Spiritual Battles

Lately I have been so aware of the spiritual battle that we face as Christians. I feel like I've been under attack from the unseen forces of evil in the world. I have to say that I didn't always understand or believe these forces of evil existed. But as I've grown closer to God (which is only only by His grace) I have seen just how much the devil and his helpers do not want me to get closer to God because that means they are losing their power in my life and the ground I had previously surrendered to them.

So, what does this mean? It means the devil will do everything he can to pull me away from God. We all have weaknesses or areas of vulnerability. The devil loves to jump in and attack us there. For me, my greatest areas of vulnerability have to do with what I believe about myself, others and God. So, to get to me, the devil in the past has lied to me, deceived me, and accused me about myself, others and God.

For instance, I was meeting with a friend the other day, and as we talked, in everything my friend said I heard something else. It caused me to feel really hurt and not trust this person. (The devil was accusing me and lying to me about who I am and trying to deceive me about who my friend is... Essentially I heard, "Kristen, why are you even trying? Why don't you just quit now? You don't have anything good to offer. And by the way, your 'friend' does not really care about you or love you. You can't trust them.")

HOW DO WE COMBAT THE LIES OF THE ENEMY? With the TRUTH. Where do you find the truth? In the Bible. The Bible tells us what God says is true about ourselves, about other people, and about Himself. God also reveals and reconfirms His truth through other means - including Christian friends and songs.

In the midst of my meeting with my friend, God knew my heart was hurting. I was wounded on a deep level. But God is so amazingly good. Because He was right there at the point of my pain, listening to the lies the devil was spewing at me and speaking the truth to me. "Kristen, I am with you dear one. I love you. Let me hold your heart. What you're hearing is not a true reflection of reality. LOVE your friend despite what you feel they are telling you. Stop running from where I've called you. Quit trying to run from pain; quit trying to always 'play it safe.' Step out in faith. You are beautiful, I love you and I've called you to do these things for me. I'm right by your side and I will help you and will complete everything in your life that I have planned."

I first heard these truths in the Bible. Then God stepped in and assured me that these were indeed true (He just gave me an unexplainable assurance and peace inside that what the Bible says is true and I can trust it and I can trust HIM). He also reconfirmed these truths to me by repeating them to me through a few songs on the radio.

Ephesians 6 says,
^"10 ... Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. ¹² For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."

What's God's plan for dealing with these spiritual forces of evil and darkness?

"¹³ Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. ¹⁶ In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

One more story (and joy) to share from this week ...
Recently I was faced with a temptation, one that is very familiar to me. Temptation is another one of the devil's many schemes to draw us away from God.

This temptation is something that in the past I have always caved into. Well this time, I was able to resist this temptation!!!

I can't take any credit for it. I totally give God all the praise for this because it is Him in me giving me the desire AND POWER do do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13).

The Bible says to "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7b)

Luke 9 says: ^"23 Then [Jesus] said to the crowd, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. ²⁴ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁵ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?'"

If we want to see God's power in our lives, we must be willing to surrender to Him and let Him direct our steps every single day. It's a daily "dying to self." One of my favorite songs about this is "Crucified with Christ" by Philips, Craig & Dean. My favorite line is "His cross will never ask for more than I can give, for it's not my strength but His." If God asks me for a complete sacrifice of myself, He will make it possible ... not by my strength, of course, but by His.

I have read the Scripture multiple times that God won't allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle. When temptation comes, He will provide a way out for us (1 Corinthians 10:13). Yet for such a long time, I longed for the day when I would see this promise fulfilled in my own life. I wanted to believe it was true for me, and yet every time I faced a particular temptation, I felt powerless to resist it. I felt like I didn't have a way out. You could say I felt enslaved to it. This is a place where I believe the devil had deceived me in the past. He wanted me to truly believe that there was not a way out, that God does provide a way out for some people but not for me. The devil wanted me to feel discouraged and defeated. He wanted me to not believe and to even forget who God says I am - His dearly loved child, who has been given victory over my weaknesses and temptations through His power (1 John 3:1, Ephesians 3:18-21). Though there may be more times in the future that I cave into temptation, today is a new day. God is doing something new. I pray that God would complete this good work that He has begun.

The devil is such a liar and deceiver!! I'm praying that you would see God's power in your life in whatever you're going through. And I'm praying that we would all be able to distinguish God's truth from the devil's lies, and believe the truth and walk in the truth!

"... You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

Love & blessings,

Kristen

Today I posted a devotion on the Radical Revolution site (teen ministry site for Proverbs 31 Ministries). It's about experiencing dry, "desert" times in your spirituality.

To read it, visit http://radrevolution.blogspot.com/2010/01/dry-times.html

Have a beautiful & warm weekend!

~Kristen

Caribou, Coffee, and Conversations

Yesterday, I got the blessing of beginning my day with coffee with my friend Teri (we work together at Proverbs 31). I'm totally loving Caribou, coffee, and conversations with Teri!! We have some great spiritual conversations and she's such a great listener and encourager!!



"...Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." (Proverbs 11:25, NLT)

Thanks for refreshing me with your friendship, Teri! :-)

More Power!!!!!!!

One thing I want to experience in my life this year is more of God's power. I want to see more of Him, I want to feel His presence more strongly, I want to experience His empowerment to do big things for Him.

As I've been thinking and praying about this for a few months now, I've been trying to understand how to experience more of His power and identify the things that keep me from experiencing it. I attended a conference recently at which the speaker said if we want to see more power in our lives, a good formula is what is used for current: I=V/R (Current, or power, = Voltage / Resistance). Voltage is the Holy Spirit's power and Resistance is our level of surrender, submission, or yieldedness to His power. So, the more yielded we are to God, the more of His power we will experience in our lives.

I concluded about myself that the things that most keep me from seeing God's power in my life and ministry are busyness, exhaustion, and disobedience (or not being yielded to God). Even my busyness and exhaustion are a result of not being yielded to God, because I'm trying to essentially "be God" by doing everything and trying to be in control of it all, rather than trusting Him to show me what I need to do and doing only that.

So here's a song which is my prayer that God would empty me of all of myself so I can be filled with Him. Please pray this along with me. Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing." He also said, "My power is made perfect in your weakness."

“Empty Me” by Chris Sligh

I've had just enough of the spotlight when it burns bright
To see how it gets in the blood.
And I've tasted my share of the sweet life and the wild ride
And found a little is not quite enough.

I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change.

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with You.

I've seen just enough of the quick buys of the best lies
To know how prodigals can be drawn away.
I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change.

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with You.

‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to You, compared to You.
‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to You. So, I surrender all!

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with You.
Oh, filled with you.
Empty me.

Back Again in 2010!

Hi Everyone!!!!

Yes, I know, it has been FOREVER since I last posted on my blog. It has been a very busy few months...I graduated from seminary and I started a job officially at Spirit of Joy.

As we start a new year, I am so excited for what God has in store!!!!

I feel incredibly blessed as I look back and see God's guidance through this past year. He brought me through 4 years of seminary at CIU and allowed me to graduate with a master's degree! How cool is that?! Even more than the degree and what I've learned academically, I'm so thankful for what I've learned on a personal level.

CIU was like a healing spring for me, and others have said the same thing from their CIU experience. I think God brought me there not only to train me for ministry, but also and perhaps even more so to bring healing to some of the broken places in my life. And He did this to show me His love for me and for His glory. He totally could have left me in my "broken" state, but He loved me enough not to leave me where I was. Thank You God!! I leave CIU transformed, forever changed by the relationships I found with my professors, girl friends, guy friends, and especially God.

And then, He opened the door for me to work at Spirit of Joy!!! Double blessing. At Spirit of Joy, I know that I know that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be during this season of my life. It is a huge joy serving God and my church "family" there!

Looking forward in 2010, I have no clue what God has in store, but I believe it's going to be very good and is going to blow my mind.

For 2010, one of my goals is to write on my blog on a regular basis. I can't make any promises but I'm going to make a diligent effort. So, I hope you'll come back and visit from time to time. :-)

Love,
Kristen


Pic of sister & me at Christmas