Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Over the past couple of weeks, my posts have waned. I’m sorry. I’m getting ready for a very busy month ahead here. I’ll be writing every day of the month of February. It is called the 28 Day Challenge. The title of my series is You are not Invisible, You are EMBRACED! It should be a very encouraging series for you to read. It is designed to give you fodder for instructing your mind in how to think.
Included in the series are reminders of aspects of who GOD is…our good Shepherd, the GOD of hope. He is our source of hope based on His character and His promises. For many of you, and you are the ones I write to, you are struggling with issues of aging, caregiving, feeling invisible, and generally feeling unimportant. I hope to show you that GOD does not see you as unimportant or invisible. To the contrary, you are very valuable to Him. So valuable, in fact, that He came to die so you could live a guilt-free life based on complete forgiveness of your sin and guilt!
Don’t believe everything you think!
Have you heard the saying, Don’t believe everything you think? I heard it not long ago and I love it. How often do we hear a voice in our heads that tells us we are worthless, or we are dumb because…, or we are ugly or …you fill in the blank. If a person said those things to us, we would get mad at them and walk away. We might even punch them for saying such awful things to us. But for some reason, we listen to that voice in our head and often believe it. We have to use discernment with our thinking just as we do with what we read and hear. If we don’t, we women, particularly, will find ourselves down at the bottom of a depression spiral very quickly! We will also start believing lies on other fronts that will lead us astray and into all kinds of foolishness…and away from wisdom.
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—
I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!–
I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence
as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God,
and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.II Corinthians 10:1-6 ESV
This passage speaks to our taking our thoughts captive so we can obey Christ. He also speaks of waging war against strongholds that is different from normal warfare. What stronger stronghold can Satan have than the one he has over your mind? It is difficult to tell people the things he accuses you about. Often they are at least half true. But keeping all those accusations inside, in the dark, and treating them as if they were true is not good for you or your relationship with GOD and others. Satan loves darkness and hiding. Anything he can do to keep us in the dark and hiding truth, he will do.
Hopefully, you have a close friend you can confide in regarding these attacks. You can at least share them in generalities if not every specific one. Then ask for prayer. Honest, true prayer on a regular basis. Remember that GOD is more powerful that Satan any day. He can remove these attacks and He can give you the strength to stand up to them in Jesus’ name. Remember, another name for Satan is The Accuser. If you feel accused, those words don’t come from GOD.
The Accuser is happy to disable believers by feeding us lies that cause us to doubt GOD and become timid in our faith. That way we won’t move forward with courage.
Think of how many people are disabled from living out the Gospel because of listening and believing these words from the Accuser. And that is his goal! He wants GOD’s army to be immobilized in any way possible.
GOD tells us to trust Him because He will never leave or forsake us. (Joshua 1:9)
He tells us not to worry because He will provide for all our needs. (Philippians 4:19)
He tells us that He has loved us with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)
He promises to care and provide for us all the days of our lives. (Psalm 23)
And I’m only scratching the surface of what He has promised. So join me starting in February as we begin to walk together for 28 days. I’ll have a link to one page where each daily link will be added. Or you can subscribe to my blog and you will automatically receive each post as it it published. Blessings to you all.
