Strongholds...prt. 1

Hey guys to give you an inside into my life I've been on a spiritual campaign to live pure in deed, thought, and my heart. Unfortunately, I got comfortable-like a lot of us do when we think we're doing ok-and ended up falling. Yes, I fall. We all slip at times but what makes us different than the average sinning joe is that we have a godly conviction to want to do better, to get up and fight not to fall again in that area.

Now do I have a blog for you! It's funny how God speaks at the weirdest time. So after I fell today I was able to look back in retrospect and see what made me fall, what I didn't consider, what I could've done differently, and what I should not do next time. For that I'm thankful.

I was sitting in the living room of my apartment with some friends talking about why believers fall. And what is considered a "fall." I'll save that for a later date. Anyway, the conversation veered to talking about the enemy in general, and at that time I shared a revelation God shared with me while doing some house cleaning. I said, "many times we are ignorant of where a temptation comes from. My belief is that the enemy only makes suggestions (bear with me picturesquely) over our weak areas (e.g. Girls, porn, idolatry, bad time management, etc.) and the emotion that invades our brain (heart) is viewed as a desire that was derived from our own nature. Wrong! The enemy really made an advance to plant a seed."

Suffice it to say, I firmly believe that the enemy is not running around-like a chicken with it's head cut off-trying to make people fall but rather planting seeds and we are the ones watering it. How? By the music we listen to, the people we interact with, the places we go, and the things we dwell on. That same seed that we allow to take residence in our life then begans to grow up. Quick point: we as believers-spiritually-are very fertile so we have to watch what we allow to be planted. So that same seed that was planted a week ago, a month ago, or a year ago now has grown into a tree. If you know anything about trees you'd know that the higher the tree the deeper the roots-for stability. You then have-spiritually-what the bible calls a "stronghold" because what was planted has now taken root into your life. (So if you find yourself falling in an undersirable fashion its due to the stronghold in your life.) Some of you may say well I've cut my treat down. My question is, "is the root/stub still there?" If so that's your answer to why you're still falling.

You have to uproot what the enemy has planted. How? Only by the word. I know that sounds elementary but honestly it's going to take an effort of you daily getting before the word, daily making the decision not to entertain the enemy, daily "put on the lord Jesus Christ," daily watch where you go, daily watch who you allow into your personal space, etc. God-because he sees our effort-will then step in and fulfill his promises of keeping you, seeing you through, bringing you out, and making the spoils worth your fight. And with that I'm done. I hope this has been a blessing. It has for me.

God bless,

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Flesh vs. Spirit

Hey apologies will not suffice for the way I’ve treated you (the faithful members of this blog) but again I’m sorry. In the interest of time I will jump right in.

The other morning I was doing my daily devotion and this revelation hit me. To some it may seem elementary; however, I truly believe if you allow the Holy Spirit to read this with you, you will see something you haven’t before.

Revelation: we must continue in the word so that our spirit man grows stronger. I find it to be true in my own life that the more secular stuff I do, listen to, or partake in, the harder it is for me to carry our the spiritual things. But I’m learning daily that the more I do to feed my spirit the harder it will be for my flesh to fulfill its lust. So the more word I have in me, the more prayer, the more mediation on the word I have in me the harder it will be for me to acquiesce to the wishes of the flesh. I would then find myself not putting myself in bad situations to make compromising decisions, or better yet looking at stuff that does damage to my spiritual makeup.

In addition to that we must make a daily decision regarding who we will feed. Will we feed our flesh or our spirit, which ultimately determines our actions?

A few things I found to work in aiding me through “life”:

We must read and meditate on the word when we’re not being tempted in order to build our spiritual immune system.

The bible says, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.” We as believers must do just that. We cannot afford to put our selves in situations and think just because we had bible study, or devotion that day that you can handle it. No! Because any opening you give the enemy he widens it until pretty soon you find yourself falling to it. Trust me I know!

Lastly, we must learn to regurgitate the word when we are being tempted. Are you like I used to be? When temptation came I would-in my mind-throw the word out, because I wanted to partake of the temptation. I found out quickly that was one of the main reasons I stayed bound to something that I was suppose to be free from a long time ago. Jesus is the best example. He went around as the “living word” and when he was confronted with temptation from the enemy he immediately retrieved what was on the inside of him and put it before himself so that the enemy, as well as, His flesh saw only the word, and they couldn’t “buck” against that. We too must do that. Even when thoughts come we must bring up the word to block out the temptation and all we see is the word. We then will obey. Why? Because that’s all we see and know.

God bless,