Jesus, I thank You for this day. I thank You for all of the blessings You continue to pour out on my family, friends, co-workers, and me. Jesus, I ask that You show me the truth and that I would be open to receiving the truth, regardless of how it makes me feel. I ask that You give me Your Spirit and Your power. I ask that you show me how to see other people and myself through Your eyes. I ask that You show me how to love other people and myself the way You love us, Lord. I thank You for always being with me, for never leaving me. And I ask that You make me more sensitive to Your Spirit, Lord, that I’m able to hear from You and experience Your love and Your guiding hand. I dedicate this day to You, Lord and I ask that everything that happens this evening would be glorifying to You. All these things I ask in Your mighty, holy and precious Name, Jesus. Amen.
I did it again. Sometimes I get so focused on learning about God that my relationship with Him suffers. I start by asking the Holy Spirit what I should do, what I should be watching, reading, and everything that I’m doing. Some of the things I’ve been led to have been very interesting as well as very challenging to my belief system, but it has all aided in removing me from the box I was programmed to live within. I had allowed myself to be programmed with a spirit of fear, which made me afraid to look into anything outside of my comfort zone. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV). While this verse has been effective in removing fear from parts of my life, I sometimes get so focused on the things I’m led to that I forget to check in and ask Him to keep me focused on His will being done in my life rather than my own will. “‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16 ESV). If we have access to the mind of Christ, why wouldn’t we want to tap into that if we are followers of Jesus? Does this mean I get an answer every time I ask Him a question? No, but it does allow me to pause, and by asking the question I seem to make better decisions. While God doesn’t need me, I believe that He wants me and that He loves me. I like to think that it pleases Him that I acknowledge Him when I do, and even if He doesn’t speak to me every time in a way that I expect Him to, I believe that my decisions are blessed because I’m trying to acknowledge Him in all that I do. Have you had mentors in your life? People that are further along in an area of life, someone that has the fruit on the tree in an area of life that you want to see better results? We have access to the greatest teacher, Jesus said “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26). Why wouldn’t we ask for His Holy Spirit to fill us and to connect us to the mind of Christ? “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 ESV). These are all promises that we’ve been given from the Word of God, why would we not stand firm on these promises from our Lord? I believe that If we can see other people through the eyes of Jesus, if we can learn to love ourselves and others the way Jesus does, we will melt the walls the enemy builds that have been put in place under the guise of protection that keeps us from knowing the love of Jesus. If the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, I believe that the kingdom of satan is built with the walls that have been put in place to keep us comfortable, and safe, and to keep us from knowing the truth. The way I see it, the Kingdom of Heaven is built with love and light, while the kingdom of satan is built with the walls that keep us in the dark, in our nice little box. If our God fits in our nice little box, I don’t believe we have God the master creator, we have an idol. I’m going to ask Jesus to help me see and to love the people that he places in front of me this week, to see the way that He sees them, and to love them the way He loves them. With the Holy Spirit’s help I’m going to melt some walls this week to help destroy the kingdom of satan, I hope that you will join me. -A humble warrior in God’s army
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” -Romans 8:14 ESV
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come to me, Your will be done through me, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give me this day my daily bread, and forgive me of my sins as I forgive those who have sinned against me. Lead me not into temptation and deliver me from evil, for Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen. -The Lords prayer (paraphrased)
Destroying the kingdom of satan with the Holy Spirit 