Thursday, January 30, 2014

Made to Be a Victor


I keep asking that the Good of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength.

              Ephesians 1:17-20


Struggles. Cravings. Temptations. No matter what you call them, they are a part of our battle between the Holy Spirit in us and the sinful nature that we are born with.

I now call my daily battle with food "To Eat, Or Not To Eat". Why? Because I'm either fighting the pull to eat whatever I want with no regard or the other extreme of spending so much time counting calories that it consumes my day. But as I learned this week in Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst, I am made for more and don't have to live in either of those extremes.

I am made to live free of the bondage of food.
I am made to live in victory over my earthly obsessions.
I am made to be God's child.
I am made to be obssessed with only Him.
I am made to be alive with the hope of His plans for me.
I am made to be free to be who He created me to be.

He has given me victory over all my issues. It's freeing just knowing that, and fills me to the top with joy to live feeling no pull on my except towards God's word and time with Him. I'm not saying that I still don't face choices, dilemma's and times where my emotions could be quickly "satisfied" with a nice big brownie. I'm saying that I'm making the choice to think in God's victory rather than hope that it happens. God will meet me in my moments of temptation and craving. But I know He's already been there and won, so I need not fear them when they come.

So my challenge for you today is what is your mentality? Are you already thinking like a victor or still thinking solely of the hard times?

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Yearning for God Only



My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of The Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
              Psalms 84:2 NIV


Have you ever had to list your priorities? For some reason, I hate having to do those type of things. I'm not really sure why. Maybe because sometimes when I list what my priorities are, I come face to face with where I'm failing. I always put God at the top of my list, but most of the time it's because that's what I know I should do, but doesn't mean I actually live it.

As I started the latest Proverbs 31 Online Bible Study, "Made to Crave" by Lysa TerKeurst, earlier this week, I've been boldly confronted and convicted with how messed up my priorities are. I have realized that not all areas of my life are being centered around God, mainly the area of food, which Lysa deals with in her book.

I have learned that I center too much of my food struggles around what I can or cannot accomplish. And base my own self-worth on what the number on the scale is. When I lose a pound, I don't give God the glory, I usually just pat myself on the back for working hard and eating better this week, and neglect to acknowledge that He gave me the time, strength and energy and provided that healthy food for me. But when I gain a pound, or five, I mentally badger myself, tearing myself down. I really should be turning my failures over to God and accepting His grace of getting to try again.

But the biggest thing I have learned, and what I ultimately want to make my goal for this study, is that the numbers on the scale are not what I want to change, but my heart needs to change. You see, the battle raging in my heart needs to stop. I need to not just make God #1 in my heart, but my ONLY god. If he isn't the only god, I am still not loving Him with my whole heart, and that is not what He deserves.

The verse from Psalms 84:2 is such a wonderful description of what I want to be my heart's cry. I want to yearn to be resting in the victories of God in my life, because He has already won my battle over food. He has won my battle over material things. He has won my battle to be noticed. I just need to accept His victory and live with Him guiding my every move, moment by moment and craving by craving. The cravings of my heart disguised as good things are really the temptations that Satan is using, trying to pull my focus off of my Lord.

If you are joining me in this journey of focusing everything on The Lord, that is great! I'd love to hear about it. If you haven't yet made that commitment, what's holding you back?