My issues...do I have issues?

When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? (Romans 2:1-4)

Too many times, we judge others for exactly the same things we do, say, or feel. It isn't that we don't know these things are wrong and that we shouldn't be engaging in those things ourselves, it is that we can see them best in others! Remember, the eyes focus outward - they don't look inward. We need some 'inward inspection' to point out that we are engaging in similar behavior. I suppose this is why God gave us his Holy Spirit to reside within each of us - so we could have that 'inward inspection' performed by someone who has our genuine best interests in mind.

They are wicked, but you are not without blame. They are probably doing things wrong, but so are you. You cannot 'judge' another, though. That is God's job and his alone. All we can do is pray for each other, holding each other up where we are weak, and live good examples that others can follow. God is kind toward each of us - not quick to judge or punish. He is not tolerant of our sin, but of our need to come to an end of our silliness and folly. He is patient with us because he knows some of us take just a bit longer to 'come around' to seeing our need for his grace and forgiveness than others of us might be at times.

The danger in always pointing out another's 'sinfulness' to them is that we are opening ourselves up for judgment ourselves. It may not come from others, but it will come from God. We need to understand that Christ's gift of grace is available for all mankind - even those we judge the harshest! We are asked to remain focused on what we don't see in ourselves - through the power of the Holy Spirit who resides within. This is all we can 'own' - it is all we are asked to 'own'. God's purpose is that we will each respond to his promptings to allow a 'clean up' of our own issues. Then we can be examples of his grace, kindness, and 'tolerance' to those around us. Just sayin!

You are not unworthy

For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. (Colossians 1:27-28)

Christ lives in you - those are words we can take to heart. In fact, I like to personalize that verse and remind myself that Christ lives in ME. That gives ME the assurance I will share his glory and will be 'presented to God', perfect in MY relationships to Christ. Maybe you might want to personalize that one for yourself. Recalling this from time to time may just be what you need to 'counteract' some of the stuff your enemy is telling you about yourself. We are 'in Christ', he lives 'in us', and we are certain that where he abides, his 'perfecting power' is sure to be at work!

God wants us to know this truth, so recounting it as frequently as we need to in order to begin to believe it, walk in it, and hold fast to it when all manner of lies about who or what we are come our way, we don't lay hold of those lies. We have a very sinister enemy in the devil. He knows one of the easiest ways to get us to doubt that we will ever behave differently is to get us to question if Christ is really at work in us. We do something we shouldn't, and he brings immediate condemnation and shame. Why? He is hopeful we will not lean into the grace God gives, because he knows if we do, we will experience a strength to move beyond that 'failure' into right living.

The greatest struggle we face at times is listening to the guilt our minds mull over and over each time we choose to do or say something God told us we shouldn't. That guilt is a mighty weapon Satan uses to remind us of our 'unworthiness' to be in relationship with a holy God. He is partially right, you know. As long as we hold onto that sin and all the load of guilt is produces, we aren't going to want to approach a holy God, but that sin doesn't make us 'unworthy'. It just makes us need grace! Instead of listening to the accusations of Satan when we trip up a bit, perhaps it would be wiser to remind ourselves that 'in Christ' we are a new creation, all things old have passed away, and no one who has the glory of Christ living within them is 'unworthy'! Just sayin!

Empty lives

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (I Peter 1:18-19)

I was reading this passage today and really began to focus in on the words 'the empty life you inherited from your ancestors'. If you have just skipped over those words, like I have so many times, you may not have even realized what this passage points out so vividly. Our life, prior to asking Christ to take control of it, was merely an empty shell that required his intervention in order to be what it was created to become. That empty shell might not have seemed like much to any onlooker but to God, because of his intense love for his creation, it required a 'ransom' in order to redeem it from the emptiness it had inherited.

If you have not heard the truth that man is a 'tri-part being', made up of body, soul, and spirit, then you may not realize that there is a part of you that was created to actually 'house' the presence of God - your spirit. That place within each life is empty until Christ's presence fills it. The 'ransom' has been paid, but there still needs to be an invitation for him to 'enter in'. That may seem a little counter-intuitive according to man's standards of 'doing business'. If a 'ransom price' was established and paid, then the one doing the 'ransoming' has full rights to that which he ransomed, does he not? In terms of your life, there must still be a willingness to receive the gift of that freedom!

God paid the ransom. He has the right to claim us as his own. Yet, he gives us the choice. We can choose to be free, living more than an empty life, or we can choose to continue in our emptiness and wandering. It is indeed a privilege to invite his presence into our lives, but he will not force himself upon us. Some may argue with me today and tell me their life is far from empty, even though they have not invited Christ to fill that spot created just for his presence, but the truth is that they may just not realize that spot is empty yet. God will create a time and a place for them to realize the emptiness of their lives. When he does, the choice is still theirs entirely. They can continue to live empty lives, or be filled to overflowing with his love, grace, and presence. The choice for me was simple. Just sayin!

Within or Without

I don't know about you, but I have realized that we aren't always going to walk the right path, no matter how 'determined' we are. There will always be alternatives, and we will not always select the right one. The issue isn't that we will veer off-course from time to time, it is that we should never make those 'veers' a permanent life choice. We need to learn to recognize them quickly, come before God in humility, acknowledge our need to get back on-course, and then let him help us take the right steps forward.

Godliness guards the path of the blameless, but the evil are misled by sin. (Proverbs 13:6)

A guarded path is much harder to veer off of than an unguarded one. We may try, but there is always protection to get us back on course or keep us there in the first place. It has good defenses to ensure there is nothing that can act as a destructive force on that path. The evil heart actually chooses a non-guarded path because it is more 'appealing' to their base sense of 'adventure', 'thrill', or 'interest'. It is kind of like driving on a road with no guard rails to keep you from going over the steep edges. 

The issue is which 'pull' will be heed most often. Will we heed the 'pull' toward right choices, or will we need the 'pull' toward what satisfies our fleshly desires. When the 'pull' to do whatever satisfies our fleshly desires is greater than the 'pull' toward obedience, we have a problem. There is always protection offered over our lives, but it must be recognized as a 'barrier' meant to keep us safe, and then we must make every effort to stay within that barrier. As with the guard rail on the road, they only protect us when we take notice, heed their warning, and realize than nothing good will come from going over them!

Blameless people don't really exist, do they? We might make right choices 'most of the time', but are we truly 'blameless'? If we read this the way God intended us to read it, we simply realize that when we 'goof up', we have a way back. We still have choices, but we are likely making correct ones more than we are making the incorrect ones. We are walking a path with a 'guide' that brings us back when we make a choice to go beyond the barrier. Godly people are grace-filled, and that grace draws them back into a protected path once again. Sin might be an occasional problem for the godly, but it is a lifestyle for the ungodly. We choose to live within or without protection - so we must choose wisely. Just sayin!

Call upon Jesus

 I don't know about you, but I have carried around resentment in my life at times that just ate away at me until I finally released that load to God. It was only then that I realized the significant weight I had put on myself and just how awful that stuff was to carry. Proverbs 27:3 reminds us, "A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier." Our words and actions can turn from wise and kind toward bitter and foolish in just a matter of minutes. Our plan to be wise and act the 'right' way can be waylaid by some emotional 'mood' that hits us 'just right' at just the 'wrong moment' and there we are embracing foolish actions and a seed of bitterness.

Our mind might be telling us to do one thing, but our emotions can carry us in a different direction when they are allowed to overrule our mind. Truth be told, the other person was kind of foolish in their behavior and it ticked us off just a bit more than normal. Their actions left us with a load of emotions, all jumbled together, and those emotions begin to 'birth' new ones, until we find ourselves carrying a huge load of 'ugly' all because of 'that fool' who acted 'that way'. We might not realize how much the foolish actions or words of another have created a load of bitterness and resentment within us, but if we stop to look at the issue closely, we might just see how much we allowed our emotions to respond to their foolish actions.

We need to become very cautious about our reactions, learning rather to 'respond' and not always to 'react'. There will always be foolish people in our lives, and their actions will most certainly make us want to react with our own foolish actions, but Christ will enable us to respond in a manner that doesn't escalate the situation or create a well-spring of guilt and angst. The worst thing we can do is respond without thought - that is reacting. The load of resentment that comes from dealing with a fool by trying to talk them out of their foolishness or change their minds about something is way more than we will want to bear.

We don't 'talk a fool out of his foolishness' because the fool is bend on doing or saying what he will. We respond with wisdom when we call upon the name of Jesus at that moment when 'reaction' wants to override 'response' within us. When we call upon his name, we are actually leaning into God's wisdom and strength rather than 'giving into' our desire to 'help' or 'show' the fool their actions are not right. You cannot reason with the fool for their is no changing their mind. Walk away, get with God, let him guide you. You are not a 'fool-guide'! Just sayin!

Have you heard?

OUR strength is often what we call willpower or the desire to act one way when the other is the choice we make most often. The truth be told, our ability or talent is way too over-estimated, and our strength is way too small. Proverbs 24:10 reminds us, "If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small."

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

God's strength is for the weary and the weak. Not sure if I should admit this or not, but that is me! It is not for those who have everything perfect or under control in their lives. It is for those who aren't perfect, who know they have issues, and desire to have something be different in the choices they make. The promise is for power when we are weak, strength when we are powerless, and even new strength when we exhaust all the strength we seem to have had.

Weakness isn't an admission of failure, like some may think, but rather an acknowledgement of awareness of just how much we need God's help in our lives. We are acknowledging that without God's help, things aren't going to go very well! When pressure mounts and life events seem to bring a load of something crashing down on us, we can either muddle through the best we can, or we can stop and lean into God for his power. 

We aren't admitting we are inept, or even that we are not willing to make an attempt. We are admitting that we lack the knowledge God possesses and that without his help, we will likely fall short of what we could do when we are backed with his potential and power. Even youths become weak and tired. That statement pretty well wraps it up for us. It isn't about natural ability or talent - it is about the depth of our trust and the placement of that trust. It could be we trust way too much in our own ability/talent and not quite enough in God's power and strength. Just sayin!

Picture this...

Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing. (Proverbs 12:18)

Words - remember the old adage, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"? That adage is not true at all, is it? Yes, a beating with sticks and stones could leave us physically maimed, but words/names can hurt even deeper than some of those more 'physical' attacks. Words can be spoken with good intent, yet they bring hurt into the spirit of a man. Why? We don't always 'filter' what we hear. We don't always hear the intent behind the words - we only hear the words themselves. We take all of them in and then we take all of them to heart. What we neglect to do is ask God's help to 'sort' or 'filter' that are helpful and discard the rest.

Maybe the problem begins with what we say because many of us are guilty of not really applying good 'filters' to what we say, beginning the pathway to words being said that could ultimately bring damage to a person's life. Words are not to be used as weapons, but if we are to be truthful here, they oftentimes can result in just as much, if not greater damage. Whenever the intent of our heart is wrong, the words may cut deeper than we intended. Selfishness is often revealed in what we say, just as much as it is in what we do not say. There are times words need to be said, but we withhold them, leaving someone to fail miserably and suffer great consequences.

If you are like me, a word picture tells a story that words alone don't always tell. I like the illustrations God gives and even those some have given down through the ages that help me to 'understand' what some words may mean. We all have the ability to see the 'picture', but how we see it may differ. If you didn't realize it, we form 'word pictures' with most of the words we hear. Someone says they are making us enchiladas for dinner, and we see steaming, gooey, cheesy goodness slathered in rich red sauce. If you get nothing more than an empty rolled-up tortilla with a little cheese melted on the top, the 'picture' did not meet the reality.

Stop long enough to consider how another may form that 'word picture' in their mind, from their perspective, based upon their experiences. Maybe if we did that, we might attempt to paint a slightly different picture with our words! Just sayin!

Not a cakewalk indeed

Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Whoever told you that this Christian lifestyle was going to be a cakewalk was pulling the wool over your eyes! It is easier at first, but at some point, it actually gets a bit harder to continue in our growth. It is not always easy following the instructions laid out for us in God's Word, maybe because we see so many others just observing those words when it feels good to them and ignoring them at other times. Obedience is definitely not situational, and it is not a thing we 'show off' when others are watching and ignore when they are not. 

Work hard to show the results of your salvation. That very statement suggests there may be more than a bit of work involved in making different choices in life. Lifestyle changes are hard, but when they begin with a proper respect for God's authority in our lives, the changes get easier over time. God's instructions are based on his authority, so we cannot ignore them and expect lifestyle changes. We actually learn more each time we 'mull over' his instruction to us. 

God works 'in us' to give us the desire to live by his commands. Whatever it is that pleases our 'self-man' is in direction opposition to what it is that pleases our new nature in Christ Jesus. The power to live right and to make right choices comes from God, but our self-man would 'override' all the right choices God desires if all we used was our own feeble 'willpower'. To be honest here, our 'willpower' is really not very 'powerful' at all. As we slow life down a bit, we might actually realize that we have been trying to change our actions by our own willpower and not tapping into the strength and ability that comes when we heed the instruction God gives in his Word.

I hesitate to say something that is obvious, but obedience is learned behavior. Just as sinfulness became a learned behavior, righteousness only overrides that 'poor behavior' when we repeat those instructions over and over again. If you haven't figured it out yet, it isn't always our 'self-man' that is choosing the right behavior. At times, it is the Spirit of God working against our self-will that is helping us make those better choices. Just sayin!

Joy comes in the morning

Times may seem bleak right now, but we can know that even when disaster abounds and emptiness seems to occupy spaces once fruitful, our hearts are filled with an everlasting peace. Empty 'barns' and lost 'flocks' may not be our worry today, but empty pantries and drained bank accounts may be our present worry. Even in the midst of these struggles, we can rejoice in the Lord. Why? He remains our strength when our weakness abounds!

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Joy comes when we worship him - it actually ushers in his peace and joy when we surrender our hearts in worship. In short order, we find our strength being renewed and our peace restored. These are found in his presence, not in the circumstances we face. Even though...these are not words of surrender, but of conviction!

We can focus fully on the disaster at hand, or we can rejoice in the fact God NEVER abandons his chosen people. It is so easy to focus on the bad stuff around us, but when we do we miss out on God's peace, joy, and we might even miss his purpose in it all. It is in intentional surrender that we realize our greatest strength. We endure, not under our own power, but his. As we surrender to him in worship, we find his strength becomes ours - we walk boldly, see the good in the midst of the bad, and experience a peace that surpasses all the chaos and calamity that abounds.

Don't get me wrong - we might 'feel' the pressure and threats that abound, but we don't have to give into or be led by those feelings! God is moving, our emotions may be running on overtime, and we may be looking a little too frequently in the direction of despair. We choose to give in or rise above it. It is his peace that actually helps us rise above it all. It is a choice - it is a determined focus. Worship with all your heart and begin to experience God's presence with you in it all. He NEVER abandons us. Just sayin!

Refill Needed

The altar of God is a place of healing, but many just see it as a place of judgment or punishment. They fear approaching a holy God, probably because they don't understand the intensity of his love, nor the extreme privilege of his grace. We need to see the altar as a place of encouragement, where we are filled with the presence of God, and celebrate his goodness, grace, and strength.

Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. (Psalm 43:3-4)

Discouragement abounds today, making it ever so important to understand where it is we go to find our encouragement. It isn't in the rise of the stock market, or even the momentary good times we enjoy at family celebrations. It is at the altar that we are renewed and regenerated. It is there we find a lasting peace and an enduring courage for the trials ahead.

Whenever we only see the battle that makes us so weary and worn, we falter. Whenever we proclaim our woes over and over again, we falter. Both of these will drain us of hope quicker than just about anything else. God made a way for hope to be continually renewed, even when it is faltering more than a bit. It is the way of the altar. Light and truth mark that path - they show us the way into his presence, and they guide us out into our daily 'grind'.

There is a different path planned for us that we may not ever see without his light and truth guiding the way. We need those altar times in order to understand his purposes and see clearly the path he has laid out for us to follow. At the altar, we find our hearts want to be unburdened, set free from all the worries and cares of the day. How? His presence dwells there! Wherever his presence dwells, we will enjoy peace. At the altar, we welcome his presence into our lives and come to a place of peace each and every time we approach.

Praise and worship are powerful tools to use against all manner of discouragement in our lives. What are we doing when we praise God? We are using the truth we have been given to encourage our hearts. What's more is that we send our enemy packing each time we declare the name of Jesus, celebrate his goodness, and lean into his grace - all while being refilled, renewed, and regenerated at that altar. Just sayin!

Is the Bible valid?

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Sometimes we encounter those who really don't believe the truth of the gospel. It could be that we sometimes struggle with it ourselves, questioning the validity of what God has said or promised to us. Those who doubt the truth today might even say it is just kind of 'old-fashioned' and outdated - like it belonged to our parent's generation, not ours. What is worse is that some actually believe they are able to do life on their own, that they don't need this 'God thing' we talk about. Faith isn't 'old-fashioned', outdated, or 'invalid'. It never grows old.

I think some may balk a little at the words found within the pages of our bibles because they see them as 'man's ideas'. In other words, they see them as written by some scholarly men back in the day, but who is to say they are the 'real deal'? They have no idea that God used men, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to record those words. They forget that God wrote the first words on stone, but we lost those a long time ago when they were shattered on the ground at the sight of the false gods people had erected to worship. 

God's word is a powerful thing to those who will accept it, put their trust in what it says, and live according to the principles taught within those pages. If man doubts the validity or value of such truth, they only need to put it into practice to see it stands the test of time and has a value far greater than one might imagine. It has a transformative power unlike any other 'truth' circulated throughout time. If we will listen to its wisdom, embracing it as truth, we will begin to experience that transformation within our lives that is only possible when we allow our hearts to be open to his touch.

Through faith in Christ, we are welcomed into God's family. That faith grows as we embrace not only the person of truth (Christ), but the words of truth (the scriptures). Just sayin!

Just stand

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (I Peter 5:7)

All, not just some. Give them all to God. Seems easy enough, right? Nope! It isn't all that easy because we have this tendency to 'hold onto' just a few more worries than we should. The trouble with that is we aren't allowing the one who can 'take care' of them to handle them. Taking on the burden of those cares is not our 'duty' or even our 'privilege'. It is sin! God tells us to give him all our cares, so when we hold onto them so tightly, worrying them along, we get buried under a load of weight, some of which is the guilt we experience by not letting them go. 

Our shoulders weren't meant to bear that burden. All we can do in life is our 'best', then we leave the rest to Jesus. If we have done our part, we need to allow him to do his. The issue comes when we think 'our part' goes way beyond where it should go. Our 'best' is done now, then Jesus does his best as things unfold. The obedience we manifest today might not solve all the problems we are facing, but that tiny bit of obedience today leads to God's big interventions tomorrow and on down the road. We need to learn that God really does care about us - these are more than mere words that sound good. They are truth and we need to allow them to become reality in our lives.

I have frequent spoken of roots - deep roots find what they are after - nourishment and refreshment. God's plan is for troubles or worries to drive our roots deeper, but too frequently we focus on the problem and forget that we could tap into something much greater than the problem if we just keep ourselves 'rooted' in Jesus. Truth is that we rarely get life 'perfect', right? If we do our best, then give God the ability and 'permission' to actually do what he does best, we might just find ourselves a little less anxious, more at peace with our circumstances, and deeply 'solid' in our faith. 

When we have done all God asks, then we stand. We stand in faith, stronger than we look, and even stronger than we may feel at times. God will work out the rest, but we have to give him the chance to do 'his thing'. It is likely time we all learn to trust God with what we cannot do, what we might have tried to 'overdo', and just stand. Just sayin!

You 'over-thinking' or 'under-thinking' stuff?

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

When we get honest with God, ourselves, and others, we might just find ourselves expressing some feelings and thoughts that we have kept bottled up for a while. We start to share what we are experiencing - at the 'gut level'. True honesty with God begins with true honesty with ourselves. Until we are willing to be truthful about what we have been feeling or experiencing in life, we will just live truly superficial lives - emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.

Dishonesty with oneself actually creates a pretty negative outcome. We either create a 'false sense of good' by wearing a mask to hide our discouragement and 'issues', or we wallow in our despair and hide away from others. The issue often begins when we don't take the necessary time to 'process' life's challenges. They affect us - all of them - but we somehow figure we don't have the time, don't want to take the time, or just plain find it too difficult to 'process' them right now. That leads to hiding them in one form or another. It is time to get up close and personal with Jesus. Troubled minds only lead to trouble in our actions. 

We might be thinking one thing but masking it with some other set of 'outward emotions' just because we don't want others to know. The problem with that is that we can never hide those things from God. He already knows and he wants to help us move beyond those things that we are 'over-thinking' and even the ones we are 'under-thinking'. We have to begin to train our minds to be honest - it might not come naturally to us. Honesty with God leads to restored or renewed minds. Without it, we find ourselves always facing 'unbearable' stuff. Just sayin!

Fight like there is no tomorrow

After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! (Numbers 13:25-28)

The moment we let our eyes 'see' as only we can see is the moment the odds against us might seem a little too great to handle. We need to begin to see life through God's eyes, but how do we do that in the face of such great odds against us? There will always be circumstances that seem to be out of our control, beyond our natural means of handling or muddling through. When we only focus on the issue, we begin to feel a heaviness in our spirit that literally weighs us down. We soon lose any 'umph' to move forward when that weight becomes so heavy, don't we? We feel like we might as well give up, but that only serves to make us more and more vulnerable to the attack of the enemy in our lives. We open ourselves up to temptation at that point, giving into what seems easiest because the other choice seems way too hard.

Have you ever noticed that when you are experiencing deep discouragement, you are not open to God? You seem to trust anything or anyone other than him. It isn't because we don't know his promises, or have previously experienced his goodness and grace, it is just that we don't 'feel' like God is going to come through for us. One thing I have discovered in those discouraging moments is that no amount of 'positive words' will break us free from the fear that comes when deep discouragement grips our hearts, minds, and very soul. We are almost paralyzed right where we are. Why is that? We took our eyes off of Jesus and put them on the problem. We are rehearsing that problem a thousand different ways. Our focus determines our course.

So much energy is wasted on discouraging thoughts, isn't it? We have to remember that discouragement is really a well-oiled, frequently used tactic of our enemy, Satan. He puts out all this stuff that looks so overwhelmingly hard just so we can lose focus. In fact, he loves to use those things that we might label 'bigger than life' to bring us down a few notches. Once he has us there, he knows we are 'game' to continue down that path to a full-fledged melt-down. It is what people in religious circles call 'oppression'. We counteract oppression with a 'rehearsal' of a different kind. We rehearse God's promises, get into the Word of God, and times of worship. There we find God's touch that will recenter our focus. Remember this - faith is a fight. It isn't a passive thing at all. We need to fight even when all the odds seem like they are stacked against us, trusting that the one who fights for us is bigger and stronger than any of those 'giants' in our path. Just sayin!