I was out of town with a few friends over the weekend and really had a great time.....so much laughter. I am really not sure if I've ever laughed that much because I literally was hurting during a charade type of game and did not think I could take another breath. It's good to get away sometimes :P
We decided to visit a church on Sunday morning and I have been delighted to meditate over the message from that morning. The pastor spoke on Ephesians 6....the struggle is real....but it is not against flesh and blood :) God has been reminding me of that verse many times over the last few months and I think I will include that in my story when I write it :) No, (well maybe) but I am thankful for God's abundant reminders to keep our thoughts focused even during our struggles on TRUTH. The pastor also talked through our armor of God...He fits us with it....and as the pastor spoke about each item, I was reminded of the song I used to sing about all the pieces of armor.
Something I had never thought too much about, but I have been excited about the last couple of days, is that our Armor of God is not only defensive in nature, but also offensive by God's power. That thought is amazing to me. Have you ever been in the middle of something really difficult and thought, "if I can just stand my ground I'll be doing alright"....I have been there.....do all that you can do to stand and then stand, right? But in God's power, we can do more than just stand....we can actually advance.
We can advance into a new understanding of Christ and a deeper dependence on Him, we can advance as we step into unknown places and really live in faith, we can advance as we surrender the things we always held onto or the agenda we created for our life and ask Him to take complete control, we can advance when we share our brokenness with the people God orchestrates us to meet for the purposes of encouraging them with our story and His Gospel, we can advance as we learn to share our burdens and allow other the blessings that come from intercessory prayer, we can advance as God exalts us from a place of true humility, we can advance as our trial becomes our testimony and the weaknesses and struggles which lead us to prayer become weapons against evil, we can advance as GOD's power is continually made more perfect in us as He is glorified through our struggles and our successes.
....Yep.....a Spiritual Advance :)
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