A challenge.

Satan sucks. Plain and simple.

My earlier post "Content", I wrote a few days ago but didn't post it. I guess I thought I wanted to add more to it, but after rereading it I realized I didn't have much more to say.

Since writing about being content...Satan has blasted me with feelings of discontentment, foolishness, and just flat out yuck. It amazes me how closesly the enemy watches our lives, every little thing to find a weakness to attack. A hole to sneak in and destroy.

As Christians, we HAVE to be concious of the enemy and all his ploys. We need to meditate on God's word and use it as a sword of protection. The words in that book aren't mearly letters on paper, but the words of our Creator and our Saviour. When we meditate on the word and fill our mind with God's thoughts, and God's words, we literally CUT out the enemy and his negativity.

The enemy has been working on me. Filling my head with ideas of being unworthy, ugly, and defeated. I REFUSE to let Satan continue to get the best of me when my Jesus tells me I AM worthy, I AM beautiful, and that I have overcome!

Proverbs 4:23 says "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." I've not done a good job lately of guarding my heart. I've let time become an excuse for not having time with Jesus. I've let Sunday service replace one on one time with my Saviour. And I've let the opinions of my peers become more important than the opinion of my Master.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says "We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ" (The Message) The NIV version says it this way "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

------The Key in that verse is about taking captive every thought, impulse, and emotion that isn't Christ like and change it to fit a life shaped by Christ. A dear friend once said to me "If you were in bed and a snake crawled up in bed with you, would you let if lie with you? No! You would take captive of it and get rid of it!" That's exactly what we are to do when the enemy presents ideas or emotions that do not match up to God's truth. Take HOLD of it and CAST IT OUT.

Joshua 1:8 says "Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." Success isn't a husband. Success isn't children. Success isn't a career. Success is living out God's will for my life and striving to be the person he asks me to be.

2 Peter 1:10-11 says "So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." -- I've not done a good job of proving that I am among God's called and chosen. But I'm changing that.

This is where the title of this post "A Challenge" comes into play.

I am going to make a point of being in God's word daily. It's something that is critical to a Christian's well-being, and something I have been truly lacking in. To hold myself accountable to this I will blog every day about something God has shown me.

Isaiah 55:11 says "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  -- I've been reminded that I will get out of God what I put into him...his word will not return void.

Please pray for me, Satan doesn't like when we seek truth, he'd rather us be complacent. But that's not what God has called me to be...pray that I would seek even when it seems difficult. And I'll pray the same for you.

I'll end with this...

Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget about what's happened, don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present! I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it?"

He's going to do something new, and I'm WAY excited to see it.