Let’s face it. Life by itself is just hard. The world just
makes it that way. Life as a Christian, in this world, is even harder.
There are so many competing priorities, responsibilities and
so many opportunities to fail at getting it right. It is enough to drive, even
the most “got it together” person crazy; let alone someone who is just barely
hanging on trying to make it through today. Which, I reckon, if we are honest
with ourselves, is just about the lot of us.
See, lately I have been in the midst of these struggles, not
my own either, seems most everyone I know is facing some sort of trial or
challenge in their life. They are people that I love and care about and I hate
seeing them struggle. Being limited in what I can do to help doesn’t make it
any easier. At the end of the day all ya can do is pray sometimes. So that is
what I do. Fervently.
They are not the only people who struggle though, we all do. No one escapes struggle.
As I was sharing this with a friend of mine, she agreed about being around those who also were suffering but she did make mention
of seeing a mountain top off in the distance. Well, that comment has been
just percolating and steeping in my mind all day today. Tonight, as I was
driving home I was rocking out to some Journey and it hit me.
That is it. Journey had it so right “Don’t Stop Believing”.
Just don’t stop.
You can do this don’t give up on it. You will survive
this.
Sometimes, when we are in the valleys of our lives, we need
to be reminded to look up every once and awhile. We all seem to forget that it is just that. A
valley, and off in the distance is a mountain peak. It can’t be a valley if
there are not peaks right? Just look up and remember that it won’t always be
like this. If that is where you are at tonight/today (or whenever it is that
you have stumbled across this), then I want to suggest that what your believing
in or hearing, is a LIE.
It will not always be like this!
Change is certain and inevitable. Furthermore, we can drive
change! Granted, sometimes it’s a little slow and painful but it is change
nonetheless.
Dream.
Dream big.
We serve the most powerful being on the planet who wants you
to seek the mountaintops.
Do you know where God lives? Really, I mean do you
realize that He is not on that mountaintop?
Nope.
Psalm 34:18 says “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he
rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” NIV
Right now... He is close to you. He lives in the valley
because that is where He is needed the most. That is where we are. He wont do it for us, we have to be positively believing that good things can
and will happen. Don't stop believing!
Your struggle, your challenge, whatever you are facing right
now will be better or worse by what you think about it. I was told for years
that it was all in my head……and ya know what. One day I realized that was true.
It was all in my head. At first I thought, "Great, I’m not playing with a full deck.......my hamster wheel is in there but the hamster has gone on break"!
Here is the truth that set me free. It was in MY head. MY
head, which I have 100% control over. My thoughts are my own and I can CHOOSE
to think whatever I want. It is all about my perspective of my current
situation. There is so much power in what I think. That is MY power. Mine. Power
mind you, not weakness, not helpless but POWER. So I decided I was done with
being down. I was still in a valley but I didn’t have to walk through it with my
head down. I decided to look up and I saw the mountain top. You my friend, have that same POWER.
Don’t forget to keep looking up! Don’t stop believing!
Take time and start listening to what it is your
thinking. We all have what is referred to as “self talk”, the things that
constantly run through our head. What
are you saying to yourself about your situation? Is it positive or negative?
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his
heart, so is he... KJV
We believe what we tell ourselves. When we believe it, we
then feel it. When we feel it we begin acting in ways that support those
thoughts. It affects our behavior. It is inevitable. You can’t change that
truth but you can believe and understand its principles you can use it for good. More importantly, you can stop using it to hurt yourself.
What you think becomes what you feel and what you feel
becomes your behavior.
Thoughts---------> feelings-------->behavior
Look at Proverbs 23:7 again. What I think in my heart I
become.
You have a choice. Right here and right now. You can walk
away from this devotional and forget about it and continue living as you are
OR you can begin to monitor your-self talk…monitor what you think and start
changing it. It takes practice but you can learn to do it.
Paul tells us how in 2nd Corinthians
10:5 NIV
We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Take captive EVERY thought. Webster defines
captive as “taken and held as or as if a prisoner of
war”. So you first think about what you’re thinking about; you grab it (write
down if you have to) and then you compare that thought with TRUTH. Jesus says,
in John 14:6 that HE IS THE TRUTH. So hold that thought up to the light of
Christ, compare it to what God says about you. Is what your thinking the truth?
I bet for a lot of you, if you’re like me, you just might find you have a bunch of bogus thoughts floating around in your head.
It is time to clean house.
When you find a bad
thought or belief about yourself, you need to replace it with an opposite
truth. Don't leave a void. Remove the bad, replace it with good. For example, for years, I felt that I was not worthy because of
weakness. Therefore, when I would catch myself thinking something along those lines I quickly replaced
it with this verse:
2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
For God has not given us a spirit of fear
and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
I replaced the tape that played in my
head. See how it is specific and targeted directly against the lie that I was
believing. I felt weak and not worthy. That wasn’t true. God made me with a
spirit of POWER and self-discipline.It just takes practice and time.
You can
do this.
Check out 2nd
Corinthians 10:3-7 from The Message.
The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog
out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles
that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing
or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt
culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies,
tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose
thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.
Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and
building lives of obedience into maturity.
God has given you tools to fight with; don’t stop believing. Look up.
I have one last truth to share with you.
You are free from
whatever chains have bound you. You are free. It has power over you no more.
One of the lies that Satan wants to constantly reinforce is
that you are still bound. He wants you to think you are still a prisoner. It
works like this.
You know how they say when someone loses a limb they still
can feel it, not only can they still sense it is there but it hurts. They experience
pain. Phantom limb syndrome exists in 60-80% of individuals who have lost any
body part. This includes arms, legs, breasts, eyes, and even teeth.
Consider this as well. Divorcees still, on occasion reach
out in the middle of the night for their spouse, years after they have left.
Now, I don’t experience any phantom limb issues but I can attest to this one.
It has happened to me a couple times. It is not always a conscious thing but I
do it.
Take these two concepts about sensing something that is gone but we think it is there. Let’s talk about the truth
of our freedom. Do we live in it or do we still sense the chains?
In Galatians 5:1 NIV Paul reminds us:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us
free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke
of slavery.
So were once prisoners. We were once judged,
persecuted, and found guilty by Satan and He decided that we deserved to be bound.
Not literally right, no one is walking around bound physically right. But
spiritually where we can’t see it, we are. It manifests itself in our lives in
all kinds of ways. He has attacked our hearts.
Depression, alcohol abuse, drug abuse,
sexual abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, lack of self-confidence, obesity, health
issues, mental issues, addiction and etc… These are all things that bind us and
keep us from living in our freedom. As Paul would put it, these are the things
that burden us in a yoke of slavery.
I firmly believe that Christ’s death and
resurrection was a battle against the dark forces that rule this world, those
same forces that chained our hearts. What Christ did was take the keys of the
chains that bind us and use them to unlock the locks on our chains. But many of
us suffer from symptoms like that of Phantom limb syndrome, we suffer
from phantom chain syndrome. We still feel trapped and bound by our thoughts.
I’m excited to remind of the truth. You are FREE! You no
longer are a captive.
Raise up child of God and let the chains of whatever it is
that holds you fall down to your ankles and then step out of them. It all
starts with your thoughts. This is the first TRUTH you can fall back on. You
are free because of what Christ did on the cross.
1 John 4:1-6 NIV
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see
whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the
world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every
spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of
the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the
world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the
one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from
the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world
listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but
whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the
Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
I know I have covered a lot here but this is so important
for you to understand. These are the basic building blocks you need to overcome
the things that grip you right now. You don’t have to stay where you are. You
do have the power and capability to begin a new journey.
Don’t stop believing, look up, and take control of
your thoughts. You are no longer a slave bound by the judgments of this world.
You are new creation, made in the glory of the image of God and you have been
set free. Speak it aloud. I am free!
It is the desire of my heart that you find the freedom that
is already yours. Let God start restoring your wounded, unbound heart today.
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