The Battle

I write this as an encouragement today to anybody who is battling lies about who they are, for anyone who is facing spiritual or earthly attack.  You are not alone, your Savior fights with and for you!  For His Word says, "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16)."

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"You're too judgmental, mean, and prideful.  What could God do with you?  You're not understanding, courageous, or graceful.  You try to solve everyones' problems but it never helps and they don't want it anyways. You try to be a good enough Christian, you try to be perfect.  You'll never be what you want to be, you'll tear yourself apart, you are unworthy of God.  Why should anyone care about you?  How could you ever think you're anything, you're nothing, there's nothing special about you so why even strive to be better?"

He shoots his awful arrows tainted with lies, one after another.  Some knick layers of my skin and leave their mark, yet they fly far from my heart, missing widely.  One strikes my foot and I stumble, the lies threatening to knock me off my feet, but ultimately I stand again as another arrow sails past my head.  I am shielded and protected by the one who defeated him through calvary on the cross!  I feel a warm arm wrap itself around me and look to see the beautiful eyes, filled with love, of my Savior!  He leans in close and whispers in my ear,

"You are my daughter," an arrow sails past me and I hear a howl of pain.
"I see no stain on you, my child, I took it from you on the cross."  I hear another arrow sail forward.
"You are my beloved and captivating princess who I adore!  I have set you free!"  Another arrow finds it's target.
"My grace is sufficient for you, you are perfect without even trying because of my resurrection and love."  More howls of pain sound from a distance.
"I have an incredible plan and purpose for you, you do not have to prepare for it, for I will bestow what you need when you need it."  Another arrow sails...
"I am always here, I will never leave you and I will always love you."  And another...
"You are more than enough.  You are kind, loving, patient, humble, graceful, encouraging, and understanding.  You are perfect to me, and you are needed in this world."  And another...
"There's nothing you need to do to earn my love, and there's nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you as much as I do!"  As another arrow sails past me and I hear it strike it's target, I feel my gentle Savior place something heavy in my hand.  I look down and see a glimmering sword.  I look into His tender eyes and feel His warm hand take my empty one.

We begin to walk forward, toward the sounds of howling and pain.  He guides me toward my attacker, now a writhing and sad mass.  Pierced in him are eight arrows that I realize came from God.  I look at Jesus and feel Him squeeze my hand.
"You know what to do," He says.
I stand up and hear a commanding voice leave my lips.
"In the Name, Power, and Authority of Jesus Christ I rebuke you!"  I take the sword and plunge it into my enemy's dark and evil heart until he lays still and quiet for good.  He will not hurt me again.  

I remove the sword and then look to see His gentle smile.
"Well done good and faithful servant, well done."  He says.
"Jesus, it still hurts.  My enemy may be gone but the pain remains."  I can feel my wounds ache and feel weak and worn from the battle.  Jesus embraces me and speaks softly, lovingly,
"Daughter, you took a risk trusting me and now you are healed and whole."  At His command my strength returns.  I look down and see that my skin is pure and clean once more.  I smile and leap back into His arms!
"My grace is sufficient enough for you," He reminds me, "Live well, live blessed!"
I smile and whisper, "Thank you Jesus!"

Humbled

Sometimes it can be so different to be in the world but not of the world, especially when the world teaches lessons that God never meant for us to follow.  How many times have you heard people say things like, "If you work hard enough you'll achieve your goals," "You can do it, you just need to take control", "You need to be confident and believe in yourself".  The problem with these statements is they often lead to something past confidence that's a little darker and more self-centered, pride.  The bible teaches against pride, saying:

• "But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.  He was unfaithful to the Lord his God." 2 Chronicles 26:16
• "In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God." Psalm 10:4
• "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." Proverbs 11:2

These are just a few of many verses about the downside of pride and it's interference in a relationship with God.  I have wrestled with pride before, moments where God would get me through something tough and I thought I could take it from there all by myself.  Moments where I thought I didn't need God.  Moments where I didn't even realize I was walking on my own because I thought I knew what to do.  So what is the opposite of pride?  Humbleness and humility.  These qualities say that our confidence is found in Christ alone.  It says, "I can do nothing without God, I need God with me every day and every moment".  Scripture says of humbleness and humility:

• "In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders.  All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." 1 Peter 5:5-6
• "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:5-8

Christ-like humility is so different from how the world says we should approach our view of ourselves.  The world says that we need to focus on ourselves, but Jesus says that we need to focus him and on others more than ourselves.  Pride says, "I can do anything I want, I don't need God or anyone else", Humility says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13)".

God is such an amazing teacher, and I just had to chuckle when I realized that God was teaching me this lesson the day before I had surgery on my shoulder, causing me to now be limited in the things I can do.  It's a very humbling position to be in when you need to ask for help to do daily things, and I'm thankful to be put in a position to see God move when I'm submitted physically and spiritually to Him.  God also showed me how important it is to pray for a humble man to be my husband and for a marriage that is filled with Godly humility and grace.  And God has shown up, providing me with peace and a healthy mindset throughout this season of physical healing in my life, while also showing me ways to be a blessing to others even in my situation.  I hope that we would all turn from our pride and humble ourselves before God with every area of our lives so that we may see Him move mountains for us.  When our confidence is centered on Christ we can say, "Because of my relationship with the lover and savior of my soul, I know that I will see God's glory!"