, we really learn to understand what life abundantly means and that this is a life worth fighting for.  We have to wage it everyday.  Spiritual warfare is very real.  Whether you accept it or not.  There’s a lot more going on in God’s larger and epic story than we could ever imagine.

When we learn to walk with God and lift Him up daily in our lives.  Put Him first before anything, then we can put the enemy on his heals.  John Cymbala said, “The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift up our hearts to God.” You see, the victory already came in Christ.  Satan knows his days are numbered.  So what He is going to do is prowl around this world and look to take with him anyone he can.  He is coming to destroy our lives.  To him we are powerless without God in our hearts, so he continues to come after us.  We have to guard our hearts and our lives from anything that tries to bring us away from God.  His full goal is to get us to separate from God so that we lose our lives.

Folks, it’s a battle worth fighting.  Having life abundantly through Jesus Christ is so worth fighting for.  The feeling of having Him as a daily part of my life is amazing.  Now, that does not mean the battle is over.  As I’ve said time and again.  The closer you draw to God, the harder the enemy will try to pull you back from God.  Being on guard and seeking God to armor us every day, helps to deal with this.  A life in Christ is worth fighting for.

The Myth of MultiTasking

Leave a reply

Multitasking.  Seems to be the norm of the day today doesn’t it?  I hear all the time of people talking about what a great multitasker they are.  Have heard it in job interviews or when in settings such as classes where someone is sharing their strengths and weaknesses.  Many will say, “I am a great multitasker.”  I touched on this some last week, but feel it’s very important to hammer home the point.  Many of you will panic when your read this, but it true. Multitasking is a myth.  The problem we have today is that we have so much going on, so many distractions that we feel we have to always tackle multiple things at once.  When we are in conversations or meetings, how often do we look at our phone for something or jump on our laptop?  I’m definitely guilty of this.  How often do we work on multiple tasks at once and then at the same time deal with email, answer phone calls, or talk with people we may see?  I see it whenever I am in the office where conversations are being carried out and the phones are in the hand scrolling through email or something.

Again, multitasking is a myth.  Now why do I say this?  It seems so anti-productive to say such a thing.  I know there will some of you that think this is BS and think you can multitask through anything.  But stop and think about this?  If you are trying to focus on your attention on different things simultaneously, how can you be fully present in any of it.  You can’t.  You absolutely cannot.  I think of conversations I have had with my wife.  Over the last 18 years, I could not even begin to tell you how many times she stops to ask, ‘what did I just say?’  I have often found myself distracted by either the TV, my computer or phone, or something else and I was not fully present in the conversation.  In that sense, it can kill the connection with that person, namely my wife.  For us guys, we find it easy to throw out the excuse of being a guy.  The problem here is that also part of being a man and talking to our wives is being present and hearing them. Being engaged in what they say.  Pursue that.  We are too busy these days and we miss so much in those conversations and it can really hurt a relationship.

Look at Jesus.  He was a mans man, not a hippie picking lilies with his friends.  When He conversed with people in his ministry and in his personal relationship, we see that He is fully engaged.  He is present in those moments with those people.  When the disciples would try to blow somebody off, He stepped right in and engaged. He was present to the people He came to save.  He is present with all of us and wants to engage with all of us.  If we are too busy trying to multitask, we can’t even be present to foster and grow our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Try it.  I have been where I am trying to jump into Scripture, prayer, and writing in my journal and then get distracted by conversation, my phone, or other noise.  It can’t happen.  You can’t be locked into the Lord and converse with Him and walk with Him when you are trying to do other things also. You have to be present just as He wants to be present for us.

I was listening to a Ransomed Heart audio recording called “The Spirit of the Age.”  In it John Eldredge touches on this.  He talks about about the issues we today of always having to go,go,go.  Our lives are so busy and we feel we have to tackle so many things at one time order to get anything done.  Then when we have a moment with nothing on, we panic an feel like we have to do something.  Not having something to do seems to make us vulnerable and unable to hide.  We get lost and hide in our business and multitasking. I definitely have these days too.  My life is all go with work, now school again, and then my family.  When we find a day of no activity, we rejoice in it and try to relax and take advantage.  Before long however, I feel like I need to do something.  Feel like I am wasting the day if I am not doing ‘something.’

We have to slow down.  We have to learn to connect in our lives.  Be present in the things we do and interactions we are having.  Be present in our time with the Lord.  Be present in our conversations with our spouses and our children.  Be present in our work and whatever we are working on.  You can’t be present, however, if you are trying to do it all at once.  You can make time.  You can slow your life down.  Learn to live and get away from the demands of go, go, go.  Imagine the freedom that will bring.  I know at first many will panic at this, but it’s possible.

Remember, multitasking is a myth.  In your work, it will lead to poorer production.  It will lead to less engagement in anything.  Don’t be a multitasker.  Break the trend of this myth.  Live free from the demands of the world and what it puts on you.  Come Alive!

The Dangers of Compromise

Leave a reply

Compromise.  A word that is used so much in our society today.  A word that has been used by many for centuries when it comes to reaching deals of any kind.  Whether it’s concessions from war, treaties, and any of a number of other things.  Now a days it is something that has been so accepted.  We see it in politics, churches, communities, and everywhere else.  It’s accepted because it is seen as a way to get things done.  I’m here to tell you something very important and a belief that I have held for years.  Compromise is rooted in evil.  Compromise forces you to push aside core beliefs no matter what in order to reach a solution whether it’s right or not.  Ayn Rand stated the following in ‘Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal,’ “The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”

Today we see compromises being made in the church.  Congregations and denominations are making concessions and compromising core Biblical teachings and principles for the sake of post-modern ways of thinking, whether right or not.  They seek to minimize the Word of God, because they want to be seen as tolerant and inclusive.  They forget the simple fact that the call of the Word is love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  In that respect we also have the responsibility in the faith to help people in their sin.  As the Jesus said, “Go and sin no more” once you come to faith in Him.  Now none of us will ever be able to not sin.  I surely am not that perfect.  It’s a part of our nature.  But if we love ourselves to call out our sin within us and repent and confess, then we must help lead others to do the same and stay locked in habitual sin.

That’s just one example here.  I’m speaking straight from the heart here.  It’s been on my mind for a while as I here about compromise everyday.  It’s so widely accepted, but the real dangers of it are never full realized.  If you compromise beliefs, if you capitulate, you allow evil to take root.  You allow the enemy to get a handle and twist and manipulate how he wants to. Compromise is dangerous on any front.  Yes, it may bring about short term ‘solutions,’ but at what cost yourself and to others in the long run.  If you allow faith principles to be compromised.  If you allow God’s Word to be minimized for the sake of post-modern thinking then you have allowed the enemy to gain access and build a stronghold.  If you stand on faith and stand on firm belief in the Word of God without compromise, that leads to victory.  Victory doesn’t come with compromise  Jesus would have never conquered sin and death if he gave in to compromise at any time.  No…He had faith in the Father and followed where He lead no matter the results.  He knew it would lead to His death, but He new the cost for victory and now He reigns in life.  Compromise is evil.

The do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. Psalm 119:3

Be Present Now

Leave a reply

We have a serious problem in our world today that seems to get worse and worse as the years role by.  It’s not just because I’m getting older and can notice it, but because I see it each passing day, week, month, and year.  We are moving too fast and we are getting to pre-occupied with so much that this life is moving by too fast and we are losing valuable time.  I hear this every year and have said it myself.  Wow this year flew by.  Have you ever stopped to wonder why it feels that way?  It’s really quite simple if you stop to think about it.  We are moving too fast and are too occupied with multi-tasking, wallowing in our past, and focused on the future that we miss something very vital.  We miss the present.  We miss the precious time with our spouses, our children, our friends, and above all, our God.  We forget the importance of loving in the present.  Loving now and living now rather than being stuck in our phones, our computers, our television, and the rat race in traffic trying to get that job.  Like Brooks says in Shawshank Rememption, “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.”  That was back in the 50s.  Fast-forward to now and we move even faster.

This week, my son’s high school baseball team is playing in the 2nd round of the state playoffs.  We had to drive down to south Georgia, about 250 miles south of home to play.  While driving it hit me just looking at the speedometer.  We are easily 75-80+ mph all the time.  When I was kid, 60 was the norm, from what I can remember and it slowly go faster since then. That’s a prime example.  Yes, the cars are better and faster and more advance, but our lives are faster and faster now too.  Way, way too much going on all at once and it can do some serious damage to our lives if it hasn’t already.

Love in the present.  When it comes to our wives, we need to love them in the moment.  Love them now.  Pursue them and allow them to know that we value everything about them.  That we value their love and we value everything they have to say.  You can’t value them and their sayings when you’re pre-occupied by the game or pre-occupied by your phone, your email, social media, or whatever else you have going on.  Love them in the present.

Tell you quick story about a husband.  He loves his wife very much, but at the same time, he often fails to show it when she speaks to him.  He often times listens to her talk, but is either thinking of other things, or just doesn’t full engage to where he truly hears her.  When he has done this, it makes her feel unimportant.  It hurts her heart.  It also makes him look like a complete ass.  This guy is me.  It’s something I struggled with for a long time.  Maybe a guy thing, but not an excuse.  Guys we need to stay present in our the lives of our wives.  When they are sharing, stay in it.  Pursue her.  Let her know that she is valued and all that she has to say is valued and that you love her with every word she speaks.  That’s your wife, your other half.  Your chosen companion that you unite as one to bear the full image of God together.  Love her in the present.  Live your life with her in the present.

Quit living in the past or future.  We all have so much going on in our lives that we find ourselves jumping from one thing to the next and allow life to move by so fast.  We lose focus.  We need to slow down.  Living in the past is paralyzing to our lives and focusing too hard on the the future and what is always to come forces you to lose focus of the now.  Check out the video below.  As this man, Propaganda, learned from his father, we can’t hear past the explosions when we are so pre-occupied with our past or so focused on the future.  It only leads to stepping on land mines that are crippling and can damage our lives now, sometimes permanently.  Live in the present.  Be present today.

We only have one shot with the time we are given.  Time will slip away so fast if we won’t be able to get it back.  Multi-tasking is a myth.  Love the time that God gives us now and stop focusing on what was.  Jesus came to heal us from what was in our brokenness.  Trust in Him and you can “Go and sin no more.”  God is all about our love with Him now.  Yes, the reward is the Kingdom should we choose to accept Christ.  That life, that freedom, that eternity, begins now.  Trying to multi-task and doing a thousand things because you think you just have to keep going and going and going only adds to the pressures and only makes more precious time slip away.

Stay in the present.  Stay focused on the now.  Stay focused on where God has you and is leading you. Follow Him.  Stay focused on loving your wife, or your husband for you ladies out there right now.  Don’t let things in life become so distracting that we just let time fall away.  We only have so much time here in this life.  Choose to come alive.  Not by going and going faster and faster.  But by loving God and loving each other now.  By being present in our lives now.

Wanna Be A Real Rebel?

Leave a reply

We hear so much talk of people rebelling.  Going against the system or against the norm.  Non-conforming.  We see this a lot in our youth and even into adulthood.  Rebelling to us can take on many different forms and looks or it may involve different actions one takes.  One may look at going to college as conforming so they don’t go to college as one example.  Often what I have found is that many forms of rebelling come out of brokenness and/or lead to a life of posing and hiding.  The same can be said for those that don’t do the “rebel things” but put on a fake posing smile about their life to hide their brokenness.

What I have discovered though is that there was one and only one real rebel.  This is the person who is Jesus Christ.  You want to talk about a rebel?  Jesus was the ultimate rebel.  The ultimate outlaw.  Why do I say this?  Simply because he chose to directly challenge the norms of society and religion.  He chose to walk in Truth no matter what it took and didn’t bow or compromise any part of Himself that would take away from His calling from the Father.  Jesus was a rebel by the standards of this world and today would be a rebel by the standards of this world.

Jesus lived by a different set of rules that were not governed by this world and by society.  He was a sanctified trouble-maker in the fact that he lived by this set of rules and never once even with all of the temptation and suffering and ridicule He faced, did he compromise those rules or given in and capitulate.  He stood toe to toe with the Pharisees and religious self-righteous.  He stood toe to toe with Satan.  He broke the rules because of the authority and mission He was given from the Father.

Jesus also did something else that we find it so hard to do in this world.  Simply trust in the Father and surrender to His will.  He knew he was about to be tortured brutally and sent to die.  He knew it was coming.  With all that, He still wanted the Fathers will done.  Jesus was fully human and suffered more than we could possibly imagine in order to set us free.  Jesus loved the Father just as the Father loved Him.  If you just turn to the Gospels and study, you see time after time the rebellion of Jesus Christ on earth.  From challenging rules on hand washing, to healing on the Sabbath, and to clearing the temple with a corded whip He made.  It’s there as plane as day for us to see.

This world has become so jacked up and corrupt and our lives are so full of junk and brokenness.  Whether we rebel in our worldly way or conform, we are filled with it and we simply do what Jesus never did.  We fall away from the Father and compromise our faith through selfish self-reliance or out of fear of the world.

You want to be a real rebel?  A real rebel is one that never compromises their faith and seeks the will of the Father in all they do.  Jesus was that to perfection.  I know none of us can ever be that kind of perfection, but he was what being a man as all about and rebelled by standing on Truth.  This is something we need to try doing ourselves.  Don’t let the world dictate to us and don’t let our brokenness force into hiding and capitulation that this is all that life is about.  Jesus brings healing and restoration to our brokenness.  His rebellion paved the way to our the grace we now live in and the glory that is ours through a life filled with Christ.

Jesus had what John Eldredge referred to in his book Beautiful Outlaw a “scandalous freedom.”  Eldredge states that “the risks Jesus is willing to take with reputation is simply stunning.” Most of us would not be willing to do what he did.  Would not be willing to stand in the way of world religions and traditions to stand on Truth and by the will of God.  Jesus knew His purpose was going to do what was needed to fulfill that purpose.  He was not going to intimated into compromise.  Bottom line is, if you want to do something rebellious for real, stand true to your faith in Jesus and to the Word of God and never, under any circumstances, compromise the Word to satisfy worldly, post-modern, and religious views.

Ask Why or Fall on God

Leave a reply

As we all know, suffering and heartache are a part of our world.  In our fallen race as humans, we live a world where evil has been allowed in and as a result our daily lives are filled with anguish and trauma.  It’s inevitable in our world until Christ returns.  When something bad does happen, say you are someone you know and love becomes ill, a sudden death comes, a bad accident, someone falls to addition of any kind, and many other things, what is one question that so many of us ask of God?  We ask, why.  Why do these things happen?  Why did he have to die?  It’s a part of what we live with and something we all struggle with.

Do you know something, though?  Asking God why is such a selfish question?  It really is.  It is our attempt to interrogate God like he is the one that caused those things.  No, God didn’t cause my Dad to die.  He didn’t cause that young girl to get raped.  He didn’t cause that dear friend to develop cancer.  He didn’t cause alcohol, drug, or sexual addition.  Satan was gained dominion over this world and therefore chaos happens.  Suffering happens.  We can’t ask God why, because these are things we will never understand.  God didn’t cause those things, but I tell you what, He is still there, and He wants to use those circumstances to bring us back.  Not to understand, but to just trust in Him.

What does that famous Proverb say, Proverb 3:5. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”  I’ve heard this recited many times over the years, yet still people easily forget about it.  They may trust for a short while, but then it’s right back to life as usual or the life of blaming God for circumstances or suffering.  Again, God didn’t cause it, but He wants to use what did happen to bring us back to Him.

C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” When we experience suffering God is right there trying to pull us to Him.  Those sufferings can be used glorious ways, if we are willing to get out of His way, stop leaning to ourselves, stop asking why, and just fall on God

Do not lean on your own understanding.  This is a key part of this Proverb.  We have to remember that we will never fully grasp why suffering happens or why anything happens for that matter.  There are so many glorious mysteries of God that are to remain mysteries to our human self.  We just lean to fall on Him.  Paul Claudel said, “Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or remove it. He came to fill it with His Presence.”

Many of you know the story of my Dad and how we lost him suddenly in a car accident over 5 years ago.  It was suffering like I had never experience before.  To have him ripped away so suddenly was traumatic and then the void left was immense.  I wondered why to myself quite often.  Tried to make sense of it all.  Even through time in Scripture and when I began to find my faith again, I still struggled with this.  I was still too caught up in self and not falling to God.

When God finally got me to let go and just lean to Him in this suffering, it was so amazing.  This was about a year and half ago or so about 4 years after his death.  My heart was not fully open, yet God never gave up on me during this time.  Since then, God has continually transformed my life and my family with each day that passes.  Yes, suffering and struggles still come our way and when I sit and think of my Dad’s death, a tear will sometimes fall, but I no longer try to understand for myself and rather fall on God.  Trust Him with it all. God has put this on my heart repeatedly, to just trust Him.  Let go and let God.

With all of this said, I am in no way diminishing the pain and anguish that comes with traumatic situations that come in our lives.  However, it is a part of our life because of the world we live.  The enemy seeks to steal, kill, and destroy us and our hearts and in these tragedies and struggles, that’s what he tries to do.  On the other hand, we have the power and glory of Jesus Christ to lean towards.  We have the armor of God, should we choose to put it on and then when we fully let God and trust in the Lord, we can deal with our sufferings so differently.

 

Sweet Victory That Can’t Be Taken Away

Leave a reply

I’ve been inspired about a word this week that is so very true for our lives, but for many it just is not grasped as important or they don’t really understand the depths of this word.  That word is ‘Victory.’  Victory brings about a great deal of thoughts and even emotions for people.  It’s associated with sports when a team comes out on top to win, particularly a championship like Duke just winning the NCAA Men’s Basketball title last month or the Patriots pulling off a last second Super Bowl win.  It’s also more associated with the battle field and war.  The dictionary defines victory as ‘a success or triumph over an enemy in battle or war.’  For the victorious, there is a great deal of joy.  A great deal of pride.  The triumph can mean so much to the victorious.

I’ve began thinking and meditating on this word recently and the thoughts about another victory.  One that many lose sight of.  Actually a victory that is more significant and everlasting than any battlefield triumph or sports championship here in this world.  That is the victory that we have in the finished works of Jesus Christ.  This is so significant to all of our lives, yet so many fail to really grasp the real victory that we have and the battle that was won through Christ.

We live in a world filled with darkness and chaos all over.  It’s all over the evening news.  Look at what happened in Baltimore this week with the riots that broke out.  Also we saw where more brothers in the faith were martyred by ISIS when they were marched to the cost and killed.  The faith is under attack by post-modern thinking that discounts our faith or diminishes pieces of the Word for their own purposes and demonizes believers for staying true to God’s Word.  It’s running rampant and throughout history our fallen world has been filled with darkness and chaos.

Some 2,000 years ago, however, something significant happened when Jesus was crucified, he was then raised to life, and ascended to the thrown at God’s right hand.  Jesus has won the ultimate victory for us in many ways.  Sin was forever defeated, death was conquered, and Jesus is given authority over heaven and earth.  Jesus’s blood paid the ransom for our lives.  He took everything we deserved having fallen so far from God and now we live under God’s undeserved grace because of the obedience of Jesus.  It’s quite a victory and nothing could ever top just how significant a victory it was and is.

1 Corinthians 15:57 says, “but thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus is victorious.  He has already won the battle and what a sweet victory it is.  What’s even more awesome is that nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing can ever take this victory away.  The only thing that can happen is that we choose to turn away from it, but that’s our own choice in then end.  Jesus said in John 16:33 that we can take courage because He overcame the world.  1 John 5:4 tells us, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”

I write about this because I feel it’s so significant to our lives.  Day after day we see suffering.  We see people that feel like there is absolutely no hope.  Not just in the news, but in our everyday lives.  They feel lost and don’t know where to turn.  I have seen this very close to home from kids to grown adults losing all hope feeling all alone. People just lose complete sight of the victory because of trauma and wounds they’ve experienced or just feeling like that they have no body.

The enemy sees this hurt and plants a foothold blinding them. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might now see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Now this points to the unbelieving, but the same can be said for the believer when they allow tribulations in their lives to pull them away from Christ.  It boils down to faith. In Matthew 17, Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed is strong enough to move mountains.  Nothing is impossible.  For many, because of our fallen nature it’s still so easy to lose heart and fall back away and forget that the victory is won.

I love the hook in Trip Lee’s song, “Sweet Victory” where it says:

I feel thorns where my crown was
I’ll be weak but I’m alive
From the dust until dawn yeah
I’ll survive cause I got
Sweet Victory
Nobody can take it from me
Sweet victory
Cause I got, sweet victory yeah

I feel like this so powerful for all of us to remember.  We may feel weak.  We may have times where we just struggle, we may feel down, but we are alive in Christ.  We have sweet victory that can’t be taken from us, ever.  We win because Christ already won for us.  As Jesus said, we will still have trials and tribulation in our lives.  Until His return that’s the world we live in still.  We can take heart and bring the finished works of Jesus Christ over our lives and bring the Cross of Christ between us and any struggles we face.  We are victorious in Him, forever.  Let’s take great joy in this and know that no matter what we face, Christ overcame to free us and we can overcome through Him.

“God expects you to have the mentality of a conqueror. See yourself as a victor in Christ Jesus, and go about life with a holy swagger!” – Pedro Okoro

 

You Can’t Stop Me

1 Reply

Two weeks from today, I will begin a brand new adventure that I’ve been pumped-up about for the last few months.  I will begin studies in my pursuit of a Masters in Professional Counseling.  I’ve known for some time that God was calling me to do something, but for quite some time, I didn’t know what that was or really just didn’t hear Him.  I tell you though, since January 31st, my life has been on a fast track like I had never seen before and at that point, my heart opened to God’s calling as I am now fully surrendered.  I feel like a freight train coming down the tracks that is unstoppable.  The calling of God is irrevocable (Romans 8:29), so I now stand firm ready to keep pressing forward down the tracks.

I was listening to some christian hip-hop recently.  Tell you what, that can really get you hyped up when you just let the words flow like any other worship song.  There is a song called “You Can’t Stop Me” by Andy Mineo.  The hook in this song got my attention:

They try to shut us down, and it ain’t gon’ slide
Only thing I fear is God and he on my side
That’s the confidence of God, cause he got me
That’s why I really feel like
You can’t stop me

This resonated with me big time.  I am embarking on a journey that’s going to involve some long range learning over the next few years as I work to become a licensed counselor. It’s got to take some serious work and concentration to get through all that is required as a part of this process.  I believe that God’s bringing me on this journey as it will help to strengthen me spiritually in the process.  Along the way and even since January, I get filled with doubts and fears.  I know there will be times on this journey that I know I will just be worn out and stretched to the limits.

There is a difference this time from when I was on my doctorate journey a few years back, which I never finished.  This time I have God filling me.  He has filled me with a confidence that seems unshakable.  Yes, the enemy and this world will test it, but I am so locked in now, I know God has got me and will pull me back up if I fall back along the way.  With the strength of God, I know my new nature that is alive in Jesus can overcome my old self, even if it tries to rear its ugly head and bring me down.  I will be reminding myself constantly that this world, the enemy, and my old self can’t stop me ever again.  Only thing I fear is God and He’s on my side.

I look forward to sharing the experience along the way when I begin my schooling.  I believe firmly in where the Lord is leading me now.  I’ve never had this much excitement in anticipating what’s to come.   When I came home from Colorado I was ready to just role with everything.  I think God slowing me down and bringing me through this more deliberate process is crucial to the development as I first crawl, then I can walk, and then he will set me loose to run.  If I jumped right it running, I would have fell long ago.  But now working on God’s timing, nothing can stop me.

After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. – 1 Peter 5:10 NASB

Rise and Rise Again!

Leave a reply

Have you ever had those days where you just feel like throwing in the towel?  You feel like things are just never going to go your way and you don’t know if you’ll ever find a way out of the problem you find yourself in.  Maybe you even feel like things have just become so bad you just feel like God has given up on you.  Trials and troubles come our way all the time and all too often, especially in today’s 24/7 society of go, go, go and faster, faster, faster.  We can get overwhelmed and feel like there is just no hope.

In preparation for my counseling studies, I picked up one of my text books last night and began to read a little.  This is from the Volume 1 of Competent Christian Counseling.  In the first chapter it states, “Faced with an uncertain future, many people believe that they are falling farther behind and will never get the chance to stop and smell the roses. It’s too late, they think. I’m in too deep.”  It’s so easy to find yourself in a world where you forget about what’s important, forget about God, and throw your hands up when you feel completely lost.  Sometimes it’s easy to forget if we hold tight to our faith, we can persevere through anything.

There’s a phrase I saw from the movie Robin Hood, with Russell Crowe.  It’s a phrase that has stuck out to me and now I have it as daily reminder on my phone.  This phrase is, “Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions.”  I find this phrase to be so powerful and something I read and think about each day.  It’s a constant reminder that no matter how many times I find myself knocked down, that I need to be get back up again.  I need to rise again and again.  With each time I get back up, I become stronger and stronger.  The first time it can be difficult to get back up.  Fear can set in.  But each time after that, we take the step to get back up again and be strong and courageous in the Lord, we become stronger and move from being lambs who are weak to being lions and ready for anything.

2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self discipline.”  Sometimes we have to deal with the spiritual warfare that tries to overtake our us.  It pulls into a world where we feel lost and live in fear.  Spiritual warfare is needed to combat these spirits so that are true spirit of power, love, and self discipline shines through.  Thomas Fuller said, “All things are difficult before they are easy.”  This is where self-discipline and the need for perseverance comes in so that we can rise again and again.  If we choose to shrink back into a world of capitulation and complacency, we sink further and further.  We have to choose to rise and rise again and again.

A few times in my life, I felt lost.  I didn’t know where I was going and even tried to understand what it was God was doing in my life.  I had no understanding about where he was working.  I let the poser come forward and I followed the way that I thought was right even though it brought me to a state of misery sometimes.  I didn’t understand the need to let go and let God.  I became self-reliant and refused to let Jesus be my advocate and depended on my own knowledge and what I saw the world wanted.  When I was knocked down or felt stuck, I never turned to God for an answer.  I didn’t understand all of that.  You can ask my wife, there were times where I was just flat out miserable and didn’t understand where I was going.

I now have a new perspective though.  It first comes with full surrender to God and allowing Jesus in as my savior and advocate  To allow Him to lead my life rather than depending on myself to get through challenges.  Now, when struggles hit, I am on my knees.  I go to God first, who tells me time and again to trust Him and get back up.  Rise and rise again.  We are made for more, we just need to choose to rise up even when this life has us down.  Let go of being self-reliant and trying be your own advocate and let God lead the way and armor you for the battles that you will face and then you move from being a lamb being slaughtered to a lion to can overcome anything because Christ overcame for us.

“Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself.” –  Thomas a Kempis