A One-Sided Fight
You guys, I have been dealing with something in my own life for quite a while now...years, in fact.
It hasn't been a face to face confrontation...but you all know the fights we have...those battles in our heads.
We have certain people that will say something, or do something, and the affects will just remain in the vast expanse of our thought life forever, it seems. Just when things get real quiet and you think that all is good in your world...here he comes...Satan...with that memory. He starts allowing you to see that person's face, or at least a facsimile, and you start turning over the ideas of "how I would love to do this or that"...and the battle begins.
After thinking about how to get back at, or embarrass this person..."put them in their place"...after all, I have been blessed with a quick wit, and at times a sharp tongue...well, in my past. Ok, maybe not such a blessing...but then you start telling yourself, "I have to really let this go". Because every time this comes into my thoughts, I wage this invisible fight, and I never win. After all, I may never even see that person, or any of those people, again.
Maybe for you it's different, maybe you have to work with that person. Either way, it's not they that are constantly being bombarded...it's YOU.
You start praying for them. After, of course, asking for forgiveness for wanting to get even, and allowing the vengeance thoughts to go back and forth on the swing set of your mind.
Yesterday...instead of jumping right onto the War Wagon...and allowing my peace to be stolen, I was able to hear that "still small voice" telling me:
"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Proverbs 15:1 After that, I began with prayer for that person. I didn't have to ask for forgiveness, and I asked the Father just to bless them.
Well, guess what! The playground emptied. There was no fight and I still had my peace. Not only that, blessings were sent out because I prayed first and didn't allow bullies into my playground.
I had a victory!!! It wasn't a victory from a hard fought battle, but from a battle that wasn't fought at all.
Sometimes the easiest fight to win is the one we don't show up for.
Just a thought,
Ron
*Ron A., April 2010*
A New Model
As a boy and younger adult I used to build model airplane kits. These kits would come in small boxes and would have photographs of what the intended model was to represent on the cover. I liked the fact that someone would take the time to create all the dies for each part. Each die would represent the part that would fit together with others to make what the picture depicted on the outside of the box.
When the box was first opened, everything was separate, but it was all there. The parts would come on what looked kind of like trees, and each part would have to be separated from what it was attached to before it could be used at all. It would take time to make all the pieces work together. Sometimes it would take cutting and sanding and fitting, and then sanding and fitting again. Some would almost have to be reformed and others would not be of any use at all. But once it was finished, the cover of the box could only be a minor expression of all of the work that was put into the finished product. It would take time, but in the end it was always worth the effort.
Isn't that the way it is when we are
“Born Again”? We become new creations. Complete, and yet not quite put together. We have all the parts, but we still are attached to the original trees that we came with. Old habits and desires are things that have to be trimmed away as unusable.
It is usually our thought life that is transformed first. As we
“take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”, the things and ideas that were once so important get clipped away. We start questioning the things that we once did as being alright, when we thought "after all, others were doing the same things".
We start looking at other things in our lives with completely new vision. The same eyes of course, but a new focus has been added. We start seeing others as equal, or even more important, as we start
“loving our neighbors as ourselves”, as we start putting others first.
Our hearing even becomes new as the same old jokes, words, and even voices, become things that are no longer as funny or as important as they once were. We start hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
“That still small voice” begins to drown out the noise of the world.
All of this takes time. It doesn't just happen all at once. The changes I mean. Sometimes we might long to go back into the same box we came in. But with all the building, and re-building, we just don't fit anymore.
It's the same with our Christian walk. The more that we are being renewed, the less we fit into this world that we once thought we knew so well. The less we fit into the crowds we once chose to run around with, and the places we frequented become less and less attractive.
Each and every new believer goes through the same, or at least similar, process of being put together into an image that only God has had the pleasure of seeing. We all start out complete unto ourselves, but when we commit and submit to this new Christian way of life, we get transformed. He creates in us
“a clean heart” and the old ways, old desires seem to disappear.
We are all unfinished. We all have work that is in progress. So be patient with your brothers and sisters as the are being patient with you. None of us have arrived yet, and none of us are finished. But once the building and remodeling is complete, according to the Father's design, the finished product will far outshine the original artwork that our life once portrayed, because God is re-making us into something we could have never become on our own...the image of His Son.
Just a thought,
Ron
*Ron A., April 2010*
A Secret To Winning
How many of us, every day, spend time in God's Word?
I know, sometimes it is hard in our hurried lives to just set apart a time to just slow down. With jobs, families, careers and appointments; with the business of doing, all around us, we sometimes feel that if we aren't “doing something” we are wasting time.
Could that be why so many people, even Bible-believing Christians, are caught in the trap of constantly running? Constantly trying in our own strength to accomplish all we can. Using our own weapons to fight a battle that never was ours to begin with. In the sixth chapter of the book of Ephesians we are given instructions on how to equip ourselves on a daily basis. On what armor we are to be wearing everyday. It shouldn't be that difficult an operation to walk in victory if we will only follow the instructions laid out before us.
We can't fight an enemy with the weapons we have if we don't know how to use them. No one ever sent a rifleman to a front line only armed with blanks. He wouldn't be any good against an enemy that wanted him dead. Here's a surprise...the enemy of your souls wants you dead. He wants you unarmed and weak. He doesn't want you learning God's Word because he will have the advantage over you, and he will defeat you. Satan knows God's Word and the authority we have been given through Jesus. He knows all about the power that has been released to us through the spoken word. He also knows that if we should study, learn, and know what God has said about any given situation, that His strength would be tapped and then it will be he (Satan) that would be on the defensive. But we don't take the time. We are always busy doing one thing or another. It's no wonder so many Christians either live with fears, live in stress, or spend the major part of their Christian walk in God's Secret Service.
When problems come up, we run to our pastor in order to have him say a prayer for us that we ourselves should be able to do, if we would only study and equip ourselves with God's Word.
I don't know how many people I have spoken with recently who don't know that they, through Christ's shed blood, have complete authority over the enemy. Jesus told us,
“Behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy”. How many of us really see that word,
ALL, in that sentence.
All, meaning that NO enemy is left out.
We have life's manual at our disposal. We have God's word, and in it we have the answers to
any situation that the enemy will throw our way. If we would only set aside time every day...and see that it's not hard to open...nor is it hard to understand.
Sit down and spend some real time with the Holy Spirit, in God's Word, and see if you don't come away with something new each and every time.
Just a thought,
Ron
*Ron A., April 2010*
