Life
is hard. We are either in a trial, coming out of a trial, or about to go into a
trial. Fear of the future, tears of pain, shattered dreams, and disasters
attempt to break us down.
We
have few days that are stress-free and smooth, unless we are walking in the
center of God's will for us. If we seek God's plans first, He supplies all of
our needs (Matthew 6:33).
Are
we creating our own trials? When we realize that we are constantly experiencing
hardships, we can check-in with God. If we are following His plans for our life
(Ephesians 2:10), we have deep, inner peace regardless of the circumstances.
We
can look at our Biblical examples and see how their faith helped them to
actually rejoice during difficult times (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Philippians
4:4-8). They had their eyes on God's eternal prize for us, and the earthly
events did not disturb their thoughts or attitude.
The
devil is our adversary, and he would love to derail our life (1 Peter 5:8). He
lies to us, puts negative thoughts in our mind, and causes us to doubt God's
love and to feel that we are unlovable.
However,
if we draw near to God and resist the devil, he has to flee from us (James
4:7). We live victoriously over every scheme of the devil, because Jesus
defeated him for us when He died on Calvary's cross (Revelation 20:10).
We
also reign victoriously over the temptations of the world (1 John 5:4; 1
Corinthians 10:13). We no longer want to participate in carnal activities or
amass worldly goods through covetousness (Romans 6:6). We have the mind of
Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and our perspective on life changed.
Prayer:
Father
God, You resists the proud, but You give grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1
Peter 5:5-6). As we humble our pride, our intimacy with You increases. We spend
more time in prayer, praise and gratitude for who You are, and for Your
constant blessings, which You pour out on our daily life.
We
are so grateful to You for making us victorious in Christ over the powers and
principalities of Satan's kingdom. Through the power of Your Spirit in us, we
can overcome whatever life, the world and the devil attempt to use to hinder
us. We win every battle when we look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Thought
for the Day:
Our
only adversary is the hosts of territories, powers, rulers of darkness and
spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12); therefore rather than
fighting one another, we can band together and do spiritual warfare against
Satan and his forces.
