SupernaturalWarfare

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Isn’t it awesome when you can find one quote, or part of a song, that’s really short, simple, and easy to remember…that is helpful in a million different ways? 
Maybe it’s something common and cliché, like ‘don’t hate, appreciate’, or ’stop drop and roll.’ Whatever the case may be, these phrases have been ingrained into our mind, so that when we encounter the problem… our brain hits play on that broken record down in the subconscious.

For me, (as always) however, it’s a little different. 
I have two of these… phrases. The first has been very helpful to me, in many situations - from bad grades to moody siblings, a death in the family to horrendous nightmares.

“Acceptance with joy.”

Think about that for a second.

Acceptance… sure, that’s easy enough sometimes, when we actually *had* no choice in the matter to begin with. 
But what about this…. joy?

What *is* Joy?

Well, as for myself, to find out what something is, first I must discover what it is not. I wrote this in a letter to myself recently.

Joy is not a feeling. Thus, it must be a decision.
Joy is not relative to situation. Thus, it must be unconditional.
Joy is not accepting. Thus, Joy must be embracing.

Decide that you will unconditionally embrace what God gives you. That… is Joy.

“Count it all Joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials… knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
-James 1:2

Count it *all* Joy. Acceptance, with Joy. I’m sure most of us could swallow the acceptance part. Joy… embracing tragedy? It goes against everything in our human nature. (that just shows me how much it is of God I guess.) To, when encountering ‘various trials’, to be able to look yourself in the eye and know that “it is well with [your] soul”

“When Peace like a river atendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot,
Thou has taught me to say,
It is well. It is well with my soul.”
-Horatio Spafford

Make a decision… for joy. To unconditionally embrace what you are faced with. Yes, we are human, yes, we will falter, but Joy is a lifestyle - not a moment.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
-Philippians 4:13

Got Joy?

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I recieved this ‘forward’ today.
Makes you think doesn’t it?

The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain’t happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ”What are we so unhappy about?”

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intr udes , an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don’t have , and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn’t take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it……are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the “Media” told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn’t have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ”general” discharge, an ”other than honorable” discharge or, worst case scenario, a ”dishonorable” discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by “justifying” them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn’t kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way……Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.

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We’re soaring, flying, there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach, If we’re trying, then we’re breaking free. You know the world can see us, in a way that’s different than who we are, creating space between us, till we’re separate parts. But your faith, it gives me strength, strength to believe that. We’re breaking free. We’re soaring, flying, there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach. If we’re trying, then we’re breaking free. I know the world can see us in a way that’s different than who we are.

Free. Freedom. A word, a thought that has been ever present in my mind this Christmas season. What exactly *does* Christmas mean to me? In a word, freedom. I know this song is from a stupid movie, but who cares, listen to the message, not Zac Efron.

“If we’re trying, then we’re breaking free.” It’s not about getting to where we want to be in life, getting out of our present situation by any means possible, it means trying. Interesting concept, no?
Trying to get out. Working for Him, our savior, at our best, not getting anywhere even maybe, it may seem we’re going nowhere, we’re stuck, we’re trapped. The exact opposite of freedom in our limited vocabulary.

If we’re trying…then we’re breaking free.

So forget the American ideal of getting to the top. Does that give us freedom? Heck no. Then what does? What is this freedom all the celebrities, druggies, middle-class businessmen, teenagers and parents are seeking for?
Physical freedom?

Think again.

Try spiritual freedom.

Freedom…that came into the world in the most humble of packages. Try the best Christmas present in the world, not delivered by an armed truck, not even UPS or DHL. No, it was given to us through a meager package, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Given…a gift. For all of mankind. Freedom. Christ gives freedom. As a gift.

Freedom. Do you want it? Sure you do, what kind of question is that? The real question is… Are you ready for it?
Are you ready for Him to take control? Ready to drop the reigns and let Him take you out of this world in an insane heck of a journey? Ready to let go of the only branch that keeps you up 10 thousand feet above the ground?
“It’s God’s high wire, there isn’t any net.”
Are you going to go for it? Or let it pass you by? Are you going to be hesitant this Christmas, or show an amazing display of reckless abandonment for you Lord and Savior?

Freedom.

Are you ready for it?

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The light side, the dark side. When Star Wars came out there had never been such a movie that so plainly showed the difference between good and evil. A lot of times we can get mixed up with neutrality, toying with the life-style that we can have both to a certain extent. The truth of the matter is we cannot.

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
-Luke 11:23

That is so…true. I was working one day and I said a “your mom” joke to bobby and he didn’t reply. Intrigued I mocked “you don’t even have a come back” and he shut me down with “heh, God says He will judge us for *every* idle word.”

I knew it was true and it not only shut me up but help me realize by making fun of my friend, I have been putting more on my heart and what I will be judged on when I reach home. Every idle word. By doing that I was going against God’s best for me and bobby. God wants me to be perfect, to be for him, not thinking that “I just said one thing, I’m still for him” when that action was totally against him.

Christ is perfect and He calls us to be Christ like. Not Christ…but Christ like. “Well that’s impossible”, no….heh it’s not. Phil 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Don’t let Satan trick you into thinking that you can never reach what God calls us to be. It’s almost a mind trick you have to play with yourself.
Just as when we say “yea I’m an alcoholic” we continue being it and struggling with it. We can use that mentality for how God really wanted us to use it, in a positive way. The devil only took that mentality and messed with it, it’s really God’s.
“I’m no longer an alcoholic because Christ says I am free of that and I can be perfect”. When we start having that mentality we start acting like that and soon it becomes habit and we are now no longer alcoholics.
When we start having the mentality that Christ wants us to be *like* Him, we start acting on it and will sin less because of our mentality for Christ now, perfection now.

I choose Him, cause I ain’t against Him. I choose perfection, which is His plan.

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