Wrestling

We war not with flesh

But destroy speculations.

Take captive each thought.

-2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." My older brothers wrestled in high school, so that was my frame of reference for understanding Ephesians 6:12. However, I learned something new about ancient Greek wrestling.  It was a deadly sport. Imagine UFC fighting with no rules to prevent permanent damage and no rounds. Choking, breaking fingers or ribs, gashing the face and gouging out the eyes were all acceptable practices. Most wrestlers fought to the death. Paul chose this brutal sport to describe the Christian's conflict with the devil.

Another faith battle?? That's how we feel sometimes. The answer is, YES! Always. One of our instructors says it this way: "When you become a Christian you're no longer floating along with the current of the world. We're still in the world, but we're paddling upstream UNTIL YOU DIE!" She adds the emphasis almost exactly that way. All the students chuckle, but it was an exhausting thought. Then God gave me a UFC analogy. Trained fighters enjoy fighting. They don't complain. Oh great! Another fight. Why does this always happen to me? Can you imagine? No way. UFC fighters look forward to getting into the octagon. They are confident in their training. 

Christians need to be as equipped for our conflict as the trained fighters that get into the octagon. Satan is real and he's not after a glitzy belt or bragging rights. He wants to kill and destroy every person he can. One thing we can do is strengthen and renew our minds with God's word. Read it and speak it every day. As you do, your mind will begin to side with God's word instead of  your flesh or the world. Ephesians 6:10-20

Keep Running!

Almost a month since my last blog. Honestly, I've been pressing in to keep the fire burning. Recently, I got an analogy from God. I was crying out to Him, "Lord! I want that fire! I don't feel it like I did a few weeks or months ago."

Here's what He told me, using the analogy of a distance runner:

Don't break your stride.
Don't break stride.

Sometimes when you hit your stride it may seem almost easy - or at least like you should be pressing harder. But don't break stride. your passion is still there in the diligence. I - GOD - I see your heart. I see your passion.

There will be times where you'll feel the effort more than others as you maintain your stride. Keep running.

Don't give up because it gets hard and also don't give up because you think, "If this is my pace I may as well walk." I know you. I know what your pace should be. I love you.

Keep running.

There are times when we feel the presence of God so strongly that we come away from our time with Him glowing like Moses coming down from Mount Sianai. Then there are the times when we read the word and pray and wait as a discipline that we know is benefitting us spiritually, even if we feel no goosebumps or chills. What God showed me on that morning at the end of our time together was this: keep running.

Sometimes runners have the wind at their back and sometimes its in our face. The times when we come down from the mountain like Moses with the glow of the Holy Spirit flowing through us are the times when the wind is at our back. The times when we don't feel Him and yet we still press in are the times when the wind is in our face. Keep running! Endure! There will come another time when the wind is at your back. Don't quit.

Keep running.
Hebrews 12:1-2

Gut Level Christianity

In John 7:37-38 Jesus says, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.'" Notice He didn't say from their hearts; He said from their belly. Jesus is talking about gut level Christianity. This Christianity puts you on your face before God in the privacy of your home when no one is watching and the pastor won't know. This Christianity sacrifices sleep in order to meet with the Creator. It refuses to quit when the marriage gets tough or the kids go prodigal on you. It does what the word says, even when it seems contrary to logic.

Gut level Christianity is the reason we have books like Jesus Freaks and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. These men and women didn't love God for what He gave them, but for Who He is. They stood firm in the face of persecution. They refused to back down even when faced with vicious and cruel deaths. They refused to change, compromise, or give up the call of God on their life in deference to the opinion of those around them. They gave it all. That's gut level Christianity.

Gut level Christianity is what the disciples had. Gut level Christianity is what the martyrs of yesterday and today have. Gut level Christianity looks a person in the eye who has spit on you and says, "I love you. You are valuable. You are redeemable. God wants something better for you. You can kill this body, but my spirit will never die!" Is this what your Christianity looks like? When God is not an idea in our head or a feeling in our heart, but a passion that stirs us down to the core of our being then we will see a change in our Christian walk. This is the fire I long to see in myself and in every Christian I meet.

Gut level Christianity doesn't play church and has little tolerance for those that do. This is Christ-like. The hypocrites and false advertisers received Christ's harshest criticism. We must not want the title "Christian" without the commitment and dedication required of a true disciple. God wants every part of you. He says, worship Me with all your "heart and strength and soul and might". In other words: "Pour your guts out for Me!" That's how much He loved us. Our response is just a way of returning that amazing love.

How would your horizon change if you started living a gut level Christian life? What friends would stop calling? What weeds would have to be removed from the garden of your life? Gut level Christianity never leaves you as you are. God loves you too much to leave you the way He found you. What a mess! He won't leave you wallowing in the same mire that sucked down your mama and your daddy and your grand-pappy. He wants to set you free from those bondages. He can and He will. He has done it! He finished the work of redemption at Calvary. It is now in our court. Will we choose to live from our head, our heart or from our guts?