Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. My dear warrior,
As I wrote yesterday, any area of your life for which you have no hope is under the influence of a lie. There is always hope. Not only is there always hope, there is always a solution! Recently I was listening to Steve Backlund talking about just that. He said if the brain doesn’t think there is a solution, it won’t look for one. But once the brain actually believes there is a solution, it begins to function like a heavenly search engine, searching until it finds a solution.
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My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith would not depend on men's wisdom, but on God's power.  My dear warrior,
This time last year I would not have expected that I would be where I am today. I would not have expected to be completely set free and healed from all of my food allergies and health issues. I would not have thought I would be eating pizza, joining in on all the food festivities at work, and finally getting to enjoy the lush German Christmas pastries that I have missed and craved so much over the years. And yet here I am, completely healed. This Christmas I am happily eating gluten and free from the overwhelming feelings of guilt, shame and food depression that came with having food allergies.  “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” – Romans 5:3-5 My dear warriors,
On Sunday I had the joy of getting to listen to a brilliant man of God speak about suffering. It is something that has been on my heart for some time now, and I knew I would write about it today. As warriors, as Christians – and as humans – we are frequently faced with the reality of suffering. In these past few months, I have been dealt more than one heavy blow in my own life; I have met a woman who was thrown from a building and had nearly every bone in her body broken; I have met a man grieving the loss of his father; I have met a young woman without a place to call home. Tragically, suffering is part of the Christian life. According to scripture, it is a critical part of our formation, it is a critical piece of us becoming the men and women of God we are meant to be.  “We do not have to make God willing to forgive. In fact, it is God who is working to make us willing to seek His forgiveness” -Richard J. Foster As believers, we all understand that we should confess our sins. At least, that is my hope. Confessing our sins and forgiving one another are vital parts of our walk with Christ. We cannot walk in step with Him if we are clinging to unforgiveness, clinging to anger and bitterness towards other people for having wounded us. Scripture tells us not to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). One of the ways we quench the Spirit in our lives is by harboring unrepented sin in our lives. It creates a rift between God and us.
The first question for you then, dear warrior, is this: is there any unforgiveness in your life? If your answer was ‘Nope!’ then sorry, try again. This time, ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind where you need to forgive others; where you have unresolved anger, bitterness or hatred towards someone. Ask Him to point out things for which you have not forgiven yourself, or where you are mad at God, Himself.  Earlier this week, I realized that I had an extremely important tool in my possession that I was carrying with me. As I was chatting with a new friend, I immediately knew why she was sharing her heartbreak with me: she desperately needed what I had. And I realized, I have shared this same tool over and over again -- how many more people are out there who are in absolute turmoil who need to know what I know?
"Be still, and know that I AM God" - Psalm 46:10 Scripture repeatedly tells us to "be still." Yet, in this fast-paced world, it can seem almost impossible to quiet your mind. It seems like you'd have to be a monk on some remote mountain top to get any kind of peace, and yet, even that seems like a foreign thought. But Warriors must know how to still their minds, how to silence the thoughts that rage through their heads, to calm their hearts. |
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Mere Humanity: Becoming a Mature Christian in an Immature World 
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