Spiritual battle! It can be so intense sometimes. Satan is so crafty in his attack plans. He can take something that blesses me and draws me into a more intimate presence with God and twist and distort it until it becomes something that completely shifts my focus from being about God to being about me.
I grew up thinking I needed to be really good at everything I did. My parents didn’t place that burden on me that I remember, I just simply volunteered for it! Satan uses that against me to limit what I’m willing to do in the Kingdom and make my pride become more important to me than allowing my weaknesses to be seen. It can be so hard to allow others to see my weaknesses. It’s funny, most people (especially those closest to me) see my weaknesses with pretty good clarity, but I think as long as I don’t acknowledge that no one can really see them! Another line of deceit from the Deceiver! That’s why I love the apostle Paul. I’m so glad God put his story in the Bible. It let’s me know it’s okay to be human (that was God’s design for me), but long to be spiritual (that is God’s desire for me), and that Paul struggled between the two also! (Rom. 7:19 - For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.)
Do you ever struggle with doing something for God that you don’t have any confidence in your own ability to do? That’s where my struggle is; allowing my confidence in God to override my lack of self-confidence in order to serve Him.
In the midst of this struggle, the Spirit has led me to 2 Corinthians. Paul talks about everything they (he and Timothy) have gone through in order to spread the gospel. He makes the statement that all this has “…happened that we might not rely on ourselves but On God, …). So for today, I’ve picked back up my battle shield, fallen in line behind my Protector, and I’m willing to let Him do what I can’t do myself.
2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 (New International Version)
9 … "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (The Message)
My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Report from the front lines
Posted by Jeanne at 1:08 PM
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4 comments:
Isn't it interesting how when you are struggling with something, everything you read and hear seems to have to do with that very thing? :o) Thank you for how you are Jesus to me.
I love you!
I think oftentimes God calls us to do things He knows we can't do on our own so that we will realize that it's not about our ability, it's about His. He grows our faith by pushing us beyond what we can do into the realm of what we can't do. And in reality, that's where we accomplish the most: when we can't and we know it. When we come to the absolute end of ourselves, we have no choice but to put our complete trust in Him, which is exactly what He wants from us.
Thank you for being such an amazing example to me of what faith truly is. Thank you for being willing to let Him do what you can't do yourself. That willingness is the reason you accomplish so much in the Kingdom. You are wonderful and I love you!
I am vulnerable and different ways--but I so feel like I've been on the front lines lately.
That should be IN different ways--I should proofread FIRST!
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