disarming the enemy...

Have you ever had God reveal a weakness in you? something you know you should fix and one day you will probably maybe think about battling it…? :)
I for sure have. I will tell you – my big one is self-discipline.
And it is so hard sometimes to have God convict you of the things you know you need to change, I mean - who wants to acknowledge that they are less than everything God wants them to be?
But heres the thing…we are. We make mistakes, we fall short, we fail…
And satan takes those times and he writes them in big permanent marker (the obnoxious ones that are like 6 inches thick) on a huge piece of neon poster board and holds it in front of you…reminding you of every time you didn’t measure up. Of every bad, ugly or remotely incriminating thing in your life…a constant reminder.

Revelation 12:10 refers to Satan as -
the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night…

he is the accuser. He wants us to fail – that is his sole mission…to keep us from grabbing onto the same strength that hurled him out of heaven.
and back to those weaknesses – while satan seeks to condemn us and tear us completely apart with them, God sees them and instead of punishing us for them - He gently lifts our face, tells us He loves us, and then shows us how to overcome them.
He tells us what to do and then stands right next to us as we step up to fight…and then He gives us everything we need to win.

A song lyric that put a really cool visual in my mind is from Disciple’s new song “Dear X”.
Its says this (talking to pain/hate/shame/etc.) –
“Go ahead
Put a target on my forehead
You can fire
But you've got no bullet”

Here is what I got from this – all those weaknesses, all the “things” we cant forget about and allow satan to condemn us for…those are his weapons. They work because we allow them to sink in and tell ourselves that its too late, we have failed too many times, that we are stuck with these things, “its just who we are”…
but God says – hey, I see those things and no, they are not good…but don’t listen to him.
Hear me – when I say I love you and I am not only able to but I want to free you from them.

And then I realized that me overcoming my lack of self-discipline is not just something I should do... But its God taking that bullet out of satan’s gun. If I fight, if I allow God to fight for me in this, to change this and overcome it – satan can no longer hold it over me. He can no longer fill ourthoughts with it or let it affect who we are. Isnt that cool???
Think about the things that satan holds over your head…really think about them – even if its hard to look at and acknowledge – because until you do, until we look at them and decide to allow God to teach us to overcome them and allow Him to take them away – satan’s got a loaded gun. All he has to do is aim…
But now picture this…you’re standing there, satan standing in front of you with his gun pointed at you, ready to fire…And as he pulls the trigger, he is stunned to realize nothing happens.
Because there is nothing he can say that will take our focus away from God, or take away the truth we stand on.
because we are free.
Not to say he wont still try…he will for sure… "day and night” like the verse above says…
But its up to us whether or not he has any ammo to fight with.

So keep fighting…another song I will recommend – “Fight” by J’son. SUPER good lyrics…we are the body, lets help each other fight. God freed us from the power of the enemy - so lets not "submit again to a yoke of slavery"...not let satan gain any ground in our lives.

Heres one more verse to finish up for today…
John 16:33
I tell you this so that you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble – but take heart… I have overcome the world.

Amen!