2 Corinthians 10: 4-6
(NIV), “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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. And we will be ready to punish every act
of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.”
I woke up this
morning with a dream of talking to someone I work with. I was fixing a liquid lunch and the woman
from my work that I was talking with was helping me get it into the
microwave. However, it seemed that she
wanted to talk to me about life and I needed to be more available and less distracted. Then, as I woke up, I heard words about
tearing down everything set up to hinder itself against the knowledge of
God.
What this spoke to me
about was in pressing in, what I really needed to focus on was being patient and
available for others. This is what is
needed from me for them. They need to be
seen and encouraged. And in doing this,
opportunities will arise to speak into their lives and help them with their areas
of struggle about the right way to go.
When my mother was
preparing to go home to heaven, she said she saw three of her sisters who had
came to visit her. The discussion came
up later about her having four sisters and not three. When I prayed about this, what I felt was
that one of her sisters may not have come to heaven. There are forces in this world that would
try to keep people from following their destiny. It would try to hold them back and hinder
them and keep them from heaven. It is devastating that some people do not chose
to receive Christ.
Knowledge of God, as spoken
of in 2 Corinthians 10:5, is the word gnosis and is about having
personal knowledge and experience of the Lord.
The arguments and pretentions are human reasonings, high walls of pride,
and emotional barriers that keep people from genuinely knowing and having a
relationship with Christ.
We have divine power
to break the strongholds that hold people back from knowing Christ. Every thought that is in opposition to Christ
can be taken down when we share Christ with others. Even in being present and sharing the lives
of others, we have power to impact others for Christ. Romans 14:17 says that the Kingdom of God is life
of goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
As we serve Christ with a desire
to honor Him, building others up around us, there is divine power available to
us to break people free from their bondages.
I struggle sometimes
with small talk. I love to get things
done so small talk just seems to be a distraction that sucks up time. I want to be in a meaningful conversation
about Christ or having a conversation that feels impactful for transformation. Otherwise, my mind starts listing all the
things I have to get done in the background while shooting the breeze. I start devising how to get out of the
conversation and move on.
In being patient and
available to others, even in small talk, we make room for them in love. Romans 13:8 says that if we love others and
spend time just listening to them, we fulfill the requirements of the law. It is not always in witnessing that people
come to know the Lord. Rather, in just
being with them and doing ordinary life that they can be set free.
Romans 12:9-10 says
not to just pretend we love others but really love them with genuine affection. Take time and enjoy conversation with
ordinary people, living in harmony with everyone and taking delight in honoring
others.
We do this by living
by the Spirit. We are to let him guide
our lives (Galatians 5:16). In letting Him lead in every part of our lives, our
lives emanate His love and His presence. The
Spirit’s leading is in complete opposite of the sinful nature which leads us to
craving, want, fighting and offense.
Galatians 5:17 tells
us that these forces are constantly fighting within us. As we follow the flesh and sinful nature, we
are not free to carry out our good intentions. Galatians 5:25-26 says, “Since we are living
by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our
lives. Let us not become conceited, or
provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”
It is the Holy Spirit
that bears fruit in our lives of loving others. Tearing down strongholds and
everything that gets in the way, we need to also nail the passions and desires
of our own sinful nature to the cross, being determined instead to follow the
Spirit. Paul also lists out these
fruits from our sinful nature of, “sexual immorality, impurity, lustful
pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of
anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties,
and other sins like these.”
On the other hand,
the fruits of the Spirit, Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23, are “love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control.” If we are following the
Spirit of God or the spirit of the age, we will know it by which fruit we bear
in our lives.
And in our own lives,
as we root out thoughts that are human reason, compromise, prideful, easily
offended and lead to division, we will naturally flow in more love, joy, and
peace of the Holy Spirit. We have power by the Spirit to overcome our
offenses, ambitions, and cravings. And
we will be more and more led by the
Spirit as we do not follow the ways of our own fleshly desires.
I had a dream a few
nights ago that I leaned over to a friend and listened to their thoughts. I could hear the Holy Spirit resounding in worship
music in their mind and thoughts. What
we let dwell in our mind and thoughts is up to us. We can create an atmosphere of worry, strife
and doubt or anger, offense and dissatisfaction, or we can create an atmosphere
of worship, thanksgiving and praise in our thoughts. What we allow to dominate our thinking will
project out from us.
For me, in my dream, I went up for
prayer to have my nose adjusted but it had already been healed some time ago so
the person wondered why I kept coming back up for prayer for it. I think this has to do with sometimes
feeling out of alignment or that I need to be fixed. This mentality and way of thinking is in
opposition to the mind of Christ. It is
not what is true about me. As Paul says in
Galatians 6:7, “You will always harvest what you plant.” We need to make sure that what we are
planting is true and what God wants us to believe. We do not want to entertain wrong thinking and
find that it has planted itself in our mind and outflow of actions as a result.
When we have negative
beliefs and faulty thoughts about ourselves, it projects out from us in the
form of insecurity. We doubt ourselves,
judge ourselves harshly, and think we are not good enough. On the other side, when we think too much of
ourselves and are focused on us rather than Him, we may feel we are too
important to help others and share their burdens, sin or struggles. In these cases, we are also not thinking
rightly (Galatians 6:3).
I had a dream that there
was this star football player who loved football. He put his all into it and was recognized to
the extent that the NFL was paying him a visit and he started getting media
attention. However, then he just laid
on top of his car and started drinking.
He became a total failure and couldn’t get up. I went to visit him but the guy cleaning the
bathrooms said that unless I was looking for vomit, I wouldn’t find much. He still hadn’t moved and was drinking a lot a
year later.
All that to say that
God loves us in our vomit. He loves us when
we fail. He loves us when we can’t get
out the door. We don’t have to meet
other’s expectations or perform for others.
He still very much loves us. But
at the same time, we have tons of potential.
We have the ability to make a difference while finding great joy in
life. Why would we want to live in
less?
What can hold us back
is our thinking? If we beat ourselves
up or hold ourselves back, we will become immobile. If we let the voices of those who are negative
about us define us, we lose momentum.
If we let the voices of too high expectations define us, we also lose
momentum as we become discouraged and feel inadequate.
I heard one of the
BLN leaders, Steve Backlund, speak at a leader's gathering this week on mindsets. He noted, among many things that if our
thoughts do not bring hope, they are not from God and not truth. Where do we
lack hope?
These lies that hold
us back is why it is so important to recognize who God says we are and walk in
His truth with our eyes upon Him (not ourselves). We are amazing, capable, hand-crafted and
deeply loved. As we embrace who we are
and who He created us to be, we operate out of courage and confidence that is
rooted in Him. We can trust that we are
good and that all that we touch is going to be impacted with His goodness.
Drop what we believe
that holds us back, was a mistake, or didn’t work out. God gives you supernatural favor and delights
to help you correct your mistakes. He
works all things for your good. Just let go and get back up and start
running. You are not defeated. You are not defined by your mistakes. You are His radiance. Let go of baggage that would make you radiate
the stench of vomit like grudges, offence, or lack. You are abundantly loved and carry
opportunities for doors to open, not failures and closed doors. Just leave these behind. New doors are being opened for you as the
past doors are shut. Leave what didn’t
happen or work behind and step into the wonder of the plans and purposes He has
for you today. You are enough and God
will meet you.
You are a witness of
His glory and reflection of His radiance. Shake it off!
Don’t let what happened yesterday, or even this morning, poison your
thinking or your day. Like Paul shook
the snake that bit him into the fire, show that Your God is the one who has the
final say in the matter. Chasing down
an offense will poison your own heart. Forgive
as you have been forgiven and love as you are so loved. Hold your criticism and do not devour your
brother. When you fast, look at the fist
you hold and stretch out each finger, blessing those who curse you. Count your blessings on the same hand. Love will win.
Don’t fret when evil gets
its way and people take advantage of circumstances. Fretting about it only leads to evil in
trying to control it by doing evil oneself.
Look at Jesus who did not fret
about Judas stealing but just loved on him.
Ultimately, it will not last and God will have the final say (Psalm
37:7-9).
As for the football player, I heard someone say recently that it was not a surprise that Lazareth got up out of the grave when Jesus called his name, but that everyone did not get up out of the grave when he called as He is the living God. Join me in praying that all those laying on the top of their car in vomit rather than in it, would hear Jesus call their name and come forth into freedom today. That they would rise up out of the lies that hold them down and get into the car and start driving forward.
Lord, forgive me for
being inpatient with small talk. Forgive
me also for fretting. I want to trust
and rest in you for your goodness to come forth. Give us the mind of Christ so that we can
see rightly and be led by Your Spirit in all that we do. Fill us with your love and goodness. May it project out from us on all who we talk
with. Let our lives be faith expressing
itself in love. (Galatians 5:6).
Comments