TRUE WARRIORS

We all know them.  They are those true warriors that understand fully that their real strength in battle comes not from themselves but from the power that is drawn from the throne room of God through prayer.  Many of us have witnessed these prayer warriors in our families or churches and have seen where they turn to find answers in the most difficult times.  But it is not only in those hard times that these saints humbly kneel before God’s throne for intercession.  These prayer warriors have come to realize how important it is to bring even the smallest of requests to the Almighty in prayer.  If you have never been privileged to know of one of these praying saints, we are given many examples in Scripture for us to learn from and pattern our lives after.

One such example is recorded in Luke 2:36-38 where we see the summary of the life of Anna.  She had been married at a young age and had become a widow after only 7 years of marriage.  We may wonder why Anna’s life was recorded for us in Scripture?  God is showing us the tremendous, life changing ministry that Anna was able to have even after she had endured the heartache of losing her husband.  She was not a famous public speaker or travel the world with a Christian ministry.  She simply committed herself to fasting and prayer out of her love, devotion and commitment to God.  God used Anna in a mighty way to impact the world as a prayer warrior during her earthly lifetime.  Anna is also an example to us today, to show us that anyone CAN be used GREATLY by our God to make a difference in our world for the kingdom of God.  We don’t have to be public speakers or talented teachers to be used in an amazing way by God, BUT each one of us can pray which one of the greatest ministries we can ever have in impacting others lives.

Just in case you were wondering, Anna was not a young lady who had lots of energy to devote to serving God.  When we see this example of Anna she was 84 years old.  A lot of people might be worn out by that point in life and maybe feel as if their best years of ministry to the Lord were behind them.  Not Anna, she faithfully and quietly carried out a world-impacting ministry which hastened the coming of Jesus Christ.  God greatly blessed Anna for her faithfulness by allowing her to see baby Jesus in the temple with her very own eyes!  That was an AMAZING reward! 

Anna’s prayer ministry was faithful.  Luke 2:37 says that “She did not depart from the temple…”.  Her prayer ministry was focused on serving God.  The greatest way we can serve the Lord is to have a ministry of prayer.  Anna’s prayers were frequent as she “served night and day…” and were fervent through “fasting and prayers.”  This special lady is our example to not let the tragedies and trials we experience in our life to make us bitter and give up on serving the Lord.  We need to let God use those heartaches we experience to turn our hearts toward serving Him like Anna did.  No matter what season of life we each may be experiencing by being single, raising a young family, the empty nest years or when we are in our golden years like Anna, we can ALWAYS serve God and others by having faithful, focused, frequent, and a fervent ministry of prayer. 

Can you think of those godly saints in your life like Anna whose prayers directly impacted situations and outcomes for you?  I definitely can!  My grandma was like a mother to me.  She not only led me to the Lord, discipled me by teaching me many Biblical truths BUT she was also a godly example of to me in her prayer life.  My grandma prayed for me several times every day while I was growing up and throughout my teenage years for God’s protection over me and guidance in making the right choices.  I would often stay with my grandparents on Saturday nights and then go to church with them on Sunday. 

I began to notice how tired my grandmother was every Sunday morning and when I asked her why she was so exhausted, she explained how the H.S. had prompted her to pray for me while I was out with my friends the night before.  My grandma earnestly prayed for me to go to Bible College, marry a godly man and commit my life to serving God.  Without her example and influence, I honestly do not know where I would be!   

My grandmother not only prayed for her three children who all ended up serving the Lord in the ministry, she fervently prayed for her 10 grandchildren and their spouses every day, naming each of her great grandkids by name.  When one of our children rebelled against God about 6 months before she went to heaven, she prayed all day for them to come back to the Lord.  She encouraged me to keep praying and have faith that the Lord would bring our wayward child back in fellowship with Him. 
After my grandma’s funeral, all of our extended family went back to clean out her house.  The first place I went was to her recliner rocking chair in her living room where her Bible and devotional books sat next to our child’s 8 x 10 photo where she cried out to God on his behalf several times a day.  I sobbed as I remembered her godly example and I will NEVER forget her prayer ministry in my life.  My grandmother’s prayers have radically impacted me and it’s the GREATEST legacy and wealth that I could have EVER inherited from her.

What about us? Will we ever be a godly example to others through our prayer lives?  For this amazing ministry to take place we must first make sure that God will even hear our prayers.  Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”  Harboring unconfessed and unrepented sin in our hearts is grievous to our Father and blocks our prayers to Him.  We must regularly humbly bow at God’s throne and clean our hearts out from our filthy sin if we expect Him to accomplish the impossible through our prayers.  For years I was blinded to the fact that my prayers were being hindered by my sin.  When I prayed, I never felt like God was actually hearing me and my prayers were not getting answered.  As soon as I finally humbled myself and confessed all of the sin I was holding onto, It was absolutely AMAZING how God began answering my prayers to the most seemingly impossible situations.

Are we willing to follow the examples of godly prayer warriors like Anna that have had amazing prayer ministries which led to them to be used greatly by God?  We can be instruments in God’s hands to make an impact on our world now, our church, our families, our marriages and on future generations to come if we are simply willing to serve the Lord by having a ministry of prayer.  Are you known as a faithful prayer warrior who goes to God in prayer for everything, even in the little things?  As you closely examine your prayer life, do you see your requests being answered?   If not then you may have some heart cleansing to do.  May each of us follow the godly example those True warriors have left behind.  We also need to recognize the value of leaving a godly heritage of prayer to future generations that will follow us into eternity.

TRUE THANKFULNESS

During this special time of year we tend to focus more closely on all of the wonderful blessings God has graciously given to us.  As we get closer to the Thanksgiving holiday our attention is drawn to the preparation of delicious food and the quality time we get to spend with our close friends and family.  As I've been examining my own heart in light of this special time of year and reflecting on all of the good things in my life, God has been revealing some truths to me that I have never realized about myself before.  If I struggle with some aspects of giving thanks, then I'm thinking there may be others out there who are just like me.

 

Most of us do believe that we are truly thankful people. As I've been meditating on some very simple and straight forward truths of Scripture regarding thankfulness, I have come to the conclusion that in reality many of us are NOT genuinely grateful at all.  Maybe I am sounding a little harsh by making such a bold statement?  If I do, then I am also casting judgment upon myself as well because I have had the wrong perspective and have needed to make some major changes in my heart recently regarding thankfulness.

 

When I say that many of us are not genuinely grateful, I am not referring to our culture that we live in today that is obviously choosing to adapt the "give me" attitude where hand outs and selfish attitudes run rampant.  For only in America do we set aside one day for being thankful every year and then it's no sooner than we push in our chairs at the Thanksgiving table that we're off and running to the earliest Christmas sale.  I'm also thinking that pushing and shoving people in retail stores to grab the best deals on black Friday is not a great way of demonstrating our gratefulness either. 

 

When I make the statement that most people are NOT truly thankful I am not even talking about those in our country who simply expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter without working hard for them. The majority of our population believes that they should receive whatever they feel they "deserve".  In my humble opinion, it is NOT just the world BUT believers in general that do not have a true biblical perspective about thankfulness.  If Christians don't have the attitude of thankfulness right then how in the world can we expect unbelievers to truly see Christ in us?

We read God's will for our lives concerning thankfulness in I Thessalonians 5:18, " In EVERYTHING give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  This verse seems pretty simple to understand but as humans we often want to pick and choose what we decide to be thankful for. When something happens in our lives that we do not view as positive, we generally do not give thanks for those things. However, we are commanded to be thankful for ALL things, not just those things for which we perceive to be good.  Being grateful only for the good things is easy, for even unbelievers recognize and give thanks for the good.  True biblical thankfulness comes from a far deeper spiritual place within us that understands the ultimate significance of an all knowing, infinitely wise, sovereign and loving Father who makes absolutely NO mistakes, ever.   

It doesn't make any logical sense for us to give thanks to God for things that come into our lives that we don't see as good.  This concept goes completely against our human reasoning and it almost seems like a twisted way of thinking.  Our God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.  "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."  Because of our fallen spiritual condition, our natural inclinations and ideas do not usually match up with our Creators. In fact, God's ways are often the complete opposite of our ways. It is not up to us to approve of God's thoughts, attitudes and actions.  It simply comes down to whether or not we are willing to humbly trust in our omniscient Father God and His perfect eternal outlook and plan for us in which we do not clearly humanly see.

Looking back on all of the things the Lord has sovereignly allowed to enter into my life, it did not ever occur to me to give thanks for ALL things whether good or bad.  Sure, I was definitely grateful for those events that I viewed as good, but I grew bitter when things did not turn out how I expected them to. A heart that is overtaken and poisoned by bitterness leaves absolutely no room for thankfulness.  I questioned the goodness of God in why He would allow those difficult and more challenging circumstances into my life. I was thankful for the five wonderful children that God blessed us with but was not thankful for the three babies that were taken to heaven that we lost through miscarriage.  I was grateful for the years I enjoyed good health but when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, atrial fibrillation and the possible early onset of Parkinson's disease I never once prayed, "Thank you Lord for allowing me to go through these health problems. I trust You completely and know that You have a sovereign plan for me in suffering through these diseases."   I cannot remember ever giving God thanks when I lost my best friend to leukemia at the age of 34 and my closest cousin to cancer at age 40.  No prayers of thanksgiving were offered up when our hearts were broken over a wayward child, our basement flooded or when my husband lost his job after over a decade of faithful service to his company.  The problem was that I did not have the proper biblical perspective in giving thanks for EVERYTHING that God had filtered through His loving hands and choose to allow into my life. Just because we as humans do not understand God's ways, it does not give us an excuse to question Him, ever.  

We often forget that the very reason we were created was to give praise, honor and ultimate glory to our Creator.  God does not exist for us, we are here for God to accomplish His sovereign plan through us.  His will for us in every breath He graciously gives us is to be thankful in absolutely everything. We are comforted in Romans 8:28 that God does work ALL things together for our good and we must trust in Him completely to do just that in our lives no matter how good or bad we view those circumstances to be. The truth is that there is NEVER one single moment when our God is out of control.

One tradition that our family enjoys following during Thanksgiving dinner is going around the table and having each person tell what they are thankful for.  Somehow we always choose to mention only those things that we view as positive or good but I think this perspective is not entirely encompassing the bigger picture that God wants us to see.  Maybe this year we should reach beyond the surface blessings that so easily come to mind.  Instead of voicing our thankfulness for our family and friends, good food and a warm home, how about publicly thanking God for the hard times He's allowed us to endure and for the sovereign purposes that He is fulfilling in us through those circumstances.  I really believe that finding the good that God intended in our pain would give Him even more glory than just those surface blessings.  There are always numerous benefits that we can find for why God allowed pain into our lives.  We need to make sure we focus on finding those benefits that God intended.

Have you struggled like me in thanking God for absolutely everything?  As you go about counting your many blessings this Thanksgiving season, I urge you to go one step further beyond the obvious and praise God for the intangible things you have to be thankful for. Maybe God has brought you through some very difficult events where your heart has nearly broken in two but through the pain, grief and sorrow you have endured God has been weaving all of these things together for your ultimate good.  Through those circumstances, God desires to transform our hearts to more closely reflect His heart, our thoughts to be more like His thoughts and our ways to ultimately resemble His ways.  Our Father wants to bring us to the point where we are thankful in ALL the things that He lovingly allows into the lives of His children.  Psalm 106:1, "Praise the Lord!  Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!" 

FORGIVENESS IS NOT ENOUGH...

Have you ever had to deal with a difficult person sometime in your life?  Maybe you have gone to school or worked with someone who seems to give you a hard time every step of the way.  Maybe you have encountered this challenging person at your church or in your neighborhood.  There is even a possibility that you may have a family member that is not pleasant or seems to cause conflict whenever a situation does not go their way.  These people tend to thrive on inflicting distress on others and seem unbothered with the fact that people don’t really enjoy their presence.  Wherever there is drama, turmoil or upheaval, you can be sure that there one of these individuals is involved. 

No matter where you work, no matter what school or church you attend or what neighborhood you live in, you will eventually come across one of these challenging people. Most of us have learned by this point in our lives that these difficult individuals are absolutely unavoidable. No matter how hard we wish those people would simply disappear from our lives, we must come to the conclusion that they are NOT ever going away. If the answer to all of our problems does not lie in being able eradicate these people completely from our lives then what is our solution? 

I was utterly shocked the day I figured out that the solution to dealing with these controlling, conflict causing people actually lies within me!!!  Sounds crazy doesn’t it?  Even though I’m not responsible for their rude actions toward me, I will answer to God for HOW I react to them. My job is to forgive those who offend me, BUT is granting them forgiveness really enough?   

If you would have come to me several years ago for advice about how to deal with difficult people, I would have given you all the wrong answers.  Sadly, I would have encouraged you to steer clear of those bullies and mark them off your list for good.  I would have persuaded you to only talk with nice people who would never dream of hurting your feelings.  The problem with my heart at that time is that when someone offended me, I never forgave them for anything ever.  I was always marking people off my list and avoided people who were rude.  I was bitter and did not have the attitude of Christ and His love for the people who really needed love the most.

Over and over I see Christian friends posting long rants on facebook and other forms of media about how they've been wronged or mistreated by a bully at their work, school, in their church or neighborhood.  It saddens me because these friends who've been hurt and are venting their angry feelings with hundreds of people, do NOT truly have the proper Biblical perspective of the stressful and frustrating situation they’ve endured.  For most of my life, I too did not have the proper response and outlook the times when people had offended me then I finally realized that it was God who sovereignly sent that person into my life so that I could learn from them.

What in the world could we possibly learn from dealing with prideful selfish people who cause us trouble?  Why would God allow us to go through such emotional hurt, turmoil and pain at the hands of a selfish bully?  Our God does have great compassion for us and feels our deepest pain. He loves His children more than we can ever fathom, but we must trust Him with every detail of our lives and know that He is our Father who is working out situation we face for our good and His glory.

 Our Father desires most of all that His dear children become more fashioned into the image of His precious Son.  He wants us learn how to love the unlovable like Jesus did when He chose to love us and how to respond to those who mistreat us like Jesus does every time we mistreat Him.  There’s always a bigger picture in every situation we face, and most of the time it’s only God who has the crystal clear view, not us.

I have learned so much about forgiving others in the past several years because I finally came to the point of humility when I realized the DEPTHS of Jesus Christ’s forgiveness for ALL of my nasty sin!  How could I not forgive others who hurt or mistreat me when Jesus forgives me of FAR MORE every single day of my life!   But when I began to realize that my responsibility was not over once I had simply forgiven.   I remember asking God this very question, “Okay God, I have forgiven all of these difficult people, now isn’t that enough?  What more could you possibly want from me?”   

Many of us think that if we forgive those difficult people who have caused us so much trouble, then we’re off the hook and have gone above and beyond what MOST people ever do.  The problem is that forgiveness is NOT enough!  God asks us to go beyond forgiveness.  After forgiving our offender, most of us RARELY proceed to the next step of obedience.  Jesus calls us to go the extra mile and bless and pray for our offenders once we have forgiven them.  Jesus says in Matthew 5:44, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”  When we ask God to bless our offenders with qualities they are missing, we can be freed from the emotional pain that was caused by their hurts and have the privilege of watching how God will work in the situation.

God desires that we pray for those unlovable people because He knows that when we are praying for people, we will develop a genuine love for them. Those people desperately NEED to be shown love and who better to demonstrate the undeserving love of Christ than the one whom they have hurt.  Jesus tells us in John 13:34, “Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”    When our offender hurt us, they were showing that they needed help.  If we desire to see God accomplishing impossible and amazing things through us, we must adapt the attitude of Christ and look for ways to minister to our offender.

We are to forgive, pray, bless and genuinely love the bullies who at times make our lives more difficult.  God will then show us how we can minister to them.  I am telling you from personal experience that this WILL work!  God can use us to help the very person who hurt us.  You may view this difficult individual as someone you want to eliminate completely from your life, but God put them there for you to minister to and through this process, you are becoming more like Christ.

Have you ever hurt or offended someone and they have forgiven you, loved you and prayed for you? This kind of undeserving love has the power to transform any hard hearted difficult person. If the one who has hurt you is not a Christian, how much MORE important would it be to follow Christ’s example to forgive, love, pray for and minister to these people instead of complaining about them publicly.  We must change our perspective to God’s perspective.

Because of the shed blood of Christ, we can forgive our offenders.  Because of the shed blood of Christ we can pray for our offenders.  Because of the shed blood of Christ, we can bless our offenders.  Because of the shed blood of Christ we can genuinely love our offenders.  We are enabled to do all of these seemingly impossible things for others just as Christ forgives us, prays for us, blesses us and loves us with an unconditional everlasting love that we definitely do not deserve.

THE GREEN EYED MONSTER...

How well are you acquainted with the infamous green eyed monster? Maybe you have heard of this horrible tyrant but do not intimately know him.  Being a woman, I have certainly noticed how the green eyed monster has destroyed and caused utter ruin in the lives of those who develop a friendship with him and it’s the female gender that this tormentor primarily preys on.  How is it that we would ever allow something so terrible as the green eyed monster to sink his nasty claws in us?   What are some of the telltale signs that show us that we’ve allowed the serious sin of envy to creep in and poison our hearts?  Why is it extremely important that we purpose to slay this monster and eliminate him from our lives as soon as possible?

I believe the root cause of our struggle with the sin of envy lies in the fact that many of us are not content with who God created us to be.  We also choose not to be thankful for our appearance, the natural abilities we have and the gifts that God has blessed us with. We are too often discontented with our inherited physical features that are really what make us unique and special.   Many of us believe the lie that God has made mistakes in not giving us some of the physical and spiritual blessings that we feel we deserve.  We may truly believe that we've somehow been cheated  out of something good by our Creator.  The problem lies in the fact that we do not trust that our God knows what is best for us and will always equip us to accomplish exactly what He has called us to do here on earth.  

Maybe you are like I was and you're not even aware of the fact that you may be wrestling with the sin of envy.  Here are some definite questions that you can honestly ask yourself to find out if you're battling with the green eyed monster: 
1)  Do you ever secretly “wish” your life were different?

2)  Have you ever wished your husband was like....
3)  Do you wish that your children were like…. 
4)  Do you wish that your family was more like…
5)  Have you ever dreamed for your house to be like…
6)  Do you wish that your body was like…. 
7)  Do you hope to someday have possessions like….
8)  Do you wish you had talents like….  

When we have discontented and unthankful hearts, we are automatically inviting that horrible green eyed tormentor into our lives and it turns us into very miserable people.  If we choose to constantly compare ourselves with others looks, talents, abilities and possessions, it leaves no room for us to enjoy the blessings that God has so graciously given to us.  The worst part about battling with the sin of envy is that when it's left to fester, it causes rotting in our hearts.  Envy won't be satisfied with destroying our lives alone, it will continue to cause destruction in every relationship we have.  It is a disease of the heart and doesn’t only attack adult women, sadly this intense struggle often begins to cause problems for many girls at a very early age.

I don’t remember exactly when this dreadful ogre and I were introduced but I do admit that we became very close friends while I was growing up.  As I think back on my childhood, my earliest memories of struggling with envy began around the age of 5 years old when I entered into grade school.  I compared myself to other girl’s looks, talents, abilities, how many friends they had and what clothes they wore to school.  Pretty pathetic to think that someone so young could be trapped in such a horrible thought process, but it’s a common problem we as parents must realize needs to be addressed in our children as well as ourselves.  I often imagined my life as someone else and focused on how all of my friends had more baby dolls or Barbie’s than I did.  I remember being so jealous that my friend had a Barbie dream house with the 3 floors and the elevator which I never did.  This strong desire to have what other girls had way back in kindergarten just proves that Satan will use whatever measure he can as early as he can to begin the process of destruction he has planned for our lives.    

Sad to say, I have allowed that nasty green eyed monster to cause me so much emotional pain for most of my life and the battle only intensified as I entered into adulthood.  I envied other women who were talented, beautiful, had no budget to follow, had husbands who would do whatever they wanted them to, whose kids seemed perfect, who could eat whatever they wanted and still be thin.  Sounds like pretty shallow thinking now doesn’t it!  It’s a sad way to live your life constantly comparing yourself to others and what they have that you believe you don’t.  For years I wished my husband were more like…  I wished my children were more like….  I wished I were more like….   I wished my house were like… and on and on!  My sin of envy was causing me to put myself in constant competition with those around me that I thought had life better than I did.  I had an insatiable craving for approval, praise and recognition for things I accomplished.  When others were praised or recognized for things they did, it greatly pained me inside because I was extremely jealous that they received honor and I did not.  How sad!!!  Instead of being thankful and genuinely happy for someone else’s accomplishments, I was slowly being poisoned by my selfishness and jealousy which is exactly what my Enemy had planned.  Instead of me focusing on giving praise to other people, I was more focused on myself and the attention I thought I deserved from others.

Why is the sin of envy so dangerous and destructive and why is it so important to get rid of this green eyed monster as soon as possible?  Envy is quite possibly the most vicious of all of the sins we may battle with.  King Solomon shows us this in Proverbs 27:4, “Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” 

Many of us would think that the most destructive sins would be anger and wrath, but the Bible here refers to envy as being even worse.  It has been proven medically in cases where envy even begins to deteriorate our bones.  The Bible warns us in Proverbs 14:30,  "A sound heart is life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones."  If you’ve ever heard my testimony, you know that I am a living example that unresolved stresses in a person’s soul can most definitely cause many health problems in a person’s physical body.  Because God created our body, soul and spirit to all be connected, what we struggle within our soul can also eventually affect some area of our body.

 I praise the God of the universe for allowing the blinders to my sin of envy to come off and causing me to ‘see’ that I needed to slay that horrible green eyed monster!  That green eyed bully and I do not wrestle much anymore for I no longer allow him to be my close companion.  I got rid of the rotten envy when I finally humbled myself on my knees before God and admitted that I was a very envious person.  I acknowledged my sin of envy before my God who already knew it was there and begged His forgiveness which gave me a pure heart.  Once I confessed, my heart was finally clean and purified of the poison.  Now whenever that nasty green eyed bully tries to mess with me, I tell him that I’m thankful for my life and that I’m genuinely happy for others who have what I don't have.  If we are truly loving others with the unconditional love of Christ, then there will be no room in our hearts for jealousy.  I am now humbled and extremely content with ALL of the wonderful blessings that God has graciously bestowed on me that I certainly do not deserve.  I have also realized that it’s not a person’s talent, money, possessions or looks that make them special, it is the fruit of the Spirit that is evident in someone’s life that makes them admirable.  Galatians 5:22 tells us what those most desirable characteristics are.  “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” These are the qualities that our God, as well as most people truly value in a person, not the outward and material characteristics.

Do you constantly compare yourself with others talents, appearance, treasures and abilities?  Are you plagued by thoughts of inadequacy that torture you day and night?  If so, then you yourself may be battling with that nasty green eyed monster. I believe this cute little name ‘the green eyed monster’ is quite deceiving and does a good job of masking the seriousness and destructiveness of the sin of envy.  As soon as we recognize that Satan is trying to cause us misery by tempting us to be envious of someone else, we must immediately thank God for all of the blessings He’s given us and confess our sin of wanting what someone else has. We must be on guard to our Enemy's schemes to bring about our destruction. Slaying the green eyed monster through confession of our sin of envy is the key to finding the peace, joy and contentment that we’re all searching for.  May today be the day we finally get rid of that nasty bully once and for all!    

     

Undercover

A few weeks ago while traveling, my husband and I actually witnessed a covert sting operation going down right before our very eyes!  We don’t usually get exposed to this sort of excitement in the small quiet town where we live so it seemed to make quite an impression on us. We had stopped to grab a quick dinner just inside a major metropolitan area and upon leaving the restaurant after our meal, we noticed quite a commotion stirring up directly in front of us. We were real life eyewitnesses to undercover detectives taking down drug dealers in broad daylight!

Of course there were a swarm of plain clothed officers gathered around the criminals, along with weapons, handcuffs and plenty of suspense involved in this precarious situation.  Once this maneuver was completed and the drug dealers were contained and taken into custody, the undercover police officers jumped into their unmarked sport utility vehicle parked right next to us and then quickly sped away.  I was amazed at the outward appearance of these undercover cops because they blended in so well with all of the criminals they had caught.  No one would ever have guessed that they were policemen by the way they looked.

 After all of the excitement and flurry had passed, my mind began to pour over all of the possibilities of how dangerous this situation could have turned out to be.  As I thought of the special skills and abilities the police officers had to possess to be able fit in so well with the criminals they surrounded, I was also reminded of the fact that we don’t even have to work in law enforcement in order to go ‘undercover’.  Sadly, there are many of us who involve ourselves in special covert operations on a daily basis and some of us even choose to live our entire existence undercover.

 Our churches are full of them.  Our youth groups are full of them.  Our Christian families are full of them too.  Undercover Christians are everywhere!  No matter who we are, no matter where we live, people are disguising themselves with the ultimate goal of just "fitting in”. Who exactly are these people that are trying so hard to be undercover Christians anyway and why are they so determined to simply blend in with the crowd?

These people are plain clothed “Christ followers” who have no desire whatsoever to stand out for any reason at all.  They have adapted the world’s “herd” mentality and have no plan to ever stray from the influence of the majority group.   We may believe that the tendency for Christians to go undercover diminishes when we enter into adulthood, but I have found that this couldn’t be further from the truth.  There are many Christian adults who continue on with the same old goal of lying low under the radar, going with the flow and living status quo.  Their whole goal in life is to go unnoticed and never care to stand up or stand out for Christ and what He teaches in His Word.  If many adults are choosing to live in this kind of apathetic spiritual existence, why in the world would they be concerned about their children behaving the very same way?  They follow the wide easy road that doesn’t require any effort, rather than standing firm and going against the lukewarm philosophies that have seeped into many Christian’s heart belief systems.
Whatever happened to standing up for what’s right, being bold for Christ and making a difference for His kingdom for eternity?  Year after year passes and we all too often remain unmoved, unchanged, and unmotivated in our spiritual lives.  Many times we’re so consumed with the newest technological gadget, the latest avenue of social media, or the greatest products on the market to make our lives more luxurious.  We are more enamored and distracted with the world and all of its glitter than we are concerned about making a mark for Christ in this world.  We waste precious time living in apathy, unconcerned about much more than the latest movie, television show or music that the world puts out there for our entertainment.  We continue to focus on the temporal rather than the eternal. Where will all of these covert Christian operations lead our marriages, families, churches and society?  I am certain that our spiritual  apathy will never ever allow us to lead anyone to Christ.  Christians cannot show the lost and dying world that we’ve got the solution to their problems through the cross of Jesus if they cannot even see any trace of visible difference in our lives in comparison to how they live.    

How will anyone ever see a difference if we all look the same?

·         Our entertainment is no different.

·         The way we dress is no different.

·         The way we treat others is no different.

·         The way we react when we are offended is no different.

·         How we respond to trials in our life is no different.

·         How we spend our time is no different.

·         What we spend our money on is no different.

·         Our marriages and families are no different.

·         Our parenting is no different.

 We’re so intent on looking just like the world that we’ve lost our effectiveness!  But do we even care anymore?  As a child, one of my favorite songs was “This Little Light of Mine”. The second verse of this song references how we shouldn’t hide our light under a bushel but let it shine brightly.  Too many of us have lights that we’re trying so hard to hide in hopes of “blending in” that no one will ever be able to see the Savior.  Jesus Himself told believers in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they ‘light a lamp’ and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your lights so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” 

Back in Bible times people used oil lamps to light up the whole house so that everyone could see when the sun went down.  It was absurd to think of someone lighting up a lantern simply to take it and hide it under a basket or bushel and remain in the dark.  Instead, Jesus is saying that they would want to put it on a lamp stand so that everyone would be able to clearly see from the bright flame.  When Jesus tells us to “Let our lights so shine before men”, He is not merely making a helpful suggestion for His children.  This is a serious command for us to follow with intent so that the lost will see the light of the Savior.

 Our attraction to the world and desire to “fit in” has caused our lights to become so dimmed or completely go out all together. If we find ourselves in this undercover, unconcerned state of heart and mind then we must realize that there is most definitely an area of sin that needs to be confessed somewhere deep within us.  When our torch for Christ is dim and we only desire mediocrity, we must search ourselves and ask God to reveal whatever sin resides there and quickly confess it.

There comes a time in life when we’ve tried the things the world has to offer and we finally realize that it’s all a lie and none of it brings any peace or contentment.  Unbelievers are searching for answers and they will not find those solutions when we’re undercover, hiding our lights that have been dimmed by sin. We should be ready to share how Christ is the ONLY way to find the peace and joy they are desperately searching for.

I’m not at all implying that we should be a fake plastic examples like I used to be!  I’m being RADICAL and suggesting that each of us actually humbles ourselves in order to clean out all of the ugly sin we’ve been harboring.  Having a pure heart is what will allow us to live the authentic, abundant, shining lights that will draw others to salvation.  In Philippians 2:15 we are told to, “…become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

As you humbly examine your own heart in this area, have you been posing as an undercover Christian who wants to blend in with the crowd?  Has your apathy caused your light to shine dim or go out all together?  Have you adapted the “go with the flow” philosophy that runs so rampant in our Christian families, churches and schools today?  As our time on this earth draws closer to an end, we must purpose to follow God completely and passionately by drawing people to Him through our brightly shining lights.  No more covert operations!

 

I Refuse To Fear!

I do admit that I have struggled with many areas of sin in my life, and just when I think one battle has been conquered, another one seems to begin.  I’ve never considered myself to be a fearful person, but over the last few weeks I’ve had a battle raging inside my heart.  To my surprise, God has been revealing to me that I actually do tend to doubt Him in some situations and neglect to always fully trust Him no matter what. There has been a spiritual conflict, a tug of war between gripping fear and total trust which has been consuming my mind and thoughts continually.

The Sovereign One continues to faithfully whisper, “Will you be anxious for the future or will you completely trust in Me to ‘work all things together for your good’ like I have promised?”  The choice is entirely mine.  I must decide for myself where I will place my dependence and whether or not I will place my confidence and hope in God for every single area of my life.   Will I choose to waiver in my faith which only leads to anxiety or will I come to the place of total reliance on the God who knows ALL?

The truth about fear is that it’s always based on a lie we choose to believe from our enemy.  If Satan can strike us with unrelenting fear and get us to focus on our anxiety, we will not concentrate on the truth.  The truth is found in the Awesome Words of Our God when He tells us in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”  A dear friend of mine reminded me of this verse recently and it has comforted and encouraged me to keep my mind meditating on God and His Word.  Fear never brings peace to our soul.  Part of our Enemy’s strategic battle plan is to use our fears to disable us and keep us from exercising faith that God can and will accomplish the impossible in our lives.  Fear and anxiety only hold us captive but truth always allows us to live in freedom.

If we ‘say’ we love God and trust Him, then where in the world does all of this fear come from?  Many fears that we may have could stem from our childhood or experiences that we’ve gone through in the past.  Some people are frightened of rejection from others and are highly concerned about what others may think of us.  Some struggle with the possibility of total failure in the things we attempt to accomplish in this life.  Others may fear being left alone or even may be frightened of evil.  I do know from experience however that many people have anxiety about the unknown future.  There are hundreds of possible scenarios of terrible situations that we are afraid of that we often replay over again in our minds;  but no matter WHAT fear Satan tempts us with we must remember that God is not only our Creator, He is also our Sustainer.  Our Sustainer will ALWAYS take care of us and meet our every need.

Whatever our fears may be, it is a result of not believing the promises of God to take care of His children in a very special way.  Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 6:26 & 33, “Behold the birds of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  You seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and ALL of these things will be added to you.”  When we choose not to believe what God has told us is truth and doubt Him, we are essentially calling God a liar.  The choice is ours, will we believe what Jesus said or will we choose to live in unbelief and be plagued and tormented by unnecessary and unsubstantiated fear? 
I’ve had to come to the point of making this important decision once again in these past few weeks.  Will I place my total dependence in the Sovereign One or will I live a life tortured by my fears? 

 Recently we have learned that due to many changes in my husband’s company, he will no longer have a job next month.  After ten years of hard work and service, he will not be employed in his current position and they are not promising to find another role for him to fill within the company.  When you hear this kind of news, Satan receives great satisfaction in seeing us being stricken by feelings of fear about our future.  It comes down to whether or not I will put my confidence in my husband’s good income to meet our financial needs or place my trust in the One who owns everything and whose resources are unlimited.

Oh how it surely grieves our sovereign Father when His children do not trust Him to provide for us in ALL things, both big and small!  You see, there is absolutely no one who loves us more than our heavenly Father loves His children.  Would we as parents desire to witness our own children crying and worrying about their future when our track record has shown that we’ve always taken great care of them?  Our deep love and concern for our sons and daughters should be proof that we would never abandon them or leave them to fend for themselves especially during times of great need. We are reminded of this truth in Hebrews 13:6, “…I will NEVER leave you or forsake you.”  Neither will our God ever desert His dear children particularly when He greatly desires to display His awesome and mighty power in our lives.

Once again, I’ve been taken to the spiritual wood shed.  I must admit that it’s never fun going there! The question is will I finally learn my lesson this time?  I’ve been broken once more before my God concerning this area of anxiety and fear.   No more tossing and turning every night!  No more lump in my throat or pit in the bottom of my stomach!  I will no longer allow Satan to have free reign to wreak havoc on my soul!  I have finally confessed my fears and anxieties about the future to Him.  In my mind, I realize that God is God and He already KNOWS that I fail to place my dependence on Him completely in EVERY area, but He desires me to humble myself at His feet and simply admit that I have sinned. I have shed many tears and sorrowed over my sin of being anxious in the past few weeks over the fact that I’ve been SO wrong to doubt my Creator.
 
We trust God completely for our salvation from an eternity of torment in Hell, but I can’t seem to rely on Him to handle our circumstances here on earth?  It makes no sense whatsoever to believe this lie!  And that’s exactly what it is, a lie from pit of Hell and authored by the Father of Lies himself.  I choose not to believe the lies anymore!  I will continue to quote the Truth of Scripture to replace the lies of my greatest enemy.   

 The key to freedom from worry, fear and anxiety is found clearly in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for NOTHING, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made know to God;  and the PEACE of God which surpasses ALL understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  A very wise friend of mine who's also been learning a lot about the sovereignty of God, assured me that she would be praying for us during this time.  She also asked me if we had thanked God yet for allowing Richard to lose His job which was a great reminder of these verses in Philippians.  Thanking God for allowing us to go through hard times may sound crazy to most people, but it is exactly the place where we must come to in order to possess peace in the storm.  We MUST thank God for what HE sovereignly allows to happen for our good, then God’s peace that we cannot even explain will surround and guard our hearts through those trials.

Is this concept of struggling with fear and anxiety totally foreign to you?  I hope so, but if you are anything like me, you must continually realize that God is on the throne and we must trust Him to work out our good for His glory in every situation. God does not want His children to waste on minute on worrying about anything, but rather desires for us to bring our concerns to Him.”  May we rest completely in the sovereign workings of our Holy God and trust Him to work the impossible in and through us no matter what our circumstances may be.

Does It Take 'Will Power' or God's Power?

Most people following my blog have read my very first post called “Saved from the Road to Destruction”.  It’s my story of how God radically changed my wicked heart after many years of inner rebellion.  More than 4 years ago I finally humbled myself and gave up the intense struggle to control my own life and let my Creator have the preeminence for the plans He has created me for.  Although I’ve been enjoying awesome freedom, peace and joy in my life like never before, I’ve continued to struggle with one area that I honestly believed was simply a matter of ‘willpower’.  To win this battle, I thought it was up to me to exercise self control with a few prayers sprinkled in along the way for good measure.  I have believed the Enemy’s lies which have kept me locked up in an emotional prison where I’ve been tortured by this looming problem that would never go away.  Oh how I’m thankful for God’s patience concerning my sin, but earlier this summer I came to a breaking point that has further altered the course of my life.  I don’t enjoy sobbing in front of people, so I’m thankful that none of you reading this post can witness the tears that stream down my face as I pour my heart out to you today.  My passion is for others to learn from the lessons God is teaching me so you can avoid needless suffering.

I’ve heard that the power of sin lies in the secrecy of it, so it’s now my desire to be transparent about the strongholds that have kept me from totally being who God wants me to be.  I’ve been enslaved to the limitations of being overweight for about 12 years.  All along I was hoping that maybe I had some medical problem such as a hormonal issue or possibly my thyroid was out of balance.  If I just had some sort of medical condition that prohibited me from losing weight I could explain my tremendous struggle.  After being checked out by a few physicians I discovered that all my efforts had been in vain!  Test after test came back that proved I was not suffering from any condition that would keep me from losing weight.  I then moved on to the theory that I just needed to muster up enough will power to stick to a healthy eating plan to lose those stubborn pounds.  My goal for losing weight was not even so that I could wear 60% more of the clothes in my closet.  My motivation is much more important than having more variety in my wardrobe.

Lately I been witnessing the truth that James talks about in James 4:14, “…For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”  I’m now more desperate to live this life God’s given me to the fullest and accomplish whatever He has called me to do with NO regret.  I realize that I need to be healthier and be able to serve the Lord better and longer.  Please know that I am in no way even implying that anyone who is overweight like me is in sin because God makes us all different colors, shapes and sizes and we can all be used for His honor and glory regardless of any of those factors.  The key to success and blessing in this life is for each of us is to simply pray and ask God to reveal His will and for us to humble ourselves and be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in areas He wants us to change. None of us are perfect, but we must constantly be reaching for the goal of becoming more like Christ and be willing to allow God to transform us in every single area.

Let’s just say that I will always refer to the summer of 2013 as another instance when God lovingly ‘kicked me in the seat of my spiritual pants’.  I willingly admit that these strongholds regarding my weight were not easily loosened at first.  I’ve been blinded for 12 years by Satan’s lies to try to get me to hold onto the sin so I would never be free.  Our Enemy also works in any way he can to derail us from accomplishing ALL God has for us to do and therefore miss out on blessings He has for us.  The Holy Spirit began to get my attention through a book we’ve been going through in our adult Bible Study class which is called, “Follow Me “by David Platt.  As I listened to the video of the author who is also a Pastor, I became greatly convicted that it was about time I yielded my ‘will power’ to God’s ‘Almighty power’ that could truly change me to the core.  I learned that our God has created a craving in each of us and has designed those cravings we have to ONLY be fulfilled by Him.

As I listened to the author speak further, I thought about all of the cravings I’ve had over the years which were mostly concerning sugar, chocolate, and just comforting foods in general.  I finally realized that I had lots of cravings, but I was trying to fulfill those longings with food instead of God.  I’ve also learned through this study that we can “live for the fleeting pleasures of this world, OR we can live for the everlasting pleasures in God.  ONLY God is able to bring infinite joy and satisfaction in our life and anything other than God is simply a CHEAP imitation that ONLY brings guilt!”  If there were ever a “poster child” for suffering from a guilty soul, it would be me.  I could totally relate to these truths I was learning because for years I had tried to meet my emotional needs with food.  I’m a homeschooling mom of 5 and on those extra challenging stressful days, I felt I ‘deserved’ to satisfy my cravings for comfort food to help me cope; so shouldn’t I be able to treat myself all of the time?  Isn’t this the exact philosophy of the world as it teaches us through all of those chocolate and fast food commercials?  Let me clearly state the fact that chocolate or yummy food is NOT evil.  Those things are ONLY wrong when we substitute them in an effort to satisfy our cravings and comfort us when our needs are ONLY able to be truly satisfied by our Creator.  I’ve also learned that if we are delighting in anything other than our God and relying on the things of this world to satisfy our longings, then we are being blinded and will never experience true freedom and the joy that Christ intends for us. 

The day when the Holy Spirit began to convict me about this sin, I was visibly in turmoil all day as God continued to work on me.   I could not sleep well at all that night and kept praying for God to show me what I needed to do to get rid of the struggle inside me.  In the morning I woke up and got on my knees and read the verses in Psalm 51 where King David humbled himself and was broken before God over his sin of adultery.  As I sobbed I read these verses back to God:
(Psalms 51:1-4, 10-12)  “Have mercy on me, O God, According to Your loving kindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.  I acknowledge my transgressions,  And my sin is ever before me.  Against You, You only have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight- that You may be found just when you speak, And blameless when You judge.”  (Vs. 10-12)  “Create in me a clean heart O God, And renew a right spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the JOY of Your salvation, And uphold me with Your generous Spirit.”
I finally begged forgiveness from God for replacing the cravings HE has given me with cheap worldly imitations and asked for transformation in my heart and life.  I immediately felt the heavy weight of sin lifted off me and knew that the power of God had taken all of those longings away.  I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.”  No matter who we are or what we’ve done, and no matter how long we may have done it, when we confess our sin to God the slate is wiped completely clean by Him.  I am overjoyed to also note that since the heaviness of my “spiritual weight” was lifted off of me that day through confession of craving the wrong things, I have also lost almost 30 pounds of “physical weight”.  This is the beginning and I’m trusting in God’s power to enable me to lose the rest of the weight slowly over time.     

If you’re depending on your own “will power” to change any area of your life, I promise that you will not see permanent results.  As with all things, band aids do not heal, you must get to the “root” of the problem to find true and lasting victory.  Galatians 5:24 tells us, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”   We no longer have to be slaves to our sin as it states in Romans 6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”  Just as we would never expect a heart surgeon to operate on someone’s brain to fix a heart condition, we cannot expect to overcome a spiritual problem we’re struggling with by using the ‘will power’ of our mind.  God never designed our intellect to cleanse our heart from sin.  We must humbly yield our will to God’s, see our sin how God sees it and confess it for our heart condition to be healed.  Our solution lies in allowing God to transform our desires into His desires, and to crave Him instead of cheap imitations.

Do you have an area of your life where you know you have been craving, longing after or worshipping something other than God?  If you’re like me, you may have struggles you’ve dealt with for years and you’re still trying to muster up enough ‘will power’ to conquer them?  You may need to finally give up on your ‘will power’ and be yielded and willing to allow God’s ‘Almighty power’ to take control of your heart instead of those other things you’ve been craving.  It’s through humility of heart, brokenness of spirit and admission and confession of our wrong cravings that will allow us to draw on our God’s awesome power to overcome strongholds in our lives.  May you then experience to true joy that David talks about in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me with Your generous Spirit.”   Only God can do that kind of transformation, no will power needed!