The Love of God

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For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—  to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

God’s amazing creation speaks of His awesome and boundless being. Everything He has created including Heavens, the earth, and all the galaxies are expansive and beyond our human understanding. Scientists continue to discover His creation using technology and instrumentation to understand what He has put in place. One person or one scientist is not capable of understanding everything. They cannot embark on such a huge project alone, but many people over centuries have contributed to the discovery and understanding of God’s amazing creation and the laws that He has put in place.

Similarly, when we meditate on God’s love, we find that His love is vast and cannot be comprehended entirely; His love has width, length, depth, and height. The love of God is boundless and beyond the understanding of one person. His love is experienced by millions of His children over history, and we each get to have a revelation of who He is and what He intended through Jesus’ love, obedience, and sacrifice. It is this great love that Jesus commanded us to tell others about it and share the Good News of salvation! People need to know that there is a God in heaven who loves them and has made a way for freedom from death, darkness, and slavery to sin for every person on this earth!

Humanity is in desperate need of God’s love. As His children, we also are in desperate need of the love of the Lord to settle our hearts and keep us secure in an insecure world! That’s why our relationship with God has to have a continual intimacy. It is not because we are trying to be religious, but we are in need of God’s love to refill our hearts and to be rooted and grounded in His love. This allows us to go out to the world full of His love and not seek others’ approval or pat on the back to live a full and Godly life!

The Lord is calling us to meditate on His love and to rest in Him. This is a song that kept coming to my heart in the last few days. Feel free to use it in your time of worship and meditation.

 

Love the Lord Your God (Part IV)

Leave a Comment / Love of God, Meditate, Mind / By

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  Matthew 22:34-40

Jesus’ great commandment seems simple until we start dissecting the different aspects of what He commanded us. In the last devotionals, I shared about the importance of loving God with a pure heart and a soul that is submitted under the direction of the Holy Spirit. In this devotional, I will share about loving God with all our minds.

Many times, our minds are the entry points for all kinds of temptations, anxiety, derailment, and sin. What we entertain in our minds eventually produces fruit of its kind. We may think that our thoughts are hidden from people, but what we allow to be sown in our minds, will eventually show up in the fruit that it produces in our attitudes, reactions, and behaviors.

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Matthew 16:23

When Jesus told His disciples about His suffering, death, and resurrection, Peter did not like what he heard! Peter loved Jesus immensely and did not want to see Jesus harmed, but his protest about Jesus’ fate was not welcomed by Jesus! To the contrary, Jesus told him that Peter was offensive and that his mind was not focused on the things of God rather than on the things of men.

Jesus had picked Peter and the other disciples for God’s purpose. His intention was not to be their best friend or to just do life together. He was training and equipping them to take over the ministry after His sacrifice on the cross. However, Peter was being carnal at this point, and the only thing he could think about was not losing the one he loved. In contrast, Jesus loved them all, but He did not allow His love for His disciples to derail him from His mission! His mind was made up about fulfilling God’s purpose even if it meant leaving His disciples!

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6

In life, we can develop many loves and treasures, but we need to be careful in not allowing them to lead us into carnality. One of the symptoms of carnal-mindedness is losing peace. When we try to figure things out in our own strength and go outside of the boundary of what God has asked us to do, we begin to fret, strive, and worry.

A mind that is submitted to the Lord always looks to the Lord for answers and does not try to fill in the blank out of fear and insecurity. Whenever we think that we have to conjure up a plan to keep control of the situation, our mind becomes carnally minded and produces evil fruit!

The scripture (See Philippians 4:8) tells us to meditate on things that are true, just, noble, pure, lovely,  and of good report. That’s the atmosphere of faith. It opens the door for God to be involved in our lives. Those are the characteristics of our heavenly Father who sends us His goodness and lavishes us with peace and security.

Interestingly, as I was writing this, I was challenged by a situation. I found myself getting anxious. So I asked my heavenly Father to help me. He showed me in the areas that it is not my responsibility to do anything about, through prayer I need to release the situation in the Lord’s hands. In faith, I need to believe what is good and praiseworthy! This is not easy because we want to be in control, and we certainly want a good outcome. We have a choice to make. We can either be led by the spirit, which is life and peace or be led by our flesh and our carnal thoughts, which is control and turmoil.

How are you doing with loving God with all your mind? Do you have a busy mind? Are you always trying to figure things out? Do you feel like you have to have a plan B and C in place just in case your plan A doesn’t work out? Are you able to still your mind and just rest in the Lord? Can you surrender all your questions, striving, and worries at the cross and declare that God is in control? He will show us if/when we need to do something. In the meantime, we can enjoy loving Him and resting in Him.

 

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Love the Lord Your God (Part III)

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But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  Matthew 22:34-40

I shared in the last devotional that Jesus’ commandment to love the Lord has different elements that we should slow down and meditate on. Last time, I wrote about loving the Lord with all our hearts. In this devotional, I will share about loving the Lord with all our souls.

How do we love the Lord with all our souls!? The more we allow our soul to come under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the more spiritual we become, which allows us to love the Lord genuinely rather than out of our fickle feelings or thoughts of the moment! Before we knew Christ, our soul was in charge, and it took its cues from the natural world and our five senses. We were carnal beings before we came to salvation. Carnality has to do with all the fleshly desires and operating only from a natural and visible perspective. After salvation, our spirit man should grow to become the one in charge and our soul should come under its control, otherwise we will love the Lord based on our natural senses and circumstances rather than our communion with God!

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?  For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

Paul told the Corinthian believers that they were carnal. One of the ways that we know someone is carnal is that they have remained childish in their faith and refuse to grow up. They cannot handle weighty things of God, and they are still in need of milk to be nourished and nurtured by someone else. Their spirit man has remained infantile!

If we are going to love the Lord with all our souls, we need to have a soul that is surrendered to our spirit man. The Bible directs to grow up and to put aside carnality. Paul gave us some of the symptoms that can help determine if we are fleshly and carnal or if we are spiritual. He told the Corinthian believers that they have factions, envy, strife, and division. These individuals were still controlled by their carnal nature, and they had not allowed the spirit of God to take control of their  souls.

Unfortunately, carnality is prevalent in the body of Christ. We can see strife, division, and competition between different members or groups in the church. Generally, people claim that it is somebody else’s fault. Someone else is the problem or started the strife. The truth is that carnality begets carnality, and we don’t have to allow others to trap us in it.

A spirit-led life requires self-control, forgiveness, and trust in the Lord in order not to get engaged in carnality. We cannot control or correct others’ behavior. Our part is to not get into the ring of strife and avoid a carnality that would feed the flesh and cause more harm for us and others.

Jesus has commanded us to love Him with all our souls.  We don’t have to allow anyone to pollute our souls. We can say “no” to our flesh. We have to continually subject the soul to be controlled by our spirit man rather than our fleshly tendencies. It is not an easy process, but the more we do it and see the fruit of the spirit developing in us, we grow in maturity. It also allows us to have more faith the next time when a situation comes up that tries to take over our souls and cause us to walk in carnality!

Thank you Lord for making us aware that many times we have been carnal and have not loved you with all our souls. Please forgive us for not obeying your first commandment. Give us the grace to remain alert and to allow the Holy Spirit to take control of our souls!

 

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Love the Lord Your God (Part II)

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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40

Jesus answered a Pharisee by stating that the first commandment is to love the Lord with all our hearts, with all our souls, and all our minds. We may not pay much attention to this commandment because we have heard it many times! So it’s important to slow down, think about the different elements of this commandment, and what they mean to us!

First, what does it look like to love the Lord with all our hearts!?

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, Proverbs 3:3

God desires for us to be full of mercy and truth. He wants us to write mercy and truth on the tablet of our hearts. That means that we need to be continually aware of God’s mercy towards us and just as the Lord has been merciful to us, we also need to be merciful to others. This is a reminder of the Lord’s prayer when Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:12, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Those who have received the love and the forgiveness of the Lord have the responsibility to bless others with mercy and forgiveness as God has forgiven us.

Furthermore, God wants us to write truth on our hearts. We need to spend time knowing God’s truth, meditating on it, and keeping it in our hearts. His truth keeps us anchored and helps us to stay on the narrow path.  Our heart is the place where we keep those things that are dear to us. Are His truth and mercy dear and valuable to us!?

Furthermore, in John 1:14, the scripture tells us that Jesus came “full of grace and truth.” When we live and walk in truth and mercy, we represent the Lord Jesus and who He is to the world!

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

In addition to keeping God’s mercy and truth in our hearts, we also need to protect our hearts from all others desires, distractions, and pollutions. The issues of life are varied. We have many temptations coming at us causing us to think that there are more important things to devote our time and attention to. There are also many trends that try to influence our choices to be popular and relevant, and they attempt to derail us from God’s desires and priorities.

Sometimes, the issues of life could be just dealing appropriately with people and not allowing our hearts to grow bitter or cold towards others because they have failed to meet our expectations. It’s hard to love others and not be disappointed when they fail us. However, the scripture tells us to guard our hearts with all diligence. That tells me that it is not easy to protect our hearts, and it requires work, intentionality, and attention.

If we want to remain in a place where God has the first place in our hearts, it is like a person who decides to get married. When we make the decision and the covenant to get married, in effect we are saying that my heart belongs to my spouse, and it is guarded and protected from falling in love with any other person! Similarly, if our hearts are dedicated to the Lord, then we cannot allow other loves to come into our hearts and pollute us from our first commitment. We need to put a seal on our hearts that other desires will not be allowed.

Lord, our hearts belong to you! Show us if we we have anything in our hearts that has taken your place or it has crowded or polluted our hearts. We want to have a clean heart before you. Teach us to guard it. Help us to keep mercy and truth in our hearts and to represent you well to a lost world! Amen!

 

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Love the Lord Your God (Part I)

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We love Him because He first loved us. 1John 4:19

God in His mercy reached out to us first and showed us that He loves us and cares about us! It is His transforming love that opens our hearts to love him back. Our love relationship with the Lord did not originate with us, and neither did our good works brought it about. God initiated the relationship. Jesus, His only begotten son, came to show us the love and the commitment of the Father to a lost world!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40

Jesus was the personification of the love of the Father, and His great sacrifice declared God’s great love towards us! He came to show us and teach us God’s ways. Interestingly, when a Pharisee asked Jesus about the greatest commandment, Jesus did not give him any new information, and neither did He give him a new law! Although, the Pharisee was trying to trap Jesus in saying something that was against the law, Jesus responded with the very words of God from Deuteronomy!

In reality, God had required His people to love Him from the beginning, but they tried to keep the law without having a heart to surrender themselves to the Lord. They were comfortable doing their religious duties apart from a relationship. As a matter of fact, they created additional rules to ensure that people were following every minute detail lest they sin in the absence of concrete information!

Obviously, apart from Christ, they would not have been able to develop an intimate relationship with God. Nevertheless, many of them were blinded with their works thinking that God was impressed with their sacrificial obedience of the law! However, in reality, they were not seeking the heart and the mind of the Lord concerning their spiritual state. The religious people were too busy impressing themselves and others that they could not admit the hollowness of their activities. On the other hand, it was the down and out, the sick, and the sinners who were hungry and thirsty for spiritual matters, and they were not afraid of admitting it and searching for the truth.

Similarly, we may also think that as long as we keep the law, we are doing what God is asking us. It’s so easy to fall into that trap. In addition, many times the people around us measure our love for God by our activities, which makes it difficult for us to be focused on our relationship with the Lord. However, there is more to loving God than just obeying the rules. I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

 

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Love Has a Name!

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17

In a world where the definition of love is constantly evolving and becoming nebulous, God’s definition has remained powerful and unchanging! People use the word “love” to conveniently describe their likes and enjoyments of variety of things. However, as believers, we know a greater and deeper experience of love than all the worldly definitions offered to us.

We are the ones who have experienced the pure love of God! Many people may have claimed that they loved us, but their love was shallow, inconsistent, or even disappointing. On the other hand, God’s love shown through Jesus’ sacrifice has transformed us and has been life-changing! This love gives us a new chance in life and has delivered us from all kinds of bondages and insecurities!

True love has a price associated with it, and God paid the price by sending His only begotten son to show His love towards us! And Jesus loved the Father and humanity so much that He was willing to give Himself for our redemption and the restoration of our relationship to the Father!

The below song is a beautiful worship song about the love of Jesus for us! Meditate on the love of God by listening to this worship song. Allow the Lord to speak to your heart and receive His love in a fresh way! Remember where He has brought you from and thank Him for who He is and what He means to you!

 

 

The Desire for Knowledge (Part II)

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Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;

But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.” Proverbs 1:29-33

This past week, I had a very interesting conversation with someone in regards to knowledge. She was advocating a form of Eastern meditation, and I challenged her on it since she claims to be a believer.  She disagreed with me and insisted that knowledge is far wider than what the Bible tells us, and she felt that we should be open to other sources of knowledge.

This is exactly what the above scripture tells us about the dangers of knowledge apart from the fear of the Lord! Not every knowledge is valuable or fruitful. More importantly, some knowledge denies the existence of a holy God and what He declares good or evil. If we open the door to ungodly knowledge, it will cause us to veer off from God’s path and gradually we will find ourselves on a path of destruction. Furthermore, we open the door to the demonic world by coming into agreement with the lies of the enemy.

We live in a culture that the latest and greatest is the most popular. However, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The truth about spiritual matters does not change. The Lord does not change to accommodate our lust for the latest and greatest! His ways are tried and true! We have many witnesses from the Bible as well as history that confirms those who walk with God reap a harvest of righteousness. Their lives are more peaceful and stable! To the contrary, we also have the opportunity to learn from those who disregard God’s law and end up in all kinds of pain and bondage.

When we build our understanding of the world based on the fear and the love of God, we have a firm foundation that allows us to evaluate the information we consume appropriately. It doesn’t mean that we can’t look for other sources to gather information and gain knowledge; it just means that we evaluate everything through the prism of the Bible and the knowledge of the Lord!

There are millions of books out there that promise to provide us with knowledge. However, there is one book that is far greater and more powerful than any other book ever written in the history of mankind and that is the Bible! Do we value the knowledge that the Lord has provided for us through His word!? Do we allow it to form our worldview!? 

The Lord has given every person the power of choice! People can choose to treasure His word or to seek after other knowledge outside of the boundary of God. The enemy will continue to whisper in people’s ear that they are going to miss out on something if they don’t pursue other kinds of knowledge. The enemy also accuses God of withholding good information from them. However, the above passage tells us that if we want to dwell safely and to be secure in life, we should listen to the Lord and seek His knowledge!

 

 

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The Desire for Knowledge (Part I)

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Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend the garden and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17

 

After the Lord created Adam, He allowed Him to name all the animals and to tend the garden. Adam gained knowledge and understanding of his environment through his relationship with the Lord. He had no need for the knowledge of good and evil, for the Lord had provided everything good for him. He wasn’t missing out on anything that he needed to know. However, the serpent deceived Adam and Eve into thinking that they were missing out if they didn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent even told them that if they eat of it, they will become like God!

The truth is that Adam and Eve were already like God! The Lord had created them in His image! At the same time, Adam and Eve were designed to remain dependent on the Lord and gain knowledge in their relationship with God. The enemy tried to pull them away from their dependency on the Lord and have them seek knowledge independent from Him! This led them to rebellion.

In their perfect state, Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan to crave knowledge and seek it in an ungodly way. Anytime, we try to take matters into our own hands, we’re not allowing the Lord to lead and guide us! We have chosen to fulfill our own will apart from God’s will, and that’s called rebellion!

Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;

But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.” Proverbs 1:29-33

The above scripture tells us that people hated knowledge and did not fear God! It wasn’t that people didn’t want to learn new things, but they wanted to do it apart from the fear of the Lord! Isn’t this what we see in our culture nowadays!? We do not have lack of education or knowledge in this country; we have variety of ways to seek and obtain them. People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to prestigious schools in search of impressive education. Their hope is to gain knowledge and expertise, so they can gain good income and thereby build their dream life!

People are programmed to think that the way to success is through education and gaining knowledge. For many, their faith is that the knowledge will bring security and satisfaction. They cannot imagine that a personal relationship with our Creator can settles their hearts.

True knowledge will include God as the center of it all. Man’s minute and carnal understanding of his world is deficient and inadequate apart from the knowledge of his Creator and Savior! When we look to the Lord as the foundation for our lives, then the knowledge gained will be filtered through the knowledge of God, and consequently, the end result is to glorify God!

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

 

 

Paid in Full!

Leave a Comment / Forgiveness, Redemption / By

 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,  who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46

Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a merchant looking for beautiful pearls. We can presume that this  merchant knew and understood the quality and value of  pearls. He came across this beautiful pearl, and he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy it even it it cost him everything!

Similarly, God is expert in humanity and knows and understands our value and our potential! Although sin had marred humanity, the Lord knew the beauty of human soul, for He created us in His image! Even though the Lord still possessed this whole amazing world with all its beauty, but God’s heart was after people! When sin entered the world, it broke our covenant with a Holy God, and humanity no longer belonged to the kingdom of God. We were no longer in relationship with God! Therefore, we had to be bought back from the kingdom of darkness. So the Lord sent Jesus to seek and save those who were lost!

In the above parable, the beautiful pearl was a pricy one, but the merchant was willing to sell all he had to buy it. The merchant had found something that was worth more than all the others things he owned, and he was willing to sell everything to pay full price and purchase this pearl of great price.

We were also pricy to be bought by God. From the beginning, when God created Adam and Eve, He called us good! Sin did not change our value before God, but it caused us to be separated from the Kingdom of God. To fix the problem, humanity had to be bought back from the kingdom of darkness. The price was very high, and the only one qualified to pay the price was God’s son, the perfect one!

Jesus’ blood paid in full the price for our salvation! He paid full price for the pearl of great price! He didn’t leave anything out to be bought later. He died for our past, present, and future sins. He died for our insecurities, shame, guilt, inadequacies, rejection, rebellion, and pain. There is nothing that Jesus’ blood cannot cover, and He cannot forgive. He washed us clean as the pearls of great price. His satisfaction is for us to be belong to Him!

For those of you who have never known Jesus, He has already paid the full price for your forgiveness and restoration! Hs saw you as valuable despite all your past, and He died on the cross to buy you back from sin and destruction and to bring you to His Kingdom of light and freedom! The invitation is yours  if you choose to accept His work on the cross on your behalf and surrender your life to Him! If you are ready to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, click on Salvation prayer at the top of this page and pray the prayer. I can assure you that your life will never be the same again, and you begin a journey in knowing and growing in God that will last you a lifetime!

For those of you who already know Jesus, is there anything that keeps you from Him? Is there anything that causes you to feel not accepted? The truth is that He paid the price in Full, so there is nothing that can keep you from the love of God. Talk to the Lord and lay down anything that has been a heavy burden or has caused a distance in your relationship to God or others. He paid it all, and He can restore your life when you give him the reins!

Let’s thank the Lord for what He has done for us and receive His acceptance in full! Praise the Lord for sending Jesus to the earth, and thank you Jesus for paying the full price for our redemption and restoration!

 

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Fight the Good Fight (Part IV)

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Sometimes fighting the good fight is not what we do actively, but what we allow passively in our lives! One of the subtle ways that we lose ground in fighting the good fight is our thought life! Many times we can be passive with the thoughts that come to our minds not recognizing that they will impact our attitudes and actions!

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 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, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 2Corinthians 10:4-6

Apostle Paul exposed the thought life as one of the key areas that we must take control of to gain victory in our lives. This warfare cannot be won unless we are willing to take down the strongholds that gave us false security. Our carnal nature is designed to protect itself from harm and pain. One of the ways we guard ourselves is that we create strongholds to hide behind them to ensure we are protected. The strongholds can be created due to past experiences, hurt, ungodly soulish ties, and disappointments. We also develop arguments based on our carnal understanding, which justify the existence of the strongholds. Therefore, strongholds and arguments work together to create a carnal shield or fortress against pain. The problem is that this carnal shield also hinders our growth and development in the faith and the new things God wants to do in our lives in changing our attitudes and our perception of the world around us.

If we want to be freed from the bondage of lies and not be held captive to the deception of the enemy, we must tear down strongholds and arguments and hold them captive to the obedience of Christ. We are either held captive by them, or we must hold them captive!

How do we recognize what is of the enemy? Below verses give us insight into it.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

When we begin to walk with God, He desires to change us inside out. Many of our visible habits can be stopped much easier and faster, but it is our internal world that requires deep work of the Holy Spirit! One of the ways that God wants to change us is the way we think. Our thought life either produces life-giving attitudes and actions or it causes negativity, suspicion, and animosity in the way we see our world! When we are willing to actively pay attention to our thought-life and hold thoughts that cause stress, anxiety, and pain captive, then we can meditate on thoughts that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy.

To live life according to the above scriptures is much harder than a strenuous exercise! It requires attention, focus, consistency, and faith to continue to push through all the negativity that tries to barge in our hearts and minds. The good news is that if we commit to following through with the above two scriptures, we will experience a new dimension of deliverance that will wipe out depression, anger, bitterness, jealousy, insecurity, strife, and division in our lives. Over time, it will also get easier to think the right thoughts. The by-product of this disciplined lifestyle is that we are fighting the good fight according to God’s instructions and blueprints!

 

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay