Strength for Today

I have started going through Loving God with All Your Mind by Elisabeth George. It is a book I have read before but never been able to finish. I have a feeling none of us truly love God as we should, and I know I have a very long way to go! Every time I go through this book, I am challenged and inspired. I hope that by sharing some of that with you, you will be also. Elisabeth spends a good part of the book dwelling on Phil 4:8, specifically where it says whatever things are true . . . think on these things. Her point is that too often we allow lies to rule our thought lives. Lies straight from the enemy take us captive and pull us into depression, or some other form of sin. So this week I have been asking God to show me lies I have been believing and truths to counter the attack. Specifically lies about myself, who God says I am, and lies about God. Its not the easiest thing to honestly do this, but here is what God showed me I was believing:

1- God is not enough - very broad but several lies can come from this

- you need other people, things, success or whatever to satisfy you.

-  He is not completely in control, you need to take things into your own hands (i.e. You can't trust Him)

- and many more, but those are the specific ones He showed me I was believing

2- God is not the most important thing- school, sleep, whatever take precedence over Him in the here and now. (i.e. idolatry) 

 3- My life is super hard and therefore I deserve _________. wow, that hurts just typing it! But it's true, I can get so fixated on how tough school is or balancing life with school, that I get disgustingly me focused. 

4- Really there is no way God could use me to do anything, especially be a doctor (this goes back to God is not enough)- even though I am in medical school, it is a very strange idea to think what that means will eventually happen. Maybe because it will be a good 3.5 years until I am a doctor, but that reality has not sunk in.

5- With the sin that I struggle with, I will never overcome, so I better just give up.- Satan uses this alot, especially with my thought life. It is way too easy to let my thoughts lead me into sin and not to "take them captive to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor 10:5.)

So here is my list, just on lies I have been thinking about myself or God. But what now. . .  Oh well, I've been believing all these lies, that sinks. . . No, we don't leave it there, but the fact that they are lies means that there is truth to be found and believed. So what is the truth?

1- God is more than enough! He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him (2Peter1:3). He is our peace (Phil 4:8), our hope (Ps 43:5), our joy (Ps 43:4), our strength (Phil 4:13), our daily bread (Ps 103:5), our rock (Ps 31:3), our salvation (Ps 18:46). I mean really, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

2- God is absolutely THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!!  

- Deuteronomy 4:35 "to you it was shown that the LORD Himself is God, there is none other beside Him."

- Mathew 22: 37,38, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. This the first and great commandment"

3- Major red flag here, In reality, "All have sin and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 and, "the wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23. So if I want to think about what I deserve, well, that's death but praise God that the "Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

4- First of all, God does as He pleases (Ps 135:6) Really, I am just clay in His hands, and who am I to say what He will make of me? Is 45:9 He will "lead me on paths of righteousness for His name sake (Ps 23:3). So as long as my eyes are on Him, and I "commit my way to Him, He will bring it to p ass" (Ps 37:5)

5- Let me start here by saying I realize that while on this Earth we will be in a constant battle with sin. I will not reach perfection until Christ brings me home. But I cannot allow Satan to use that as a way to make me think that sinning is in any way ok just because I'm not home yet. "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. But not only that, I am "a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new." The being that God has created me to be is no longer one bound by sin. I am free to make the choice, to choose righteousness! And even when in my flesh I am too weak to choose what is right, 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells me that, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but GOD IS FAITHFUL, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with that temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

Wow, and this is not even the entire list! I love seeing how every lie Satan tries to use for our downfall, when viewed through the eyes of truth only makes me praise God and love Him even more! God IS faithful, and He IS good! I don't know about you, and where your thought life is, but I encourage you to take some time and ask God to show you what lies you have been believing. Then see what Scripture says about those lies. Trust me, you will be blessed by the truth God speaks to your heart!   

On a side note, it has taken me almost the entire week to finish writing this. Partly because I wanted to take my time searching out truths to think on, and partly because well med school tends to make these things take longer. But anyhow, just out of the blue God decided to pour out a major blessing yesterday. My brother who runs for Georgetown University was supposed to have a track meet in Boston this weekend. He text me to say his meet was cancelled due to snow and that he was 2 hours away from heading to Blacksburg VA! I was able to see my brother last night at is hotel. I'll get to watch him run for Georgetown today (for the first time), and have dinner with him and my parents tonight! God totally did not have to do that! He could have withheld the snow in Boston or given the track coach the idea to go somewhere else to run this weekend. But He allowed everything to work perfectly for us to be together. What a gift! I cannot express how thankful I am! What a blessing! 

Well, I guess I better stop before I write a book. I do have a pretty major test in about 2 hours. So here is my last thought for you this week. Our God, He is more amazing, more gracious, more loving and more deserving of love than we could ever imagine! Let's praise Him together. As the band Salvador sings, "All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry Holy!"