Feeling Defeated?

The Lord will fight for you, and you can be still.

Exodus 14:14 

 

Believe if or not, there are those who have been taught that the Christian life is a life without struggles or pain or sorrow or anything other than a stroll through Paradise.  Well guess what?  Whoever taught such rubbish is WRONG!  Being a Christian is not easy!  But it IS rewarding.

 

There are times when I feel as though I have been fighting a battle against my own human nature and have been defeated.  There are times when I feel as though I have failed to be the kind of person God has called me to be.  There are times I really would like to just indulge in every sin I used to enjoy because I ENJOYED being sinful.  There are times I struggle to keep a positive attitude when my world is coming apart at the seams. I feel like a soldier who has been in battle too long, and it's all I can do to breathe, and if I hear one more person quote Scripture to me, I'm tempted to poke them in the eye!  

 

And it is in these times, when I feel truly exhausted that I am reminded of a couple of things.  First, Jesus was beaten, whipped, punched, had to drag a heavy cross through the streets, got nailed to the cross, and people made fun of Him as his body died...they though He had been defeated.  And yet....three days later...

 

Second, a long time ago, in a land far, far away, a pastor once told the 8 year old me: "You know, if you aren't bumping into the devil then you're walking with him."

 

When I am feeling exhausted and defeated, it is time for me to step back and tell God: "I am tired.  I feel defeated.  You're own words remind me to be still because YOU will fight for me."

Tired of Being Weary

“Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
    as it burst from the womb,
and as I clothed it with clouds
    and wrapped it in thick darkness?
For I locked it behind barred gates,
    limiting its shores.
I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
    Here your proud waves must stop!’

Job 38:8-11 

Have you ever been so discouraged that you wondered what God was doing?  I have.  To be honest, when I get discouraged my porcupine personality makes its appearance.  I can be irritable and, if the reactions are to be believed, crabby.  I have spent many an hour talking with God about the reasons I have felt discouraged and burned out.  And, unlike those who have turned away from me, God has a wonderful sense of loving humor. This morning was one of those times where I felt like just another kick in the face.  Then when I pulled up the devotion for this morning, God reminded me of something:

I'm NOT God.....therefore, I'm not the one in control of everything or everyone.  As a matter of fact, I mess things up far more often than I get them right, so I need to let God do His job!  And guess what?  When I stop trying to do God's job, then I feel much more at ease with His plans.

God put EVERYTHING and EVERYONE where HE needs them for HIS purposes.  The only thing I need to do is keep the conversation open and be ready to step up and walk alongside someone who may be as discouraged and defeated as I have felt.  God comforts us so we can comfort others....how about that?

Is Your Life Being Stolen?

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. 

My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

John 10:10

A thief steals.  That what thieves do.  Only thing they care about is that you have something they want, so they take it regardless what it takes to get it from you.  Your happiness is not even in their scope of thinking.  Your comfort is among the last things they would bother to consider.  Your peace of mind is not even on their radar.  If you have something they want, they will destroy you to get it.

 

Guess what?  I'm talking about identity theft.  Well, not the one where a million dollars will be put up to restore your identity.  I'm talking about an identity that we tend to forget about when struggles hit us and the storms of life seem to just keep coming.  

 

We feel defeated!  We feel as if we have let everyone down!  We feel ready to just give up because we don't think we have anything left within us to continue.  So we crumple and we wonder what happened to us.

 

Welcome to the tactics of our enemy!  If he can steal our identity, he can make us feel defeated.  If he can make us feel defeated, then he knows others will see us in turmoil.  If others see us in turmoil, they will see us either struggle back to our feet or they will see us give up.  What's our identity that the enemy tries so hard to steal?  Our identity as Children of the King of Kings!  

 

I will openly confess that there are times that I struggle and feel defeated.  There are times that I have failed because I have allowed the enemy to steal my joy from me. There have been times that I have neglected my armor and it has gotten rusty.  There are times that I have been so exhausted from trying to fight the barrage missiles from the enemy that I have forgotten WHOSE I am! I have been so distracted by the battle that I took my eyes off the one who fights IN MY PLACE!  I forgot my place as God's Child!

 

If you don't remember anything else, write this down so you will remember it:  My body may ache, my memory may fail, but no one can steal my identity as God's Child!

 

Romans 8:31-39 states it very clearly: 

 

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that NOTHING can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.