Fighting In The War Room

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
Galatians 5:16

Personally as a Christian I feel one of our biggest problems is that we try to make war with the evil around us, but we fail to make war with the evil inside ourselves. We focus so much on the powers of darkness that are at work around us and how they are affecting others lives, but that allows Satan to make footholds in our own lives. We are so focused about the things around that we fail to look on our inside. I feel that this isn't only dangerous, but also hypocritical.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Matthew 7: 3-5

It is so vital to take care of the sin in your life before you try to combat the evil around you. This is Satan's number one trick! He uses it on Christians everywhere. We focus so much on the outward that we don't realize that we are falling apart on the inside.

But how do you combat the evil in your own life?

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
James 4:7

That's our answer, and that is what I struggle with. We have to submit ourselves completely to God and live by Spirit and in Truth. We have to live by God's commands, but that is only part of the issue. As Christians I believe we forget who our Maker and our Savior is. We try to fight the battle on our own.

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Exodus 14:14

God has already won the battle. Sin was slain on the cross. All we have to do is sit back and ALLOW God to claim the victory He has already won. But we have to submit ourselves to Him. We have to become keepers and followers of His word. So this is the challenge; Make war within yourself. Make war against the temptations, the sins, and the garbage in your life. Be no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to Righteousness.

"Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace."
Romans 6:13-14

Love Is On The Move

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."
1 John 3:1

Love is on the move. I must say these past couple of weeks I have felt the love of God moving throughout my life and my world. I have to confess I have been convicted lately with how intentional I have been as a Christian this past semester. I have been doing 'nice' things, but where is God's glory? Have I forgotten who my deeds are for? As Christians I feel as though that is one of our weaknesses; we forgot who we live for. It's comes down to what love is. Is love an act of kindness towards someone? Is love a soft-spoken word to someone in pain? Is love a hard-hearted donation? None of those things have any impact if they aren't fueled towards true love. I have forgotten what Love is. My God is love. Everything we do is for the Glory of God. Every loving touch, soothing word, every hand we reach out to the afflicted is all for the glory of the Father. We do all of these deeds, but we have not love!

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
1 Corinthians 13:1

We speak the words of God to those in need and God is in our tounges, but not in our minds and hearts. It is imperative that we love intentionally and we love for the glory of what God will do through that.

I can feel God hand moving over us, but this is our challenge: love intentionally. I am challenging myself and challenging you to love with reason. Love for the sake of Christ and we will see love move through our world like a wild fire. A wild fire that would be unextinguishable. Just look around at your schools, your workplace, and your community, people are dying to believe in something. They are dying for something eternal to cling to because everything around them is crumbling. Be the one who genuinly shows them what that Love they are searching for is. Be intentional with your love. Love is not a philosphy, love is a Man, and that man is Jesus Christ.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."
1 John 3:18

Love is on the move.

Benediction

No one is good not even one. The front pages of papers of children raped by rapist Iraqi torture chambers and we the blame claim we're blameless. Wrong. All. And swelling up inside of us there's this pride in us this arrogance. And our only line of defense is the sense that Im not as half as bad as this friend of mine so I must be fine. We mean well don't we? Yet I've never seen good intentions set a man free from hurt. All. This poor unfortunate soul. Filling a single void with toy after toy with girl after boy. How boring this wasn't this meant to be Humanity's life story. Warring with God saying what have you done for me? Bought all. Hanging out for six hours marred beyond recognition. In complete submission to his father will. Still. A proclamation was made louder than the loudest temptation. With more beauty than all his creation. More eternal than eternity more angelic than the heavenlies. It Is done. For you were bought with blood. Accept. Rejoice. For freedom has come.


I stumbled across this song at the end of Jimmy Needham's first album and it spoke directly to me. There is just so much truth in this song. I've noticed a reoccuring theme throughout the history of man kind. We like to point the finger. Adam pointing the finger at Eve. It goes back to the core of our humanity. We think ourselves to be so blameless and we are so reluctant to take the blame for something because it's so much easier to scrape it off on someone else. We are such a lonely nation. We are the issue. We scrounge around the universe for some sense of meaning and some sense of security and we try to find it in relationships, money, an idols. HOW BORING! What an awesome God I have! I am so free in his presence. Why chase the things of the world? It all just fades away. My God stands! My God has captured with me with his unfailing love. I am so sick of looking around and seeing my generation fall apart! They are in so much desperation and I just want to yell at the top of my lungs 'YOU ARE LOVED!' It is done. The debt is paid. Why wallow in sin that is paid for? It's like holding onto an expired driver's license. It has no worth! I pray, pray that you find the God who loves you. " Revelation 21:5 "... Behold, I make all things new..." It's worth it friends to know your maker and lose your sin. Did you know that you are dearly loved?