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Continually Redeemed

“…since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God…”
(Romans 3:23, AMP)

It is good to know where we fall short as a sinner. Let’s make it personal: Why do you need God? What has He saved you from? Yes, our salvation in God saves our soul from eternal separation from Him, but what are your personal sins? If we can’t answer those two questions above, then we see no need for the Savior to rule and reign in our life. He desires a personal relationship with us, so our answers will be personal, reflecting who we are with and without Him.

What are some of my personal sins?

-I limit God and all the things He can do in my life. Because of this, I “light my own fires,” taking matters into my own hands instead of waiting on Him to do the impossible (Luke 1:37 and Isaiah 50:11, NIV).

-I need approval from others; I am a people pleaser. At times I have focused on man more than I have focused on God and what He wants me to do to please Him (Galatians 1:10, NIV).

-I fight God’s plans for my life and want my own way, a lot of the time; when I look around, I want my life to reflect something closer to what I see that others have rather than what God wants for me. In my discontentment, I deny His wisdom and discount His plans over my life (Romans 8:28; Romans 8:32; and Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).

-I look for my worth and value in the way others see me and treat me rather than believing in my worth and value in God. When I do this, I am led by my insecurities and feelings rather than ruled by the Spirit, setting my heart on things here and not above (1 Samuel 16:7; Psalm 139:13-16; Romans 8:5-6; and Colossians 3:1-3, NIV).

Of the sins of mine that I mentioned above, I see a pattern: the focus and importance of man in my life. I have looked to man to fill the holes in my soul. I suppose I have been afraid if I reached out to God as my only Source, He couldn’t possibly fill all of my places of longing. Hence, I have questioned and doubted if God could be enough. In Blaise Pascal’s work Pensees, he states it best:

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself” (Pascal 75).

When not looking to God to fill those empty places in my soul, I have looked to other persons and/or things to do it. I have expected “that certain something” out of a person or “thing” that it was never created to give me. This would be one of those examples where I see my constant need for God’s redemption in my life. I have lost my purpose, vision, and identity when man becomes paramount and God’s destiny and redemption is diminished.

The Scriptures are clear about God’s role and His purpose for man. To put our trust in ourselves or in man is like leaning on a faulty reed that will bend and sway. Only God is constant and never changes, so He is the only one we should put our trust:

“Don’t look to men for help; their greatest leaders fail” (Psalm 146:3, TLB).

“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8, AMP).

“Stop believing in human beings as so amazing, so capable!
We are short-lived, only a breath from death and worth as much.
What makes us think we’re so special?” (Isaiah 2:22, VOICE).

“God is not a man– He doesn’t lie.
God isn’t the son of man to want to take back what He’s said,
Or say something and not follow through,
or speak and not act on it” (Numbers 23:19, VOICE).

“Jesus Christ is [eternally changeless, always] the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, AMP).

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17, NKJV).

Where humans may fail (every time), God will not fail (every time). It’s a guarantee. Where man is finite in relationship to each other, God is infinite in all ways in relationship to us. He is Provider, Healer, Father, Friend, Shepherd, and much more. He is the only One who can provide that primitive need within us for unfailing security.

My conflict comes from what man could do in my life and not trusting on what God will do. I am thankful for God’s grace as I break free from my web of struggles (Ephesians 2:8, NLT):

“For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help” (Psalm 22:24, NIV).

I am thankful for God’s long-term patience. He does not feel contempt or scorn when we don’t catch on immediately. Rather, His love toward us is everlasting, and His kindness toward us is unfailing (Jeremiah 31:3, NIV).

What is man that He chose us to hold His Spirit and to carry His name when we are all cracked pots of earth and clay?

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes” (Ephesians 1:4, NLT).

“And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads” (Revelations 22:4, NLT).

“But this beautiful treasure is contained in us– cracked pots of earth and clay– so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7, VOICE).

We see our sin and know our struggles; He sees a blameless people He loved before the creation of the world, a people He entrusts to display His character in a way that surpasses the ordinary. He died for you and me, the righteous for the unrighteous, the godly for the ungodly. He promises full redemption in our temporal, corruptible state (1 Corinthians 15:53, AMP).

Today I embrace His constant redemption over my life, continually drawing me closer to Him when my heart wants to stray in setting up the idol of man in my heart. Today I trust that He will live up to His name in my life because He is everything I need.

Photo by Stefan Kunze on Unsplash

July 27, 2018

Know Your History

“The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settles the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, MSG)

Last time in “Our Struggle is Not Against Flesh and Blood,” I focused on how the enemy weasels into our life and how to reinforce change against similar, future attacks. In this next blog, I will address how the Holy Spirit reveals our own heart to us in our battles with the enemy, along with any unhealthy patterns we have cultivated into our lives that might have given the enemy a foothold.

When our world starts to fall apart, it doesn’t usually take us long to soul- search for its roots of cause and effect. With the past dating relationship I shared about in my last blog, there was conflict and loss, but these kind of experiences are not at the expensive of just waste and pain. They can reveal so much about ourselves and the relationships in our life.

I admit I had a very hard time writing this third section of my blog. Becoming frustrated in the process, I stopped writing the piece and went back to journaling. I had to make sense of it and get to the bottom of the heart-issues: Where am I with the issues in my current relationships, and do I truly have it sorted out? What am I responsible for? With others, what should I look for next time so that the outcome is different? Otherwise, if I am having a hard time naming it, I cannot change it (MacDonald 67). Since I recently finished reading Gordon MacDonald’s book Rebuilding Your Broken World, I will be using only the titles to two of his main/sub-points, focusing on what I feel is most important in learning from the broken parts of our world: know your history and know yourself as a sinner (This second point will be addressed in my next blog titled “Continually Redeemed”).

Know your history. Have you ever tried to unlearn something that you had learned the wrong way? We all have. For a lot of us, this may stem all the way back to our childhood where certain attitudes, habits, and behaviors were modeled for us. For me, my family history of passive-aggressive behaviors that I learned as a child, especially when dealing with conflict in relationships, was not working for me. Passive-aggressive in my family looks something like this when two are at odds with one another: No one likes to communicate about the conflict at hand. It is easier for everyone to act like nothing ever happened. We will be cordial with each other when we have get-togethers, but deep down, none of us are really moving on. Rather, we are holding on to the hurts and pain caused by each other in the past, so naturally we don’t healthily work through our conflicts. Over time, a wedge builds in our hearts toward each other. Consequently, the relationship is tested and overcomes the adversity, or worse, holding onto the offense becomes more important than the relationship. If it’s the latter, bonds are destroyed, and the relationship becomes nonexistent.

I recognized these same passive-aggressive tendencies in myself. I would go a long time before saying anything if I was upset about something or with someone. Next, I would allow frustration to build up in me if similar conflicts continued. Instead of conversing about things as they happened, I held things in and acted like everything was okay; eventually the frustration came out in ways that did not foster a healthy relationship. I would eventually confront the person about something on a much smaller scale they had done recently that aggravated me rather than tackle the real problem. With some, I would just simply spend less time with them.

I knew things had to change. I needed to be true to myself and true to the other person if I wanted a firm foundation in those relationships that were important to me. This verse displays pure honesty where our words and actions should align:

“But above all, my fellow believers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but let your yes be [a truthful] yes, and your no be [a truthful] no, so that you may not fall under judgment” (James 5:12, AMP).

No wonder the blow ups or blow outs would come when I handled conflict with others in a passive-aggressive way. I had presented to the other person a facade that everything was okay when it really wasn’t. This is nothing less of being superficial with ourselves, others, and in our relationships:

“And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you]” (Romans 12:2, AMP).

Being real in our relationships with each other takes spiritual maturity with a whole new infrastructure of values and ethics that are usually in opposition to our learned, worldly ways. This transformation teeters on whether we will forfeit or embrace God’s best for our life of what He intended for us. Being a Christian means moving forward into God’s ordained design for our new spiritual life in Him:

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings new life]” (2 Corinthians 5:17, AMP).

Look at this version of the verse as it includes, with our new life, how it should affect our relationship with others:

Being a new creation in Him and not conforming any longer to the ways of the world means we change the way that we do our relationships and the way that we think about our relationships with each other. This change can be hard though because we are more familiar with the “old way of doing things,” those patterns fabricated and habits developed into our relationships, that any change that might bring uneasiness and uncertainty would be better off avoided. It involves the two accepting, adjusting, and confronting the problems at hand, and rarely are two people on the same page at the same time about issues. That’s why it’s called conflict. As long as we are in relationships on this earth, conflict is inevitable. Talking about issues you are having with another person is scary. It involves confrontation, and it involves the awkward awareness and realization of self in relation to each other. Satan’s threats entered here for me when I moved in a progressive direction for change in my relationships:

If you “shine a light” on the weaker parts of the relationship, the other person will be offended and feel like you are finding fault in them. (Yes, this has happened to me!)

If you confront these problems in the relationship, you will lose them. (Yes, this has happened to me!)

No matter how you present it or what you say, you will be misunderstood. (Yes, this has happened to me!)

If you bring up the past, they will accuse you as someone who is holding onto offense and label you as “unforgiving”. (Yes, this has happened to me!)

They won’t see it as communication but as an aggravation of the situation, seeing you as one who causes drama. (Yes, this has happened to me!)

In my relationships that needed some type of mending or revamping, all of the threats of Satan that preyed on my fears as the possible outcome did happen to me in some way, form, or fashion. Some welcomed the boundaries and borders; some were flustered by the confrontation of making things better. Nonetheless, once this “clean sweep” took place, what seemed like a lot of uncertainty in the outcome of these relationships was exactly what I needed. In confronting the issues in myself and in my relationships, I gained peace in understanding the relationships better; I gained respect for who I was in Christ as an instrumental part of the growth in my relationships; and I gained new and healthy relationships, beginning wiser with truthful yes’s and truthful no’s.

Instead of being locked into my history of how I handle others, and as a new creation in Him, I look to the Scriptures to point me in the direction I hope to follow in my relationships (Matthew 5:23-24; Romans 12:17-21; Proverbs 19:11; Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:12-14; and Matthew 18:15, etc., NIV). It takes careful obedience on my part to follow His instructions for me in His Word, and it takes godly wisdom to confront issues in relationships. Relying on God’s wisdom, I am thankful that all I have to do is ask Him for it! (James 1:5, NIV).

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

July 10, 2018

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

(Proverbs 4:23, NLT)

In my last blog entry, “Overcoming a Relentless Enemy,” I wrote about our vulnerability to the enemy’s attack and that we must activate our faith so that we can withstand the enemy. In this next part, I will focus on how the enemy weasels into our life and how to reinforce change against similar, future attacks.

Some years ago, I met someone who would play an instrumental part in my life; it was a very painful experience that has proved to be packed full of many lessons learned for me. At the time when I met this person, I was weighed down by the shame and guilt of divorce. I was only in the beginning stages of nursing those wounds when this person came into my life; he comforted me in my pain, ministered even, by praying for me and quoting Scripture over me. The problem? This man hid behind a seemingly good reputation, position, and religious good deeds.

This man did appear to have some level of sincerity at times, able to articulate himself with the gospel of peace. This is what was so confusing for me. He held “a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although [he] denied its power [for his conduct nullified his claim of faith]” (2 Timothy 3:1-5, AMP).

The Greek word for “form” (of godliness) in this verse conveys the idea that someone is “putting up a front.” Morphosin is the Greek here, which in our English spelling is morphosis. The inference of the Greek word morphosis means “appearance” or “to form a semblance.” Thus, what I was seeing was the mere form he had created for others to see.

Isn’t is true sometimes that situations with people aren’t always what they seem? Scripture backs this up:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:15-16a, NIV).

“Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15, NIV).

This ministry of writing calls for great wisdom. In no way do I want to “throw someone under the bus” so to speak; this life we live involves interaction with others. Though I would hope to protect “the other party” as best as I can, I do not wish to hide being deceived by my own heart: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”(Jeremiah 17:9, NIV).

YES, there were red flags, many of them and from the very beginning! I suppose I missed having a spouse and longed for what I once had. I reasoned through this particular man’s schemes. I questioned my ability to discern accurately and wisely through the situation with this man since I had just gone through a divorce and wondered if that whole relationship had been a mistake. I suddenly became indecisive about any decisions in my life and sort of froze in place! I just decided not to make any big decisions, good or bad. I doubted myself, so how could I make right judgements about someone else?

What helped me get out of this relationship with this man?

The Holy Spirit. My friends. Pastoral counselors. Accepting truth. And the final stamp of obedience to walk away from something that did not have God’s approval!

From this experience with this man, this is what I ultimately learned about the way the enemy weasels into our life and how to strengthen reinforcements for similar, future attacks:

-I realize that we need to be on our guard for any “surprise” traps of the enemy when we have undergone any initial and great hardship; we can lose balance in our mind, will, and emotions for a time until Jesus heals us in that situation.

-Feed the spirit but starve the emotion. Tumultuous relationships like these (which I recommended NOT entering) bring in high emotions. Without the Holy Spirit’s help, we will feed the nature of man, its sinful nature guided by worldliness (Romans 8:3-4, NIV). We will lower our standards, fighting back in the same way people in the world fight each other. If we follow our fleshly desires in this regard, we forfeit God’s intended peace over our life and the good plan He ultimately has for us. Instead, we settle for something less fulfilling just to obtain that temporary want or desire within us that most likely will lead to disaster down the road (Romans 12:1-2, NIV). Our spirit-man in the faith must be kept stronger, focused and ready at all times for what wars against the nature of man (Philippians 3:15-21, MSG; Ephesians 6:10-19, AMP; Romans 7:14-25, NIV).

-The Word is powerful, but we must separate the power of His Word from the vehicle behind the Word. We cannot be deceived here. Words are powerful! (Proverbs 18:21, NIV). Even Eve in the Garden of Eden bought into what the crafty serpent had to say about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he was using, or rather, replaying the same words that had a higher authority behind them. With this man I met, it was similar. A good friend counseled me on this man’s statements I had fallen for every time he would say them (specific Scriptures, repeated phrases of God-like encouragement, etc.); she said that anything good he would say to me was not from him, but to think of it as from the Lord. His charm and way with words did not work on me anymore after I considered this perspective!

-Don’t fight your battles alone and on your own! First, you have the Holy Spirit who will guide you to places of truth (John 16:13, NIV); He may even warn you (Acts 20:23, NIV). Second, we make up the body of Christ; we were not created to do life alone. My closest friends that truly know me helped untangle the mess in my heart. They made me consider questions regarding my future and future family with this man if things were to go down that road. They also assured me of my past, that I was a trusting person in my marriage and prior dating relationships, yet not with this man. After all, if this man was trustworthy, there shouldn’t have been trust issues at all, right?

-Obedience, obedience, obedience!!!!!!! This lesson came for me at a high cost! Because I had ignored the warnings of the Holy Spirit, along with offhandedly dismissing the red flags in which my spirit bore witness, there were consequences to bear. I believe the consequences of my disobedience were as much or maybe even more far reaching than the actual toxic relationship itself. The aftermath of fears and paranoia (not to mention the trust issues to believe someone else again or in trusting myself because ultimately I let this person into my life) would continue long after not seeing this man anymore. Consequently, a lot of unnecessary “repair” in my life had to be implemented because I was not obedient to the Holy Spirit. I had to accept the damage of losing some people in my life while he would win some over with his tactful ways and with his skewed version of things to cover and protect himself in the situation. I had to overcome his gaslighting statements that he would somehow control my life’s future and outcome. I had to replace those thoughts with reminders about who God is, in and through my life:

Jesus is Lord over my life and over the universe (Acts 17:24, NIV). We serve an Omnipotent God who has power over all things and whose power is infinite and limitless.

“What [God] opens no [man] can shut, and what [God] shuts no [man] can open” (Revelation 3:8, NIV with my emphasis).

Ultimately, we are responsible for what or who we allow into our life, and we are responsible for guarding our heart that determines the course of our life (Proverbs 4:23, NLT). So, I want to encourage you with this last word: “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you– guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us” (2 Timothy 1:14, NIV).

In my next blog, I will address how the Holy Spirit reveals our own hearts to us in our battles with the enemy, along with any unhealthy patterns we have cultivated into our lives that might have given the enemy a foothold.

Photo by David Beale on Unsplash

May 8, 2018 2

Overcoming a Relentless Enemy

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9, NIV)

These days call for true fighters of the faith.

The photo I have included here was taken while on a church missions trip to Costa Rica in the summer of 2014. My church is currently building an orphanage there called The House of Hope, and while we were there, we visited The Abraham Project, an orphanage near San Jose. At The Abraham Project, we were given a tour of the homes where the house-parents raise the children until adopted; we also toured their school and play yard, which was nearby and in walking distance. Next to the school play yard, they kept piles of materials (as shown here) for the continual building that seemed ongoing and constantly in progress. One house-parent shared how someone had stolen the metal from their pile of building materials. Because of limited funds, resources, and storage, the materials were vulnerable to thieves. I wanted to remember what this meant for us spiritually as Christians and how vulnerable we are if the proper protection and guarding are not in place.

After talking to just two families within a couple of days of our missions trip, theft seemed to be the concurrent problem for those we had met living in Costa Rica. Not only had The Abraham Project’s building materials been stolen, but also a landowner’s hired-help had stolen from him, causing him to fire his dishonest employee. I could hear the disappointment in their voices as they expressed their loss so openly with us. Very quickly, I came to be one with the people of Costa Rica. We may feel like our experiences are unique to us, but we should take comfort: we have all suffered that kind of disappointment and that feeling that something was stolen from us.

As I reflected on these stories of loss and the photo of the piles of scraps and materials that had been vulnerable to thieves, this scripture came to mind:

We can forget that we are constantly susceptible to enemy attack. We cannot think that the devil will take things out on us lightly or that he will let up when we would wish him away. With him, there are no negotiations. If Jesus was a target, we are too:

“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left [Jesus] until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13, NIV).

This word until reminds me of the two different occasions the Lord asks Satan in the book of Job, “Where have you come from?” Satan answers both times the same way: “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it” (Job 1:7 and Job 2:2, NIV). We may overcome one moment with Satan, but he restlessly doesn’t stop and returns again. We have to be ready and alert for the next time, that next opportune time when we are most vulnerable.

We can all recall those past vulnerable moments that stand out in our minds where we will never forget that, to our surprise, the unimaginable and unthinkable would or could even happen through us or to us. Maybe it is because we were distracted, we did not heed the warning signs, or we didn’t expect it in the form that it came. (I will be addressing this further in my next blog entry.)

After visiting The Abraham Project, I also studied this Scripture, paying close attention to the grammatical structure of John 10:10a in the NIV: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” The repeated use of the conjunction “and” reminded me that the enemy doesn’t come and do some damage. He intends to do all the damage that he can!

I don’t want people to read this and have a sudden fear that the devil is out to get us (2 Timothy 1:6-7, NIV). But the truth is, he is! He wants to steal your life of all its past memories of joy and kill your present dreams and destroy your hope for the future. If we allow him, he wants it to go on and on until he takes it all.

But here is our hope, which is greater than any plan the enemy will try to orchestrate against us:

He may come as a thief but look at the second part of the verse: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b, NIV).

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth…” (Acts 17:24a, NIV).

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV).

“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” (1 John 4:4, NIV).

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:18-23, NIV).

He is the Lamb who was humbly slain for our sins, but He is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah who has triumphed and rules all the earth! (Revelation 5:5-6, NIV).

And He has not left us without protection and a defense:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:10-18, NIV).

Satan is limited, whereas we are not! Satan may have power, but we have power and authority: “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:19, NIV).

This calls for our most active faith! We fight in prayer continually, we stand firm in faith unwaveringly, and we rest in Him when we have done everything we know to do. I don’t know about you, but to rest is active work for me! To rest means not doing something when you want to do something, but the Holy Spirit says, “Not now!” or “Not that!” or “Not yet!” Remember, it is ultimately His battle. Take up your position and stand your ground! He promises that we will see the deliverance of the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:15-30, NIV).

Someone is tired of fighting the good fight. The battles have been long and hard, and you may even feel like you are losing the battle and are down for the final count. You are thinking, I will just lie here and take it, and let the enemy win. This is when you know you have reached the end of your own strength. Be encouraged! You are weary and tired, but His power is made perfect in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, NIV). Rest in His power! Resting requires activating your faith and trust in Him; having this kind of faith can be hard to understand because it is like a secret that we stumble upon as we stumble along the way. He loves you and is not put out with you (Psalm 22:24, NIV)! Rest, beloved one of His! Your hope will break forth like the dawn (Isaiah 58:8, NIV). Your strength will be renewed (Isaiah 40:27-31, NIV). You won’t be able to understand the logistics of how, when, and what (Hebrews 11:1, NIV). But believe your breakthrough is coming!

There will be a continuation of this blog entry. As I hope to have established in this entry that you are the target of a real enemy, I pray you also grasp the life and the hope and the power you have in Jesus! My next entry on this topic will be on how the enemy weasels in and how to reinforce change against similar, future attacks.

Photo by Melanie Marimberga

March 25, 2018 6

First Things First

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”(Isaiah 58:6, NIV)

Going into January 2018, things didn’t look much different from 2017, or even the year before that, or the year before that. It had been years now. I had not lost count. Many of my big prayers had not been answered for almost a decade now: husband…children…family.

My church has a fast every year in January to bring in the New Year right. We started ours a couple of weeks into the month. And to be honest, even though I expected this fast every year, I had not thought much about this one.

I had joined two prayer groups just the semester before and had gotten an army of people behind my prayers. I know they prayed for me; they had the heart for it.

Close friends of mine at church asked what I was doing for my fast. Some were doing the Daniel fast, fasting Netflix, fasting social media, and one friend decided to fast Mountain Dew! I thought maybe I would fast social media myself as I had done that fast before for good reason or should I say reasons even. That fast turned into a four year fast, a surprise to me! I had eliminated a time-stealer and uncluttered my mind with other people’s problems that they would post. I needed to be less distracted, and that worked for me then.

Fasting something like social media I knew wasn’t the appropriate fast for me this time. That Sunday after church, I searched my heart for what it was I needed to fast. I remembered the “True Fasting” chapter in the book of Isaiah, chapter 58. I turned to it and read.

There I was at sunset with Bible open that evening when our church-wide fast would begin. This is the Scripture that resonated with me, and my heart wouldn’t let go of it:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6, NIV)

The Amplified version reads like this:

“To undo the bonds of wickedness,
To tear to pieces the ropes of the yoke,
To let the oppressed go free
And break apart every [enslaving] yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6, AMP)

This became the focus of my fasting: not for a husband, children, or family. I needed to be free of the negativity that had come with all of my unanswered prayers.

This Isaiah passage during my fast would prove my victory and freedom. I was the prisoner that needed to be set free. I was chained to wrong thoughts about myself and even wrong thoughts about how God felt about me. I had decided that I would fast negative thoughts and feelings about myself. I felt like I was in a frontal attack from the devil. So I “fasted” all of my negative thoughts for God’s thoughts about me, His redemption over me, and His blood and sacrifice of love for me.

Still in the early stages of my fast, I received a text from a church friend that she was specifically praying for me during our fast. I briefly shared my struggle, and the fact that, that morning I was heavy-hearted and that I had already asked God for help. I admitted that I did not feel strong enough to break the cycle of wrong thoughts, yet knowing His power was strong in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, NIV).

I did not feel like a victor or an overcomer. To me, I fell so short of His image that I bear!

How had I gotten here in my walk of faith? I had grown tired and weary in my prayers. It was more readily evident what the problem was, but when you feel stuck, it seems much harder to know how to get out of the mess!

I had two motivations here. One was to be free. The second was to be an effective minister to others. This was my part in this partnership with God for change:

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed…” (Isaiah 58:9b-10a, NIV)

With an if, there is always a then in Scripture, that is if we will do our part, He is faithful to do His part. So if I could not do away with the bondage in my own life first, how as a minister for His gospel and kingdom, could I help someone else in my same situation? I had to do away with the pointing finger I was pointing at myself and the malicious broken-record running through my own mind that I was not what I needed to be. I am convinced as Christians that we have the right tools but don’t know how to use them. People are hungry for freedom but don’t know how to get it. As the Scripture here may point to bodily and physical hunger, don’t we hunger spiritually as well? We lack the sense to wield the tools we have into action in order to create the power needed to be that overcomer in Christ. It takes effort and work.

It may sound elementary and simple, replacing my thoughts for God’s thoughts about myself. When I thought of a fast that way for me at that time, it made me intentional to do something about the thoughts that were wrong! It was VERY hard at the beginning, but I had formed a habit, and it became habitual.

With the if part of this Scripture, next comes the promise that follows, which God fulfills along with our intentional, deliberate effort:

“…then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” (Isaiah 58:10b-12, NIV)

As I continue to keep close watch for thoughts that stray away from His thoughts and His love for me, there has been victory. My night has turned into noonday; light has shone in the dark place of waiting. I am strengthened and satisfied in my sun-scorched land of unanswered prayers. I am healed from brokenness, repaired and restored with joy. Now I am ready to help someone else from where I was to where I am now. I turned to Him when the negative thoughts came. I turned to Him when I needed help. And I exchanged my negative thoughts for His truth. Praise God for His marvelous work in, through, and over us. He accomplishes it and will complete the work He started in us (Philippians 1:6, NIV).

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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