Community

We sing songs of worship and tell God, "You're all I've ever needed," and "You're more than enough for me," and so I it must be wrong to depend on anything or anyone else but Him. On the other hand, when I fail to be intentional about surrounding myself with other people, I watch my faith grow dimmer and less passionate. I have a friend that calls me regularly and every time we get on the phone, we are bursting at the seams with things that God is doing in our hearts. We share and encourage and every single time I walk away from a conversation with her, I feel like I love God a little bit more and I am a little bit more passionate about serving Him. I know that she is a blessing from God. In fact, I feel like I need her. Jesus Christ is my number one love, He is my everything....and yet I think I need someone else to help my keep Him number one. I thank God that He understands that we need people and He gives us a community of believers to push us closer to Him. I pray that I will also push others to Him.

Don't Let Up

Since I have grown up in the church, I have been taught about "the armor of God" and Spiritual warfare my wholelife. However, I struggle to grasp the reality of the being of Satan and recognize his attacks in my life as what they are. And I think that that is the way he likes it. I feel like God has been doing some work in my life lately, freeing me from insecurities and myths that I have always believed. As I was working through some issues in my heart that I had not even realized were there, in the back of my mind, subtle thoughts crept in such as "This is really not a big deal," and "Why are you hashing through this, it's not even healthy to think about these things." But as I started to believe these things, it struck me that the only one who does not want me to work through the issues of my heart to experience release from them is Satan. And so he feeds me lies so that I will hang on and supress my little hurts and issues so that they pile up and keep me from experiencing my salvation to the fullest. In that moment, it was so clear to me that I was believing things that were coming directly from the mouth of Satan, but how skilled he is at masking his lies.

Recently, I was having a converstaion with a good friend in which we were talking about spiritual issues and were able to really encourage each other. I walked away from the talk inspired and motivated to share what I was learning with others. But as soon as I got in my car to drive home, I began having these thoughts again. Doubts flooded my mind. I tried to focus my thoughts on the positive, but I just kept thinking, "What if this isn't true? You can't really live in this. It's just a fantasy world, too good to be true." What hatred I felt for Satan in that moment. God was blessing me with truth and freedom, and Satan was going to do everything in his power to take that from me. Well this time, I was not going to let him. I began to pray that God would protect my mind and my heart from Satan's attacks. I spent the full 45 minute drive to home praying outloud for protection and denouncing Satan's hold on my life. I felt as if I stopped praying for a second, Satan would be there to attack.

The other night I shared my experience with my sister, and she told me of a similar experience. I thank God that He has allowed me to recognize these attacks on my life, for I have ignored them for so long. But my sister and I discussed how discouraging it can be to think that Satan will not give up. He sees us faithfully walking with the Lord and he can't wait to steal our joy. The Scripture that says "Pray without ceasing" came to mind. That is how I felt that day while I was driving. The only way to fight of Satan's attacks on my mind was to pray without ceasing and deliever the truth of the Word of God straight to his face. We cannot let up. Satan is prowling around, looking for one of us to devour. But we have a power greater than he is. The truth of the gospel can defeat him and God will be faithful to protect us. But it is only by living in continual communion with God, living in His truth that we will be protected. We must continually put on His righteousness so that Satan will not have a chance against us. Praise the Lord that He is more powerful.

Freedom

Do you ever think about what it means to be free? I mean truly free? We live in a "free" country, yet how many of us live like we are free? When I think of freedom, I get a mental image of running through a field with my hair blowing in the wind and the sun beating on my face. I reach my hands up in the air, do a little dance, and yell joyfully just because I can. Thinking about that image brings a pleasant feeling to my soul. But what is it about that picture that is appealing? And how do I live like I'm running through a field?

As Christians, we know that Christ died to bring us freedom. He came to free us from our sins. That being said, I know few Christians who really live like they understand what that means, myself included. Even though we have received forgiveness, we continue to believe Satan's lies about our value, and we continue to allow our hurts and fears to hinder us from truly living. This is not the way we were intended to live! Thank God that He has something so much better than that!

God wants to give us freedom way beyond Salvation. Accepting his forgiveness is only the beginning of His work to remove our chains. But we have to trust Him. He desperately wants to heal our hurts, but we have to expose our wounds to him. We have to take off the band-aids that hide those painful cuts and allow His gentle hand to touch and heal them. That's vulnerability and I think that can be kind of scary. But why should it be? He already knows that the wounds are there. In fact, He knows them better than we do and His hurt breaks to watch us suffer with them. How he longs to heal His broken people.

When we choose to be vulnerable with God, to know Him and be known by Him, it is then that we are healed. And within this intimacy with Him that we feel His pleasure in us. There is no joy like resting in His presence and knowing that the God of the universe delights in me! I know that His love for me is unconditional; He loves me in my brokenness, in my rebelliousness, and also in my glory. No matter where I am in life, He is passionately loving me. And so I know that I am His beloved and so nothing else matters. My validation of who I am is found in Him and Him alone. Therefore my failure on earth has no bearing on my value as a person. He can not love me any more and He will not love me any less. That is freedom. I am free to be vulnerable and free to live!

Even as I write these glorious truths that God has pressed upon my heart, a smile creeps onto my face. My mind wanders back to the image of me running through a field. This time I'm yelling, "I'm free! I am His beloved and I am free!"

Welcome to my Journey

Sometimes I think I have an overactive mind...I do a lot of thinking. Sometimes I think about meaningless nonsense and sometimes I get so excited about the thoughts swirling around in my head I can't wait to tell someone because I need to get them out. Life is a journey and as I make my way through life, I never stop changing. My thoughts and my perspectives are continually evolving as I learn from the people around me. I like to think that once in awhile my thoughts are worth something and that the act of sharing them might be beneficial to someone. So I am choosing to share them with you, whoever you may be. Welcome to my thoughts and welcome to my journey.