Ooooooohh...Shiny! - The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 11

Wow, 3 days left...this series has been a daily commitment...but I've grown through it.

Now...if I've made you think that following Christ is one battle after another...I've mislead you.  It is not...for one thing, would want to deal with that...The other, that would make the strategy of the enemy way too obvious and expected...

When I was little, my mother and I would often be in a store shopping. She loved the "five and dime" stores like Grant's, Kresge's, or Woolworth. I'd be walking along next to her, enjoying her company, enjoying being near her...when something else would get my attention...

(oooooh, shiny!). And after giving that "something" my full attention, I'd look up and my mom was gone!

Panicked, I would go up and down the aisles of the HUGE store (always huge when your a first grader) trying to catch a glimpse of her...THERE SHE IS...in the fabric. And that peace would come back and I wanted to be even closer...hold her hand.

We can be going along the way in our green pastures and still waters...thinking all is right with the world...

and then look up only to not be able to see our Shepherd. We were distracted and failed to follow. And alone...we become vulnerable.

But thank God for the boundaries He has provided to keep us from things that might devour us...like big, ugly Bruno dogs...

And for Christian friends who help us along the way...especially girlfriends.  But we DO have a good Shepherd that loves and cares for us, and watches over us, along the way!

Casting the whole of your care...all your anxieties...

your worries...your concerns..., once and for all on Him,

for He cares for your affectionately 

and cares about you watchfully.

I Peter 5:7 (AMP)

Oh be Careful Little Mind - The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 10

Our minds are mental greenhouses where unlawful thoughts, once planted, are nurtured and watered before being transplanted into the real world of unlawful actions... These actions are savored in the mind long before they are enjoyed in reality. The thought life, then, is our first line of defense in the battle of self-control.

~Jerry Bridges

Are you a puddle jumper???????

or do you just plunge in and get drenched in the water of God's word?

There is a verse in Psalms 1 that talks about being a tree along the river, flourishing, always green, bearing fruit...ALWAYS the envy of other wilty, withering trees...

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither,

and they prosper in all they do.

...but if the wilting trees would just read the verse above they would find the key:

But they delight in the law of the Lord,

meditating on it day and night.

I can read a little perpetual verse-a-day calendar on my desk each day...or a lengthy passage.  But if I don't ask God to reveal the depths of this treasure and meditate on it throughout my day...it makes no difference.  And I will be all wilty and withery...and surely fall prey and be defeated in this battlefield of the mind.

This is a song I sang as a little child which still remains so true...especially the last two verses:


I am grateful for a defense strategy given to me by God for this daily battle.

When Trust Seems Absurd - The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 9

By the time it was 5:00 p.m. on September 11, 2001...when people were arriving back home from the workday...a nation was numbed, in shock, speechless, traumatized over the deplorable acts witnessed LIVE, either in person or on television, that occurred in New York City, Washington, DC, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I know for my generation, and those younger, it was a face of evil never seen before.

As the days trickled on, more and more details came known about the personal stories and circumstances...faces of people who never came home...children, some unborn, whose fathers, mothers are gone forever. I even learned a colleague of mine was on her way to San Francisco from Newark, New Jersey on Flight 93.

I don't know why I see children suffer and die from cancer, accidental trauma, and various forms of abuse regularly. I don't know why children are born with horrible conditions, sometimes incompatible with life itself. I don't know why my precious, only son, was born with severe autism and has never said my name and lives a life totally dependent on others for everything. I don't know why a woman who served Christ all her life, and was my best friend, is now enduring her 13th year with Alzheimer's. And I may never know.

But that is when everything and everything around you, as well as the thoughts within you, scream of such absurdity to trust in God...and that's when you must trust Him the most!

I used to sing this song by Twila Paris years ago...and the words still resonate:

Sometimes my little heart can't understand

What's in Your will what's in Your plan

So many times I'm tempted to ask You why

But I can never forget it for long

Lord what You do could not be wrong

So I believe You even when I must cry

Chorus:

Do I trust You Lord does the robin sing

Do I trust You Lord does it rain in Spring

You can see my heart You can read my mind

And You've got to know I would rather die

Than to lose my faith in the One I love

Do I trust You Lord

I know the answers I've given them all

But suddenly now I feel so small

Shaken down to the cavity in my soul

I know the doctrine and theology

But right now they don't mean much to me

This time there's only one thing I've got to know

Chorus 2:

Do I trust You Lord does the river flow

Do I trust You Lord does the North wind blow

You can see my heart You can read my mind

And You've got to know I would rather die

Than to lose my faith in the One I love

Do I trust You Lord

Chorus 3:

I will trust You Lord when I don't know why

I will trust You Lord 'til the day I die

I will trust You Lord when I'm blind with pain

You were God before and You'll never change

Do I trust You, do I trust You, do I trust You

I will trust You, I will trust You Lord

I will trust You Lord

I am grateful for a God I can trust even to others it seems absurd.

Trust and Grace - The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 8

This is one of my favorite passages...and such a good reminder:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

Have any of you been watching the mini-series on the History Channel, The Bible?  Wow...I don't know about you, but those times seem SO brutal!  Trust ... it was a life or death proposition.  Daniel.  David.  Moses.  And God's chosen people, those they led, were so reliant on God for everything.

And what about the trust required of 5 young men who obeyed God who, in the mid-1950s, went to Ecuador to go to reach an indingenous isolated and hostile tribe known as the "Aucas," which when translated means "savage."  They not only went, but took their young wives, and their children would be born there.  Believing the promise that God had sent them.  Yet...after much prayer, efforts of successful engagement with these people...these men, Jim Eliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Pete Flemming, and Ed McCully were speared to death on January 8, 1956.  Five women were now widows and 8 children were fatherless.  But their faith never wavered.  You can find the actual Life magazine feature article here, starting on page 10, with lots of photographs. But I'll tell you the rest of the story at the end of my post.

So...most days we are not facing such tests or trials...and yet why is trusting God so hard at times?

1.  First, God gives us the grace we need for each day.  As Charles Spurgeon said, "[God] isn't going to give you Monday's grace on a Sunday, nor Tuesday's grace on a Monday."  Deuteronomy 33:25 says, "as your days, so shall your strength be." (ESV)  We will not receive the grace to face anything until we need it...but it will be sufficient for us to trust.

2.  Along those same lines, I believe the greater the grace, the greater the battle in our minds.  I'm sure these great examples of faith struggled...how else could they have developed such faith...only through stress and resistance...remember?

3. In that light, I also believe that in these days, the enemy uses complacency, rationalization, and busyness to keep us out of God's word and away from His people, tools to counter the landmines we come across subtly...and daily.

So, those missionaries in Ecuador, believed God had a plan and trusted, threw all they had on His voice.  Only to end in tragedy?  Oh no, some of the wives returned, as did Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint, who was only 4 when his father was killed.

If you don't think God has ALWAYS has a plan...watch the murderer of Steve's father, Mincaye, and Steve himself, during an interview in 2007...about 5 minues.


Today I am grateful despite the battle in my mind, I NEVER have to rely on my own understanding of God's plan...just believe there always is one.

Discernment - The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 7

Today...I have a freebie for you.  A college friend of mine posted this list on Facebook.

When I saw the list, I thought...wow, what a great tool...a way to discern who I'm listening to.

I also thought this would be a good use of the chalkboard method I practiced here.

Feel free to download this from my Flickr account here for your personal use.





As I looked over the list...it was obvious to me that the whole point of this battlefield of the mind is so that we become pre-occupied with ourselves...on us...instead of the God who has made us and onto others.  And as the enemy's abuse chips away our sense of self in Christ...we lose our joy, our focus, and our ability to enjoy the multiple gifts each day for which we should be exuberantly grateful.

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...

A Nudge vs. A Club - The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 4

Let me show you what I learned this week in Beyond Beyond...  Chalkboard Art with photography!  Kim is so amazing and giving in sharing with us her wealth of knowledge.

So, I chose a quote to coincide with the Bible Study I've been sharing about this week:

I know at times, more often than I care to disclose, I am tempted to throw in the towel, because all I can see are my failures as a Christian. I resolve to do something...and then I don't follow through...(you know the Gutter Ball illustration). And there goes the spiral...

Kind of like a lawn mower (non-riding, of course), the enemy pulls the cord to get the thoughts going...then I do the rest of the damage running things over and over.  I allow him a foothold just by giving him access to the rip cord!

Galatians 6:9 pleads with us:

Do not be weary in well doing, for in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (ESV).

That is the Spirit cheering us on...throwing us a towel or bottled water from the sidelines as He runs this marathon with us.

If ever you feel or sense that abusive tone of condemnation, of belittling, of gaslighting, of bantering, of accusing...THAT is the enemy's club attacking you in the battlefield of the mind. The Bible calls him the Accuser...I also like to add that he is the Abuser!!!!

How can this be the Spirit who says, "So now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 8:1 - NLT)

And the same One who says:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you." (Isaiah 43:1b-2 - ESV)

So how do I discern between the two influences in my mind and heart? Go into an indepth study of the schemes of the dark side? No...remember Philippians 4:8 that says what we should be embracing and focusing our thoughts on? That which is good, right, pure, reputable, et al.

If I spend my time studying Who God is and His character...I will be able to identify when the voice I hear does not compute with the God I know and love. God persistently, but tenderly, nudges when he convicts one of His own...he loves us too much to not keep His commitment in Philippians 1:6.

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As I Think, I Am...(I think?) - Battlefield of the Mind - Day 3

Well, I used this verse in this post two days ago, but it has surfaced once again...

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he... Proverbs 23:7 

So...my thoughts, if dwelled upon, will become a self-fulfilling prophesy.  If I think about how overwhelmed I am at work, then I will feel overwhelmed, and then act that way with my tail draggin'.  If I keep dwelling on the time change and the gray, gloomy skies in northeast Ohio today, I will start feeling tired and then my behavior will be yawn, after yawn, after yawn.  If I dwell incessantly on the things I cannot control, I will become anxious and my behavior will be reactive to the developing anxiety that I've allowed to flood me.



I love this example...if I start obsessing on ice cream, I will start craving ice cream...next thing I know, I'm in the car in my jammies off to Dairy Queen for a cone.

You laugh...but I actually did this once!  And I was at a stop light, with my prized ice cream cone, enjoying it...and my foot slipped off the brake and I rolled into the car in front of me.  OF COURSE...the lady had a brand new car and there was a little scratch on it.  I wrote her a check for $300 and was on my way.  That was one EXPENSIVE ice cream cone.

But...on the other side of the coin...the same is true.  And we all KNOW this, don't we?  And yet, we always end up in the negative end of the pool, if we are not vigilant with this battlefield between our ears.

I will admit...I am NOT a bowler.  (Although the first time I went bowling, I picked up a 7-10 split, and I fell on me bum...I did not even know that something like that was hard to do...)  But sometimes I view this path we travel like a narrow bowling lane with huge gutters on each side.

I start out great...

           the ball is going perfectly...

                   and then before I know it...

                             it gets close to the side....

                                         and you can guess the rest...

GUTTER BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember early October 2011...Edster and I spent 10 days in the grandeur of autumnal appalachia...Canaan Valley, West Virginia.  No schedule.  No pressures.  We like to read a book together on our vacations.  This one was One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

It was transforming!  The premise:  We are lavished every single moment of the day with amazing gifts from God that we fail to see because we fail to look...to anticipate...and therefore do not meditate upon.

The theme of this blog comes from the line in the old hymn, "Morning by morning new mercies I see..." that comes from Lamentations 3:22-23:

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

So, just as that bowling ball...I was gung ho...searching daily...moment-by-moment...for things to add to my list of One Thousand Gifts and dwelling on continual gratitude was creating a noticeable difference in me that others observed.

But like that bowling ball...unless it is a continual discipline in our lives...even with our best intentions...even with how it starts out...without God's grace, well, I'll speak for me...I go back to being a GUTTER BALL...  And so I know this list MUST be a spiritual discipline.

Lord, may your Spirit be a citadel over this battlefield...and may I continue to see your new mercies every moment of every day and receive them with a grateful heart.





The Battlefield of the Mind - Day 2 - True Freedom

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31b-32 (ESV)

This is not something I haven't read before...I have heard it all my life. But in the battlefield of the mind, it is the best weapon I know.

Jesus, in John 8, declares the keys to freedom:

1. Abide in Him. (now we don't use the word "abide" anymore in regular English venacular so what else can we use?) Let's try "reside" in Him or "stay" in Him. Hang out. Be joined at the hip with.  I love how the Message says it, "If you stick this out, living out what I tell you..."

2. Know the truth. Wow, that's a toughy. The truth, not versions of the truth. Have you listened to cable news. You'd think we were living in different countries when you compare network news to MSNBC, CNN, and Fox. The source of truth is living and active in God's word.

3. The truth will set you free. Freedom from all that binds me today will flee...as I hang out with God and read (and apply) His word.

This has a transforming effect...but it must be a daily discipline in my life.

I know in my own life, as a highly sensitive person, I do play a repertoire of negative tapes in my head that often feel like truth...first it is my voice parroting the tapes, then my parents, and then sometimes I hear God's voice parroting the same things...

This is not truth...but landmines in my battlefield. God only seeks to build us up and encourage us, even if it is in words of conviction. Our enemy desires to belittle and verbally abuse us, to the point that we are chipped away to nothing of any use...unless  we picking up God's word...the sword of the Spirit...and let Him defend me through it.

Help me today, Lord, to know the difference.