Standing strong?

But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we are confident in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we commanded you. May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:3-5 NLT)

If we are to be engaged with Jesus, we are also engaged with the enemy of our souls - engaged in a battle in which he desires nothing more than to have us 'disengage' from our relationship with Jesus. A cog in a wheel 'engages' with the cogs in a different wheel and the device turns. As long as we continue to engage with Jesus, our lives continue to grow. This is exactly what our enemy doesn't want to happen. He wants us to 'quit' on Jesus, while Jesus wants us to commit even deeper to the relationship.

Always remember that we are both guarded from the evil one and strengthened in our continued walk with Jesus. We don't need to fear the enemy's work to disengage us from this walk, nor do we need to be concerned that our commitment is 'insufficient' or 'not enough'. The greatest battle to remain consistent in our walk with Jesus often starts in what we believe - our minds playing a huge part in the formation of those beliefs. This is where our enemy knows he can get an inroad - in our thought life. If we allow Jesus to guard our thoughts, submitting each of them to his scrutiny and care, the enemy of our soul will not get an inroad.

Endurance is measured in various ways, but when it comes to measuring 'spiritual endurance' we need to look closely at what we are 'doing' vs. what is 'being done within us'. When we just go about 'doing' things like reading our Bible because that is what we are supposed to be doing, the enemy isn't all that threatened by that 'action' of reading the Word. He IS threatened when we spend time mulling it over, asking God how it can apply to our lives, and then taking steps toward obedience to that scripture. That is when the action of 'doing' moves into the action of what is 'being done within us'. 

Our mind, will, and emotions need the greatest amount of work, don't they? We believe stuff that isn't quite true, choose to do things that aren't quite right, and get all out of whack in our emotions when we should have a balance and deep inner peace. Jesus works on those three areas because he knows when we are strengthened in those areas, the enemy stands no chance! The next time you 'engage' with Jesus, don't just sit idly by and expect him to speak to you. One 'cog' engages with the next, remember? Turn your thoughts to him, taking ALL of them captive. Focus on your choices - allowing God to show you where any of them haven't been the best and then correct those choices. Ask for his peace and then settle into it. The more we 'engage' all the 'cogs' Jesus wants to focus on, the more we will stand strong and mightily guarded against our enemy's attacks. Just sayin!