Before I was pregnant, I used to get up at 5:00 am to spend a half hour reading my bible and then another half hour to write a devotional that I would text or email to a group of friends. But once I got pregnant, I was overcome with tiredness and could no longer send them out.
I bring this up because I realize how much I miss it. Through my sharing, I was also learning how to share biblical lessons in bite-sized form with many unbelievers. In addition, my time of reflection and writing strengthened my faith and encouraged my spiritual walk.
So this morning, when I struggled with some thoughts, one in particular (Lord, let me live a long life to raise my son), I knew I had to pray in order to do what 2 Corinthians 10:5 says:
“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.”
In little time that thought started to grow like a balloon inflating slowly until it was no more a balloon but a blimp!
And as I lay in bed, alone in my thoughts, my thinking grew into festering and my festering grew into fear. But unlike many who have no relationship with Christ, I knew I was at war with the enemy of my soul who has been trying to take my life since becoming pregnant. Why? Because God has awesome plans for me to spread the gospel and the devil is trying to scare me away from God’s plan. Not happening! When the Lord saved my life Jan. 7, 2010, I promised to follow him till the ends of the earth and that I would never be ashamed to preach the gospel.
So, today I share my plan of attack—a process I apply when fear tries to take over—in order to encourage, teach, reignite, reaffirm, or simply to remind someone that all successful battles are won when they are combatted with aggressive, biblical plans of action.
According to the U. S. Army War College (1981), here is the definition of a strategy:
Our objective is to conquer Satan with a course of action that includes, prayer, the word of God, church, and community, as the instruments by which we take our negative thoughts captive to achieve spiritual peace.
Since the bible is my book of instruction, I have learned that the more I read it, the more it becomes ingrained in my head and in times of worry, when I begin to pray, the Lord will deposit a scripture (or more) in my heart which I know He is using to speak to me and to encourage me.
STRATEGY NO. 1: Pray. Immediately talk to Jesus about your situation. Be honest. Don’t hold back. Tell him the truth and ask him to guide you, protect, and bring you peace. But most of all, ask Jesus to bring you through the problem and not around it or away from it.
Here’s why. When God wants to elevate you, he will put an obstacle between you and your future destination to instruct you—never to harm you but to give you a hope and a new future (Jeremiah 29:11). We have to fight to get to where God is bringing us so that when we arrive, we are strong enough to hold our position. Don’t fret over every problem. Life is not meant to be lived as a single moment but as a journey that constantly propels you forward.
STRATEGY NO. 2: Read your word. The word of God is the bible. Ephesian 6:17 talks about getting dressed in the armor of God daily and says we should pick up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The bible is likened to a sword. Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) says: For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
To learn more about the armor of God, click here for a great condensed teaching.
STRATEGY NO. 3: Go to Church! I can’t stress this enough. The church is so vital for our spiritual growth. Where else will you receive sound biblical instruction? The bible is an awesome manual about how to live life effectively but if you don’t read it, or understand it on your own, you are missing out on valuable life lessons. A church with a bible teaching pastor is necessary for making the word of God accessible and applicable.
Unfortunately, not all churches are the same. Don’t be fooled. A good bible teaching church will encourage you to bring your bible, to read it, and to study it so that it will do more than gather dust in your night table.
Here’s a simple test, if you have been going to the same church for awhile and you have not been led to read our study your bible so that you are growing and not just sitting in a seat and getting the best attendance award, then something is wrong.
You are never meant to leave the church the same way you came in. You are meant to leave with the biblical tools that are necessary to grow in your spiritual journey. You are meant to leave encouraged and empowered with these tools. Where else will you learn these things? How is working for you on your own? (Sorry, that’s a Dr. Phil line I’ve always liked for when I’ve tried to rely on my own limited understanding instead of God’s).
And finally, going to church is important because of community.
STRATEGY NO. 4: Community. Please don’t forsake going to church because you are watching it on your television–that’s meant to be supplemental!
I can already hear someone who does not know the word of God saying that they don’t need to go to church. Yes, you do! It’s in his word. Hebrews 4:25 (NLT) says,
25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
The church is meant for fellowship. Fellowship means that you are spending time with other like-minded Christians. If you are attending church but all your friends are not, then you are in some trouble when you get “in trouble” because fellowshipping with MATURE Christians is where you will get encouragement for your walk and where you learn to grow. Emphasis on mature.
A church community is where you befriend mature brothers and sisters in Christ who will pick you up when you are down, who will lead you to biblical truth, who will not lead you to lean on your own understanding (which is very faulty) but on the Lord’s understanding which brings peace and success.
Back to my problem this morning. I began to pray fervently. I spoke to Jesus earnestly. “Lord, help me. I know these thoughts of fear are not from you, Lord. I know you have great plans for me to spread the gospel. Father, help me…”
And then God spoke to me. The Lord put a scripture in my heart. I heard in my spirit: take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. Hallelujah. I woke up and googled the verse because I couldn’t remember where exactly it was in the bible. But thank goodness I do read my bible, otherwise, I could not have been led to a scripture. The verse the Lord was leading me to was 2 Corinthians 10:5; I was immediately encouraged because I knew that I had to take the thought captive and make it obedient with the knowledge I had in Christ and not the arguments of the enemy who was trying to lead me away from Christ.
I also knew that there was more success in unity. In isolation we are weak and we cannot grow. In isolation from mature brothers and sisters, we battle alone.
Have you ever heard that there is power in unity? Of course, you have. I knew I had to reach out and ask for prayers because there is power in prayer unity. Yes, that is biblical, too!
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT) says, 11Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
So, I texted some good mature Christian friends and said please help me take my thoughts captive as the enemy is lying to me and trying to make me fear.
I not only received encouragement but also more bible verses to add to my arsenal while I pray!
And though you may think strategy 3 doesn’t fit, it does. I have not been going to church for many months due to all that I’ve had going on but now that I’m feeling better, I’ve started to go back to church—2 weeks in a row! And it has been awesome to hear my pastor preach and teach! I absolutely need my church. Not only for my pastor’s message which has to be heard in person, under his anointing, but also to see my brother’s and sisters in Christ, whom I miss dearly. Seeing them and fellowshipping with them fills my heart with love, inspiration, and motivation in Christ.
Thank you, Lord, for staying in a relationship with me and for giving me your word this morning. You are so good to me.
Finally, here is yesterday’s chemo video: #15. One more to go! November 2nd is my last chemo session before I do surgery. My apologies for not writing more often but I have been more tired than ever and experiencing a lot of muscle and bone pain.
Please keep me in prayer. I also have a brain MRI this week.
God bless you all.
In love and Christ,
Liz
