In Response to the Utmost for His Highest Devotion for September 9th: utmost.org/do-it-yourself-2/ September 9 Struggle. That would be a word to describe my spiritual life at many times in my life. What is this struggle? What are we fighting? Is the struggle really there, or is it all in our minds? After all, we cant see anything. Have you ever had these thoughts? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that "we do not war according to the flesh" The battle that we are fighting is not outside the body, but within where our spirits are. The fight is in the spiritual realm. Brothers & Sisters, this fight is real. Jesus has called all of us to a way of living that goes AGAINST our flesh, and what our bodies want to do. I am going to say it again to make sure we all got that … Jesus has called all of us to a way of living that goes AGAINST our flesh, and what our bodies want to do. Do not let Satan confuse you any further. Just because you feel a struggle in serving God, you are not an embarrassment to your heavenly father. Satan will try to convince you that you feel the struggle because you are a "sinner". This is NOT true! There is one thing that Satan cant argue with and that is the WORD of GOD. Hebrews tells us that the WORD is sharper than any 2-edged sword, able to be more precise than any thing on this earth. Satan cannot fight the truth of the word. Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 calls us to do something that Satan, through the world, will try to convince us is foolish. "…bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" THIS IS ESSENTIAL!!! I firmly believe that overcoming the temptations and struggles we have in our lives is NOT Possible without an intimate understanding of the reality Paul is speaking of here. When these thoughts come into your mind, you must put them in captivity and force them to surrender to the will of God. For everything you stand for, the world will now tell you, "the Bible doesn’t mean that" "the Bible was translated incorrectly" "that is a book by Man" "don’t be a Bible Banger" … I could go on. SURRENDER!!!! We must all surrender. If you want victory over sin in your life, you must surrender. We must bring EVERY thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Every thought that comes to you, rebuke it in the name of Jesus. We must stay close to our Lord in all things. We must cling to HIS Word, his hope, his plan for our lives, and our future with him. God is rising up a mighty force for HIS kingdom in this world today, I firmly believe that. We have a world that is hurting and hopeless. We have a world that is trying to be tolerant of everyone and everything and believe everything at the same time, and look at the result. I am not saying we shouldn’t be tolerant of others and understanding viewpoints that differ from our own, because we should. Jesus was tolerant and had compassion for others that came from a different background than he did. Jesus wanted us to reach TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH and we cannot do that without having compassion and tolerance. However, we must still STAND STRONG for what we believe in. Our faith and confession of Jesus Christ cannot be compromised for ANY REASON OR ANY THING! Jesus has a mighty work in store for all of us. Jesus is LORD! Jesus changes lives. He has changed mine, and I pray he has changed yours. Jesus, today we come to you and we surrender. We praise YOUR NAME for who you have revealed us to be IN YOU. We know that IN CHRIST we are a new creation, and we praise you for that today LORD! Thank you for your grace and mercy. Today we put into captivity EVERYTHING in our life that wars against who and what you have called us to be. Jesus, we put you above all other things. Lord Jesus we love you and serve you! Show us today how we can live for you more dynamically and have your will accomplished through our lives! Amen! ~John Murdock
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 11:02:06 +0000
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