Stop the Victim Mentality

I came out of a fugue today, a fog caused by my own self-pity and a lack of seeking God. I'm not even sure when it began, or how long I've allowed it to beset my mind. God just showed me that I should never grow weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9).

The more we focus on our issues, the problems, the "waves", the more we sink into the water and start drowning. We swim and fight against the waves through constant spiritual activity, and God is with us when we ask Him for help, under-girding us with his guiding touch. In fact, we can walk on top of those waves the more we focus on Him, like Peter with Jesus - walking on water through faith. 

How does that evidence itself in real life? I'm not exactly sure. But simple obedience and simply walking with Him are a good start. Just a child-like faith that everything is going to be OK because daddy (Abba) is present and He's not going to let us down. Sometimes He reassures us, but sometimes we just need to keep fighting, reaching out to God and asking for His help and continuing to worship Him and shout from the rooftops about His Lordship. Even when our minds are darkened and all seems fruitless and hopeless. Our hearts can never grow dark or weary, and we need to keep going, keep giving our lives over to Him.

And at the right time, in His own time, He will lift us up and bring us to exactly where we are meant to be.

Lord, thank you for being my rock, my strength, my salvation, my fortress, my shield. You are my everything. I pray that I would learn what it means to love you with everything I am, everything I have. Please continue to strengthen me, that I might glorify you, and please wrap me and my family in your warm embrace, protect us all so that we can serve each other and others in your name. Set the captives free, Lord, and we will worship in your throne room forever!

Ready for Battle

As I mentioned in my last post about fleeing from sin and fleeing to God, our Lord equips us with the full armor described in Ephesians 6 - Salvation, Righteousness, Truth, the Gospel, Faith, and the Word of God.

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. (Ephesians 6:10-17 NLT)

These should all be ready in our arsenal as we go about our days. Find ways to pray for those who are close to you, and those that you meet for whom God gives you a heart. Meditate on God's word. Bring God into every situation and ask Him to show you how to glorify Him as you go about your business, as you shop, as you socialize, as you do everything. Pray without ceasing. Treasure His word in your heart. But most of all, ready yourself for battle.


Never forget that Satan prowls like a roaring lion, ready to devour the weak. Be on guard, and realize that we are in a war that will not end until Satan and his followers are thrown into the lake of fire. Always be vigilant, and never allow laziness to overtake your mind as you live your life. That may mean changing your habits, finding ways to be honest about all of those things that may lead to sin - triggers, pathways, etc. Remember, if you are on the battle field, you're not in the act of compromising with the enemy - your complete purpose is to kill the enemy and not allow them any foothold in your camps, no stronghold in your realms. Same thing as you battle for ground in your heart and in your mind. You do not want the sin nature that is evident in your flesh to gain any ground - you want to pummel it into submission and put to death the deeds of the flesh.

Just as much as sin chips away at the man that you were meant to be (until you become a wraith-like shadow of what you could have become), becoming more Christ-like will enable you to be everything that men were ever meant to be - sacrificial, protective, undeterred by evil, and focused on doing the Father's work and being champions for His kingdom.

Though we shouldn't be completely obsessed with fear for our enemy, we should be aware of his snares, traps, and lies, and be ever vigilant to meet them head on with all of the full arsenal of our Lord.