My Spiritual Battleground!
Joni Eareckson Tada
READ Proverbs 20:1-30
SITUATION Solomon wrote more proverbs. If readers follow these words of wisdom, Solomon promises that God would approve of their lives.
OBSERVATION Sin takes many forms: gossip, laziness, drunkenness, and dishonesty.
INSPIRATION My spiritual battleground is not over a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of port. It's not in a disco or a movie theatre. My spiritual battleground is not a back yard fence over which I gossip to my neighbor, nor is it a fast car I race past the speed limit. My paralysis prevents me from reaching for the common temptations. That's why my spiritual battle ground is on the field of my thoughts.
I possess a very unlovely trait; I waste precious time in idle daydreams. I hate it because wasteful fantasies distract me from the real concerns of life, causing me to feel restless and dissatisfied with the way things are.
. . . . The very fact that I am ashamed of myself drives me to God. I lie in the dust of my self-despair at His feet and find safety and acceptance. My lazy thoughts make me contrite and repentant, and I am humbled that I have to come so often to God for cleansing.
If we are to have power with the Lord, to be dear to Him, if our prayers are to be prevail and if we are to be most useful to Him, we must jerk right-side up those wrong and unlovely traits in our lives.
Amy Carmichael has said, "No word can declare with what longings, Divine Love until the heart , all weary and sick of itself, turns to the Lord and says, Take full possession." (From Diamonds in the Dust by Joni Earekcson Tada )
APPLICATION What sin do you wrestle with? How long has it been a problem? Seek God for victory. Ask him to help you throw the habit out of your life today.
EXPLORATION Victory over Sin and Temptation -- Provers 1:10; Daniel 1:8; Romans 6:13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 John 5:3-5.
The Devotional Bible - Experiencing the Heart of Jesus, Max Lucado, General Editor, Thomas Nelson Publishers, New Century Version
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