Quietness and Confidence are our Strength

The proud and haughty think only of themselves. They have a superior attitude and demean others in order to make themselves greater in their own sight.

They gossip, backbite and bully people; thinking they are wise and better than anyone else. Some people really believe this, but some are insecure and hide behind this mask (Psalm 131:1).

It is only as we are quiet before the Lord that He can search us and teach us to know our own heart. He tries us and knows our thoughts. He sees the wickedness within us and leads us to His everlasting truth (Psalm 139:23).

Our soul is like a little child within us - frightened, demanding and careless. As we learn to trust in the Lord now and always, we rest in His loving arms (Psalm 131:2-3).

We wait in hope by faith, and God gives us His Son of righteousness as our salvation (Galatians 5:5). We rest in His secure hope and safety (Job 11:18). Courage and strength fill our heart as we hope in the Lord (Psalm 19:7; 31:24).

God is our help and shield (Palm 33:20). We never feel ashamed, even in hard times, because we have patience and rejoice as we pray to and trust in Him and worship His holy name (Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:3).

God reveals to us the mysteries of the riches of His glory through Christ who dwells in us, and gives us a living hope of dwelling with Him for eternity (Colossians 1:27).

We do not even have to worry about what we will eat or wear. As He cares for nature, He provides even more for us. Worry cannot add an hour to our life or an inch to our stature. In fact, stress from worry reduces the quality and quantity of our life (Luke 12:22-26).

Only as we cast all of our cares on God's strong shoulders can we truly enter into His rest. He will never let us fall (Psalm 55:22). He is our light, our salvation and our stronghold, so we have no need to fear (Psalm 27:1)

Prayer:

Father God, this world often terrifies us; but the fact that You will never leave or abandon us gives us hope, strength and courage (Deuteronomy 31:6). You hold our hand, help us and redeem us (Isaiah 41:13-14; Proverbs 29:25). You are our refuge, strength and ever-present help in any times of trouble (Psalm 46:1, 118:6-7).

You surround us with Your holy angels and protect us from threats and trouble (Psalm 34:7; 1 Peter 3:14). As we call on You, You free us from all of our fears and You fight for us (Psalm 34:4; Deuteronomy 3:22). Nothing will ever separate us from Your love - not even the power of Satan and all of His demons (Romans 8:38-39).

Thought for the Day:

Whomever dwells in the shelter of God Almighty will rest in the shadow of His wings; we climb into Him as our strong tower and refuge and are safe. - Psalm 91:1-16

Two-Stepping

Our Christian walk is a two-step process. We start by repenting of our former way of life, which was degraded by Satan's lies and earthly desires (Ephesians 4:22). Each of us is distracted by various sinful elements.

Some of us lie, but God calls us to speak truth; or we steal and take what does not belong to us, yet God calls us to work and earn money to buy what we need, as well as to share with others (Ephesians 4:25, 28).

Some have trouble with anger; and though it is a God given emotion, we often harbor grudges, while God encourages us to forgive before the sun sets each day, so that we do not give Satan entry into our soul (Ephesians 4:26-27).

Other people use foul language, when God wants us to use our words to edify and minister grace to those who hear us. Some even take God's name in vain and use degrading words, which grieve God's Spirit (Ephesians 4:29-30).

All of us give in at one time or another to bitterness, quarreling, gossip, antagonism and forms of cruelty, when God calls us to live with humility, compassion, patience, gentleness and kindness, as we forgive slights and wrongs just as God forgives us (Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:10).

The second step is to renew our mind with the righteousness mind of Christ and to walk in true holiness all the days of our life (Luke 1:75; Ephesians 4:24). This may sound daunting, but Christ already did it for us.

We are buried with Christ through our baptism into His death, in order to be raised with Him from death in the glory of God, our Father. This allows us to live a fulfilled, blessed new life in Christ, as we exchange our corrupted character with the nature of Christ, promised to us by God Himself (2 Peter 1:4; Romans 6:4; Colossians 3:3-4).

Prayer:

Father God, by separating our self from the sin, which once bound us as its slave, we are freed from the law and allowed to serve You through Your Spirit, rather than by decrees and legalism (Romans 7:6). You enable us to submit to You as You transform our mind, rather than to be conformed to the design of this evil world.

We have no more desire to gratify the sinful desires of our flesh, and we walk as a new creation, Your handiwork, created in Christ to live in Your will, which You prepared for us prior to our birth (Ephesians 2:10; Romans 12:2, 13:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:10).

Thought for the Day:

My soul silently waits for God alone; my salvation comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my stronghold; I will never be shaken. - Psalm 62:1-2

Freedom from Strongholds

  

When Satan tempts us with a fleeting thought, we have two choices: we can ignore and dismiss it or entertain and dwell on it. If we dismiss it, we are free from its bondage. If we entertain it, we are in danger of falling under its oppression; and those who are not Born Again risk the possibility of possession by demonic beings (2 Peter 2:18-19).

It only takes 3-6 weeks to develop both good and bad habits. These habits develop a stronghold in our soul, and often in our body as well. Breaking negative habits is often a difficult and expensive endeavor. Even if we push these negative habits into our subconscious mind and stop them for a season, current events may trigger these old feelings and habits again.

We will revert back to them as a form of comfort, rebellion or a desire to be in control of some aspect of our life. Each time these habits resurface, they deepen the scars in our soul, and it is increasingly more difficult to extricate our self from them (2 Peter 2:20). Life triggers issues from our past and we respond to current conflict with unhealthy behavior patterns.

( www.theophostic.com )

We can completely escape from the strongholds of these habits only as we surrender them to God for healing and allow Him to guide us to resolve the inner conflicts, which connect us to them. If we repent of our sins and relinquish control of our life to Jesus Christ, He will slowly replace the negative aspects of our personality and soul with His divine nature and spiritual fruit (2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 2:22-23; Ephesians 4:13).

Prayer:
Father God, Jesus Christ, our Prince of Peace, is our only hope and solution for freedom from this sin-cursed world. Help us to put on our new self in Christ and to walk in Your true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). We look forward to being like Christ when He returns (1 John 3:2). People today close their ears to Your Truth, deceive others as they are deceived, and seek solutions for their problems apart from You (Jeremiah 6:10-14). However, You always give strength to Your people and bless us with peace regardless of the circumstances we encounter in life (Psalm 29:11).

Thought for the Day:

Only those who surrender their life to the Prince of Peace will ever experience true peace in this life and in the next.

Cleansing Our Soul

 

God is integrally involved in the life of all of His Saints. He gives us His law to protect us and His Spirit to direct us. He created us as a triune being with a body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). God gives us the ability to overcome Satan's hold on us by our salvation in Christ and then by the word of our testimony (Revelataion 12:11).

The first place to defeat Satan is in our negative emotions. These crippling feelings are resulting from sins, which we committed, or which someone else executed against us. They are still infiltrating our soul, weighing us down and limiting our usefulness. Bitterness, anger, pride, rebellion, jealousy, frustration, depression, doubt, guilt, hopelessness, fear and others, all plague our soul to distraction.

They overcome the peace in soul due to the wounds from our past. We are holding on to them and nursing these wounds like trophies. They help us to feel sorry for our self and to have an excuse for not reaching our potential in life. We do not want to admit to ourselves, nor to anyone else, the things that others did to us. We do not want to forgive them, but this only cripples us more.  ( www.theophostic.com )

We falsely believe that these strong, negative emotions will protect us from any past, present, and future hurt. Satan deceives us with these lies. What these negative emotions actually do, however, is to block our soul from receiving the fullness of the love that God has for us. We do not need anger, pride, bitterness or any negative emotion to protect us. The King of Kings is our mighty stronghold and fortress (Psalm 18:2, 144:2).

Prayer:

Father God, we can depend on You to cleanse our soul of all negative emotions and past wounds. As we put our trust in You, we live in abiding peace and joy - not only in our spirit, but deep within our soul as well. You keep us in perfect peace when we focus on You and trust in Your plan for our life (Isaiah 26:3). Only as we come to You in every circumstance and wait on Your timing, will we find peace and success in our life (Proverbs 3:5-6). Your quietness and strength within us give us the confidence to walk in Your ways (Isaiah 30:15).

Thought for the Day:

We can look for the seed of a miracle in every negative circumstance, because God promises to work all things, even the bad things, out for our good. - Romans 8:28

Going Crazy!

 

Have you ever felt like you were going crazy? Nothing makes sense in your life. You have no direction. You are squeezed into a mold where you do not fit. 

There is a war going on in your mind...like there is a whole crowd of people up there arguing! I have a simple explanation, and an even simpler solution. Our mind is the battleground where Satan wars against us.

Our soul includes our mind, will and emotions. Our mind affects every part of us, including our physical well-being. The imagination is where Satan likes to play. 

He perverts the truth and comes up with all sorts of lies, which, unbelievably, we accept as truth! Then they affect us adversely for the rest of our life.  ( www.theophostic.com )

We live in this world, yet we do not wage war in the natural realm. Our weapons are not of this world. God gives us His divine power to demolish every spiritual stronghold we encounter. 

We can take authority over every haughty lie, which rises up against God's spiritual truth and against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).

God gave us divinely powered weapons to demolish all of Satan’s strongholds. We do this by taking every thought captive and having the mind of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5). 

The Holy Spirit’s priority is helping us to know and to do the will of God in His power (Philippians 2:12-13). He does this by transforming our mind to the mind of Christ (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Prayer:

Father God, Satan really refined his art of deception over the years. However, Your Spirit of truth abiding in us, guides us to Your truth. When we surrender to You, our God of peace in us, there is no more lunacy warring in our mind. Now we can stand against the devil's wiles, which he shoots at us as fiery darts (Ephesians 6:11,16; John 16:13). 

You sent Your Holy Spirit in Jesus' name to teach us everything we need to know and to remind us of what we read in Your Word (John 14:26-27). You give us victory over the evil one through the power of Christ in us (Colossians 1:27). In Jesus' name, we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Your Word (2 Corinthians 10: 3-5).

Thought for the Day:

Do not conform your thoughts to the pattern of this world or Satan's lies, but allow God's Spirit to renew your mind to know the perfect will of God. - Romans 12:2