This Just In...The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 6

I hate to break it to you...but...the term, "no pain, no gain" is true...

I'm no expert on physical training, but I do know that the only way to build muscle is by pushing through resistance...

Ever start to work out and the next day you are S-O-R-E? Through persevering through the resistance, the muscle fibers are torn, and through the healing process the muscle is stronger than before.

In the early 1990s, the most expensive experimental failure known as Biosphere 2. Eight individuals were to live 24 months (September 26, 1991 - September 26, 1993) in an enclosed controlled mini-earth including a rain forest, an ocean, a coral reef, a fog desert, a savannah grassland, a mangrove wetland, human habitat, and an area for agriculture.

They found that the plants and trees grew faster, but they bent over; the wood was softer than they would if they were in their regular environment. WHY? No wind...no resistance...resulting in weak and immature trees. 

I Peter 5:10 (NLT) reads:

In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

In our minds, when things become tiring, chaotic, even catastrophic...we are so vulnerable to the enemy and can be tested severely. We can become negative, complaining and ungrateful.

What I need to remember is that God uses all things for MY good and for HIS purpose. He is more interested in my refinement than my comfort.

If ever anyone had the mother of all battles of the mind in the Old Testament, it was Job, who God allowed him lose everything and gave Satan full reign to tempt him to curse God. But what did Job say?

But He knows the way that I take; when I have been tested, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 23:10 (NIV)

While I may be writing this to you, I am saying this to myself...as I so need to hear it.

Nothing comes into my life that does not sift through His hands first.

I am grateful for that assurance...