Spiritual Warfare

It's been months since I've had the time to make a post! So much has been happening with school and work and life in general.

I decided to catch up on some of my devotion reading out of my one book I got for Christmas last year. It's called "Voices of the Faithful" by Beth Moore. It's basically a book of inspiring stories of courage from Christians serving around the world. Yes I did just copy that from the front of the book. :P But Beth Moore is one of my favorite speakers, and she writes the intro for each new topic at the beginning of each month. Yes, I'm way behind since I'm just now starting the ones for October....

Anyway, October's devotions are on spiritual warfare, and at the beginning of October, Beth wrote something I thought I'd share.

J. R. R. Tolkien: "The board is set. The pieces are moving."
As we prepare for the return of the real King, the board is set and the pieces are indeed moving. Satan is sly. His motto? "Whatever works." He doesn't come in a red suit carrying a pitchfork. He fools spiritual people most easily when dressed as an angel of light. He comes as a friend. A Judas. Something that comforts our dysfunctional souls, pats our fleshy heads and sympathizes with our strongholds. He tries to gain our trust and assure us of things like this: "I understand you. No one could blame you. You deserve this. No one will ever know. God will forgive you anyway. You can't help it. Go ahead. Don't resist it. It's not that bad. Everybody's like this. No one's really free. Indulge. No harm done." Then one day Judas kisses you on the cheek and betrays you, and you see him for who he is. The result isn't pretty.
Stop flirting with the devil! Stop it before all hell literally breaks loose. Fight the fire. Let God deal with our stuff and surrender completely to Him. He knows best, whether we like it or not.
"Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thess. 5:21-24, NIV).

I really thought that was awesome the way everything was worded here! It's so true! We, as Christians, often need to be "sifted like wheat" (Luke 22:31, NASB) like Peter had to be.
Imagine Christ saying, "You can either let me prune you [John 15], or I can use the devil to scare it out of you." We want the former, not the latter.

(I will try to not be so late with my next post. I originally wanted to post at least once a month, if not twice.)
God bless everyone who reads this!

What do you believe about yourself?

I was just sitting here reading the book The Unshakable Truth by father and son Josh and Sean McDowell. Amazing book! Truth number Seven is called "Living The Transformed Life" and chapter 30 is the third part of that truth. It is entitled "Seeing Yourself As God Sees You".

First of all, think of the most important people in your life. Parents? Friends? Teachers? Think on the things they say about you. Do they say you're a caring friend? A caring daughter/son? A smart student? A loving husband/wife? Someone who is not committed? Lazy? Antisocial? Unhappy? Mean?

Whatever the most important people in our lives say about us, we tend to believe. Am I right? We conform to their way of thinking. If what they say is negative, our thoughts toward ourself are also negative and we become very unhappy and begin to develop a low self-esteem. But if what they say is positive, we have a more positive attitude about life.

That should also be true with what GOD says about us. If He is the most important person in your life, you should believe him whole-heartedly. In the Bible, God says:

1.) You are His masterpiece (Eph. 2:10).
2.) You are beautiful (Ps. 139:14, Gen. 1:27, Song of Solomon 4:7).
3.) He loves you with an ever-lasting love (Jer. 31:3, Jn 3:16).
4.) He cares about what goes on in your life (2 Peter 5:7, Ps. 46:1).
5.) You are important (Jer. 29:11).

 

Please look up those verses and feel the truth behind the words.

 

Romans 12:2 (ESV) even tells us to not conform to the ways of this world. "...but be transformed by the renewal of your mind..." Let the Word of God transform your mind and the way you view yourself. Don't let the mindless words of other define who you are as a person. :) <3