I am so blessed to have so many friends in my life who spur one another on to love and good deeds. My friend Laurel sent this timely little piece to me yesterday and I asked her permission to share it here:
Hi Friends,
God wove some interesting Scripture together for me today. I thought I'd share... I praise God that His word is timeless. The same verses are just as applicable to me today as they were x number of years ago. His Word seems new every day... The beauty of what God showed me today is that it isn't specific to any one situation. It covers a whole lot of "shtuff".
I Thess. 5:23-24 says, "May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who called you is faithful, and He will do it." Observation: it struck me for the first time the progression of "parts" in that verse. It starts with the spirit--the part of us that has the capability of knowing God and having relationship with him. Without this, we are just bones, flesh, and parts. Then it moves on to soul--the seat of the emotions and personality. Then body--the physical part of our beings. Isn't it interesting that it starts with the core, our spirits, and works its way out? I know him and am sanctified in my very inner part first, and then my personality and emotions will follow and then my physical body.
So how does that work? How does one overcome difficult situations and circumstances (thereby showing proof of the sanctification of the parts)? Eph. 1:19-20 says, "I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms." Just before that, Paul calls that power our "inheritance". We automatically "get" that when we belong to Christ. God pointed out to me that we get it, but we don't always use it. His power can be alive in us. What is it that you struggle with? I know what I'm struggling with. I had my whole list of excuses for it too. Does God understand our weaknesses? Sure. But, sometimes we use our weaknesses as an excuse to keep us in a place that is not overly affective in the Kingdom. If God wants to sanctify my whole spirit, soul, and body, then I want to love him with my whole spirit, soul, and body. That means getting rid of some of the junk that would keep me from being able to do that. I've tried to get rid of the junk on my own. It doesn't work. My power is NOTHING. His power is EVERYTHING. His power is what raised Christ from the dead! Could there be a more HOPELESS situation???
II Cor. 10:4 says, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have diving power to demolish strongholds." Something struck me. It's not that I haven't wanted to battle the strongholds. I've just been using the wrong weapons. The world offers many of them. But none of them compare to our spiritual weapons. THOSE weapons have the POWER to DEMOLISH strongholds!! What do I mean? Here would be a "for instance". Let's say that my stronghold is my overeating. (I'm really reaching here... Wait, no I'm not!) =) I can determine in my heart to battle that. I can be all ready to "start Monday" with my new plan. I've got the best diet available; I've got my exercise regiment all mapped out; I've got my veggies and fruit all ready to consume at a moment's notice. Those will work OK. For awhile. But then comes the "I don't want to do this anymore. I'm tired." So then what? Have I demolished any strongholds? No, I've simply given my colon something to think about. But, if I were to pick up the spiritual weapons like prayer, perseverance, sanctification, etc., THEN I've got some serious armor.
Don't think prayer works very well? Have you "tried" it and found it to fail? Or, have you, like me, hidden behind the excuses and allowed God's power to go unused? Gear up, dear Warriors! Tap into the real power. It's there no matter the situation, no matter the stronghold.
Love you,
Laurel
Thank you for sharing this with us Laurel!
In His Love,
Niki
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