Dear me:
Look, I know you're tired.. you've been fighting for so long now.. this life with Christ isn't easy. In fact, as soon as you've accepted Him into your life, you now have a target on your back that the enemy has marked out. Because let's face it.. we are a threat to him. The enemy doesn't like that we aren't blind anymore. The enemy doesn't like it that we're trying to live this thing out for Him.. even though our progress is at a slow crawl. The enemy could care less about you or your soul. The enemy would want nothing more than to see you dragged down, feeling defeated, constantly worrying and having you keep your eyes off Jesus in order to gain your attentive ear to the enemy's lies. You want to be on fire for God? Then expect some heat. Expect an attack. As soon as you try to advance in your walk with God.. well expect an attack. It's only natural. But don't ever back down. Don't quit on this life. No- press forward toward the mark.
Aren't you tired of trying to please man?? ['man' as in 'mankind']
Aren't you tired procrastinating and putting important things off and living a hedonistic lifestyle?? You need to go on a spiritual diet- one that doesn't just last a certain amount of days so that you can gain all the hedonistic-pounds you've lost back. And you wonder why you can't feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.. you wonder why you feel so dry and disconnected and thirsty..
"he who comes to Me shall never thirst". It's not enough that you only read about Him in the Bible and NO I'm not condemning reading your Bible because it's obviously helpful, but the issue is when you don't even apply His Word to your life. That's the underlying problem here. Applying His Word to your life isn't so that you can gain salvation, because if we could somehow gain salvation on our own and by our own works, then we wouldn't need Jesus to die for us. But praise God that, while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. Would you die for someone who did you wrong?
That's how mind-blowing and beautiful His love is for us. Don't you want to WIN this thing?? Don't you want your mind back?? Your joy back?? Stop listening to the enemy's lies and start rebuking Him in the name of Jesus Christ. Stop letting the enemy get you SO distracted.. that you can't even lift your eyes to Jesus because you feel so weary and weighed down. That's why He says "Come to Me all you who are tired and weary..and I will give you rest". "Come to Me" is a command. He WANTS you to go to Him no matter how many times you wander away, no matter how many times you stumble in sin, no matter how many times you repeat the offence. What makes you think that God is far from you now that He no longer loves you the same anymore or is far from you and rejects you like the humans tend to do here on earth? God isn't like humans. And please don't get me wrong, love, but this isn't me saying to GO AHEAD AND SIN now. This is me saying to genuinely..in your heart to follow after Him so that you can be intimately close to Him. Don't you want the victory over the sins in your life??? Why merely confess them and say a half-hearted apology to Him and then come back and do the same things again?? This is a spiritual battle "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." NLT.
You know, I used to hate reading the NLT version because I thought it strayed from the context of His Word. But NLT isn't so bad.. it definitely gives a clearer, easier-to-understand picture of what He's saying.
God addresses you as His soldier for a reason. This is spiritual battle.
And you've forgotten to put on your armour that God already provided for you. Remember the helmet of salvation ..your shield of faith.. and so on? Those things have a purpose. Those weapons have a purpose so that you can overcome.. and overcome through Jesus.
Wake up, dear one.. you've got to stop sleeping in this battle field. You need to know who you are in Christ so that no man's opinion of you will ever shake your firm faith in Him and who you are in Him. You've got to be so ROOTED in His Word so that you can distinguish between the lies of the enemy and the truth of God's Word.
And don't you forget..
That greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world.
And honestly, I can watch this video over and over again and not get sick and tired of it because #1, it's engaging and funny and the opposite of boring..and #2, it actually encourages me and feeds me God's truth and builds me up. What more can you ask for? This dude is also pretty passionate for Jesus. It's beautiful and awesome to see.
Look, I know you're tired.. you've been fighting for so long now.. this life with Christ isn't easy. In fact, as soon as you've accepted Him into your life, you now have a target on your back that the enemy has marked out. Because let's face it.. we are a threat to him. The enemy doesn't like that we aren't blind anymore. The enemy doesn't like it that we're trying to live this thing out for Him.. even though our progress is at a slow crawl. The enemy could care less about you or your soul. The enemy would want nothing more than to see you dragged down, feeling defeated, constantly worrying and having you keep your eyes off Jesus in order to gain your attentive ear to the enemy's lies. You want to be on fire for God? Then expect some heat. Expect an attack. As soon as you try to advance in your walk with God.. well expect an attack. It's only natural. But don't ever back down. Don't quit on this life. No- press forward toward the mark.
Aren't you tired of trying to please man?? ['man' as in 'mankind']
Aren't you tired procrastinating and putting important things off and living a hedonistic lifestyle?? You need to go on a spiritual diet- one that doesn't just last a certain amount of days so that you can gain all the hedonistic-pounds you've lost back. And you wonder why you can't feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.. you wonder why you feel so dry and disconnected and thirsty..
"he who comes to Me shall never thirst". It's not enough that you only read about Him in the Bible and NO I'm not condemning reading your Bible because it's obviously helpful, but the issue is when you don't even apply His Word to your life. That's the underlying problem here. Applying His Word to your life isn't so that you can gain salvation, because if we could somehow gain salvation on our own and by our own works, then we wouldn't need Jesus to die for us. But praise God that, while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. Would you die for someone who did you wrong?
That's how mind-blowing and beautiful His love is for us. Don't you want to WIN this thing?? Don't you want your mind back?? Your joy back?? Stop listening to the enemy's lies and start rebuking Him in the name of Jesus Christ. Stop letting the enemy get you SO distracted.. that you can't even lift your eyes to Jesus because you feel so weary and weighed down. That's why He says "Come to Me all you who are tired and weary..and I will give you rest". "Come to Me" is a command. He WANTS you to go to Him no matter how many times you wander away, no matter how many times you stumble in sin, no matter how many times you repeat the offence. What makes you think that God is far from you now that He no longer loves you the same anymore or is far from you and rejects you like the humans tend to do here on earth? God isn't like humans. And please don't get me wrong, love, but this isn't me saying to GO AHEAD AND SIN now. This is me saying to genuinely..in your heart to follow after Him so that you can be intimately close to Him. Don't you want the victory over the sins in your life??? Why merely confess them and say a half-hearted apology to Him and then come back and do the same things again?? This is a spiritual battle "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." NLT.
You know, I used to hate reading the NLT version because I thought it strayed from the context of His Word. But NLT isn't so bad.. it definitely gives a clearer, easier-to-understand picture of what He's saying.
God addresses you as His soldier for a reason. This is spiritual battle.
And you've forgotten to put on your armour that God already provided for you. Remember the helmet of salvation ..your shield of faith.. and so on? Those things have a purpose. Those weapons have a purpose so that you can overcome.. and overcome through Jesus.
Wake up, dear one.. you've got to stop sleeping in this battle field. You need to know who you are in Christ so that no man's opinion of you will ever shake your firm faith in Him and who you are in Him. You've got to be so ROOTED in His Word so that you can distinguish between the lies of the enemy and the truth of God's Word.
And don't you forget..
That greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world.
And honestly, I can watch this video over and over again and not get sick and tired of it because #1, it's engaging and funny and the opposite of boring..and #2, it actually encourages me and feeds me God's truth and builds me up. What more can you ask for? This dude is also pretty passionate for Jesus. It's beautiful and awesome to see.
