Not This Moment

May 20, 2019 by Leave a Comment

temptation, comfort, spiritual warfareHow important can a single moment in time be?  If God is eternal and our souls were created as eternal and if we persist even after our bodies die then weighed against all eternity how much does one single moment matter?  For God, who is our eternal creator, it turns out that it isn’t so much the moments that matter but what we choose to do in those moments that make the difference.

We matter to God.  Us.  All things were created for His pleasure and we are the pinnacle of that creation story.  How we choose to spend our moments and the decisions that we make with the time that we have been given matter very much, both to God and to us.  It is all too easy to take our time for granted and to take the love and blessings that He bestows on us for granted along with it.  Unless we decide, day by day and moment by moment, to orient ourselves towards His perfect plan we will be spending our moments in vain and living a life that is so much less than it could be.

But even after we have decided to give ourselves fully to God and His way, it does not make the spending of our precious time and those finite moments any easier.  If anything, it gets even more difficult because now the powers of darkness have set themselves against us and we become soldiers under fire in a battle of spiritual warfare.  Anything and everything that the enemy can do to tempt us, distract us, discourage us or disqualify us they can and will surely do.

I don’t know about you, but I have experienced a lot of those types of moments recently.  Moments where I could literally feel the darkness pressing against my heart and my mind, screaming at me to yield and to submit to something that God would not have me do.  And my flesh, our flesh, is not strong enough to resist that kind of attack on its own.  Without the power of Christ in us in the form of His Holy Spirit we would never be able to withstand those temptations and remain victorious for God.

In one of those moments recently I was reminded of a song, by the Newsboys, called “Stay Strong”.  Here’s what the song says and why I found it to be so comforting:

You’re in the moment now
A bitter root
A wandering eye and then
The ties that bind start wearing thin, thin

You’re in the moment now
When all you’ve been blessed with
Is not enough
Here’s where the ground gets loose
Here’s where the devils call your bluff

Stay strong
You are not lost
Come on and fix your eyes ahead
There’s a new dawn to light our day, our day
You’ve gotta stay strong
You and I run
For the prize that lies ahead
We’ve come too far to lose our way, our way

We’ve seen the tragic flaws
The tortured souls
The saints with feet of clay
Here’s where sin becomes cliche’

We’ve come through wilderness and watched
The cloud by day
The burning sky into dawn
Have you forgotten who you are?
Did you forget whose trip you’re on?

Stay strong
You are not lost
Come on and fix your eyes ahead
There’s a new dawn to light our day, our day
We’ve gotta stay strong
You and I run
For the prize that lies ahead
We’ve come too far to lose our way, our way

Get up, there’s further to go
Get up, there’s more to be done
Get up, this witness is sure
Get up, this race can be won
This race can be won

We’ve gotta stay strong
You are not lost
Come on and fix your eyes ahead
Our Father’s dawn will light our day, our day
Come on and stay strong
His grip is sure
And His patience still endures
There’ll be no letting go today, no way

Come on, and stay strong
You and I run
For the prize that lies ahead
We’ve come too far to lose our way, our way

I hope that these lyrics will help and comfort you as they did me.  Our God will always grant us grace and strength to overcome all of our trials and moments of temptation.  And then we can say, “I will not yield, not this moment, not this time.  To God be the glory, great things He has done!”

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How to Survive, Thrive and Prosper in Spiritual Warfare

September 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment

spiritual warfareDo you ever feel like everything is against you?  Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try you end up defeated and discouraged as a Christian?  If so, it could be because you aren’t fighting the right battle.  And make no mistake, you are fighting a battle whether you realize it or not.

If you are a saved child of God then you have a very real enemy who is not physical but spiritual.  Just as God is spirit, so too is the enemy and his minions.  This enemy is doing everything in their power to distract, confuse and ultimately discredit you as a Christian.  The Apostle Peter said it like this: 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)  The enemy is in constant search mode looking for Christians who are not vigilant and are not prepared.  These are the ones who are easy prey and all too often it is you and I.  So then, how do we prepare for and gain victory against such an enemy?

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (physical) but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

The Apostle Paul understood the battleground.  Although the consequences are all too often in the realm of the physical the actual battleground is spiritual.  The war is waged in our hearts and minds first and foremost.  Sin is birthed in the heart, in our innermost places.  The enemy knows our weakest areas and he is just waiting for us to have a vulnerable moment, a bad day or an urge for something or someone so strong that it overcomes our defenses.

Therefore we must have a strong defense.  We must have a heart that desires God above all and a mind that wants to know Him more and more.  And we must be grounded and rooted in God’s Word so that we do not remain ignorant about our enemy or more importantly, where our victory comes from.

Notice again the verse above: “for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God”.  Paul is trying to tell us that even though we won’t be picking up a physical sword or gun to fight the enemy, we still have weapons available to us that are powerful enough to “pull down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God”.  God has given us everything we need to be victorious but it is up to us to grow in strength and maturity in Christ.

Prayer is where we must start.  A vital prayer life keeps us connected to God in our spirit and helps us to keep our minds centered on God and away from temptation.  I pray every single day that God would place a hedge of protection around me and deliver me from the evil one because I know how vulnerable I am without His protection.  I recognize my own weakness and in doing so, ask God to give me His strength.

Quoting scripture is also an excellent defense against the powers of darkness.  Whenever I am tempted to complain or become discouraged I can always find a verse in God’s Word that lifts me up and encourages me to keep going.  I have my own favorites that I have memorized but I urge you to study the Bible and find those verses that really speak to your heart.  If you are earnestly searching the Bible for a special word from the Lord then He will always give you exactly what you need.

Bolstered by prayer and armed with God’s Word in your heart you will find your outlook on life much improved.  You will succeed where once you failed and you will not be a victim but a conqueror through Christ Jesus our Lord.

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