#103 The Struggle is real .

#103

If there’s two things I’ve learned and never stop learning is  1.)God’s always good and  2.) He answers all prayers . I believe that . The reason I think it’s so easy for me to believe he answers all prayers is because I never stop believing that he’s good . As long as I continue to remind myself in times of trials that he’s good , and believe me , when I’m in the middle of my own personal battles,  that God is good , I’m forced to stand on the Faith I didn’t know I had . That’s a cool thing to witness really. When trials and turmoil seem to find me , like they do everyone and I’m in that moment where I think God is picking on just me or letting the Devil pick on just me , that I seem to be reminded that the struggle is real for everyone and that God is always good and he never changes . So if he’s so good and he never changes then how come the trouble that your facing doesn’t look like any of the prayers you asked for ?  Like when you ask him to protect you from your enemies , yet you seem to find yourself thrown in the lions den? Or how about when you ask God to grow your Faith but he ends up testing your Faith instead . You ever ask God to strengthen your Faith but instead he sends you something that seems to shake up your Faith? With the small stresses and the big stresses , the little worries and the big worries where I find I’m on my knees more waving the white flag then I am waving the victory one ,that I realize,  hey… I asked God to grow my Faith , build my Faith , not leave me feeling like I have no Faith! In selfish times like that where I seem to forget that I’m a woman of Faith . I’ll slip up and find myself praying like this …”Help me Lord! Gah! …Don’t you hear me ?.. I thought my job was to pray and give you thanks and glory and your job is to hear my prayers , take pity on me , know that  I’m a sinful little jerk and help make my life easier 😕 . So when I prayed today , I figured you heard me and knew I was one of your own and because of that , you would answer my prayers according to my will ? And because your always good , I just assumed my will would be your will .  What kind of will is it that makes me feel so sad , so insecure , so human , that it appears that once again I’m battling on my knees in prayer more then I was the first time I came to you in prayer.  I don’t understand how your will can be so backwards ?( no offense God 😨)  But what I was praying for doesn’t look anything like the answer I was expecting . I want my answers to come in the form of peace and tranquility😊 . Where everything looks good , smells good , is good and we all get A+’s at the end of the day for good behavior and just for praying . Because afterall God , you are good and I’m one of your own , doesn’t that make me good by default 🙄? ” Is that how a person of Faith even prays ? Probably not , but is that how I find myself praying when I realize I’m loosing Faith and my struggles are real? Yes . That’s how I know I need to be praying and asking for stronger Faith , when my prayers sound like that.  When I only want God to answer my prayers in a good way , my way , right away and not in his way . But in a way where everything comes easy and there are no battles 😎. Ya, in those times where my own Faith starts fading and I find my prayers to God are more like me trying to convince myself and God that I’m good and deserving of only good things when deep down I know I’m deserving of way more bad stuff then good that I realize just how good God really is . And that he’s not fooled and in all honesty , either am I ,because I’m reminded in those prayers that I’m nothing without him . I’m not bad and I’m not good , I’m nothing . I’m also reminded in those prayers that a life without battles , is a life without Christ , because a easy life is a lonely one . And one must remember (especially me) that where there’s a struggle,  Jesus is there . Where there’s temptation , Jesus is there and where there’s a victory , Jesus has ALREADY been there and the only way you can remember that the victory has already been won is when your constantly reminded through your troubles , through your temptations and through your worries that the one who won the war is right there with you,  to win these temporary battles that we all face through our own real struggle . Because if your like me , and your human , Everyday is a battle where the struggle is real  and it’s supposed to be . If it wasn’t supposed to be a battle , God would have never instructed us through his Apostle Paul to put on the full Armor of God , so when the day of evil comes ( meaning troubles , turmoils and tragedies) that we can stand our ground.  OUR ground , in a world where we don’t belong , where we can’t stay and where are battles arn’t against flesh and blood but against the rulers and authorities of this dark world,  where THAT struggle is real. God made it very clear that the battles we’re gonna face ,were gonna be against spiritual forces of evil in a world that’s higher then this one. He made it very clear that we are to battle the darkness that brings us evil with his own personal armour . That armour is available to all who believe . If your a believer , you get to wear God’s best because you ARE God’s best even when you slip up and act like the worst . God’s not looking for actors , he’s looking for believers.  And because of that , your expected to battle like one of his best . Your expected to battle like Christ . Battle with the full armour on and ALWAYS in prayer . Always with CHRIST and always with the SPIRIT. When I’ve done all I can to stand my ground , against the enemy , standing in Faith , by standing firm. Even when I feel I’m losing ground and have no Faith , I find the prayers I had asked for earlier, where I asked God to put a hedge of protection around me from the enemy and all he plans to throw at me seem to go out the window and out of nowhere I’m face to face with the same exact situation I assumed God was gonna spare me from . Where the troubles wouldn’t find me and the trials wouldn’t blind me that I find that God is tougher on his own people and if your life isn’t perfect,  but you handle every trial reminding yourself over and over that God is good , good is real and God is in control and this life is only temporary but for now, I’m 5 minutes away from cracking , so help me now Lord ! The struggle is getting real! I’m about to bite ! Help me not bite anyone and please hold my tongue, because if you don’t , I know I can’t and for that I’m surrendering my will for yours . Because without you , I will fail and someone is gonna get bit , which will only come back and bite me ! If you find yourself saying that in the middle of a struggle , count yourself Blessed and in good company , because I’m right with you and Jesus is right with me and we’re all in the same boat and in the middle of my trials and storms where I’m 5 minutes away from crying or 5 minutes away from biting,  I always realize that God just grew my Faith and made it stronger, by bringing me a trial that caused me to reach out to his Son for help , so I don’t bite but do surrender. It’s only when you surrender that your reminded that God’s always good and everything you face is for the best . When I find myself surrendering , I also find myself not biting but replaying all the prayers I asked for . That’s when I always realize that God answered each prayer I asked for  , his way . The moment I surrender and stop expecting his will to go my way. It may be in a different way then I might have expected but nevertheless he always answers our prayers ,always perfectly, and always for our best . God always brings you his best when you look to him to behave the best because you know he’s the best . If he didn’t love you so much , he wouldn’t put so much before you , just to get you to come closer to him . He never changes , therefore he never moves . GOD stands firm in our own afflictions because our afflictions are his too and that’s why He gave us his OWN body and blood through his Son Jesus Christ to win the war. So when we battle the darkness in this life, we’ll be reminded of the armour that we wear,  that brings us the same protection and truth that it brought JESUS ,on the days evil came his way. The light that Jesus shined on the same dark world he walked , is the same light that shines through us when we stand against the same dark world we now walk. The same dark enemy we now fight on the same days that bring us the same evil we must resist  . When we remember to wear the great Armour of God , standing for the same great truth  , We’re also reminded that it’s the armour of God that we wear that helps us fight in the same battles with the same enemy,  to a war that’s already been won.

#103

Every person who walks this world , is subject to a world they can not see. It’s a world that’s dark , a world that’s temporary and Thanks be to God it’s a world that don’t go on forever . The troubles that find us, the struggles that burden us and the temptations that test us are Satan’s way of distracting us  from God by growing more problems through his lies while God uses those same troubles , struggles and trials to draw us away from those problems and closer to himself by delivering us from evil by growing our Faith one prayer at a time . God never promised us a world without pain and a world without evil but he did promise us a world without end and the only thing that , that world has in common with this world is that all who believe in Jesus Christ can stand in his name,  wear the armour of God and walk in the Holy Spirit daily while feeling the love of knowing your never alone in your time of need.  Because your prayers are being answered by someone whose praying for you , right with you,  in your same afflictions, in your same victories . The Devil Doesn’t want you to know that I pray the Our Father daily and you should too. Because when you pray the Lord’s prayer , it becomes your perfect prayer because Jesus ,the perfect one ,is praying along with you . He knows what you need and he knows what is best and because God is his Father, God is Our Father too ,through the same Son that prays for us in Our time of need because our time of need is his time of need too . When I pray the Our Father,  I’m always reminded to put the Armour of God on . The WHOLE Armour . So whatever I’m gonna face for the day , I’m reminded that Jesus will face it first, the moment I put on the Helmet of Salvation. So  whatever evil is set to come my way , I’m reminded to cover my chest with the Breastplate of Righteousness so I don’t let that evil that finds my day distract me and make me evil and stop me from being kind and good to people for they will one day be the kind and good people I’m gonna need when evil finds their day and tries to talk them into being evil to me  . Praying the Our Father also reminds me to pick up my shield of Faith because I’m not a patient person and I know when the Devil reminds me of that and how God has forgotten me , ignored me and answered my prayers way differently then I asked , I’ll have my shield in hand ready for the lies he’s gonna throw at me . I’m then reminded to tighten up my belt of truth because I know what the gospel says . I know that God is good and he never lies . No matter how the Devil spins it and twists it , to make God look bad , by reminding me of the prayers I asked for and how they were answered , I’ll remember that I stand for God , I stand on his word because I know I dont stand alone . I’m standing with his Son and I’m standing on the same Gospel that brought him peace, the same peace that found him in troubled times will find me too when I plant my feet firm on shakey ground . But my favorite piece of the Armour of God is the same part of the Lord’s Prayer that’s my favorite as well  . It’s the ending and what some would call the Doxology . “For thine is the kingdom,the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen” The Sword of the Spirit . It’s the only piece of the Armour that we use not for defense but for offense . It’s the word of God . The power is in his word , like the power that helps us to remember to armour up so that we can stand against the enemy , and do God’s will is the power of his Spirit . When you share the Word of God , the Holy Spirit does the work for you . Because it’s the Holy Spirit that puts this dark world on the defense while you stay on the offense. Celebrate the Spirit that comes alive in you when you share the word of God,  and what great things the Lord has done for you through the prayers you asked and through the way he answered .  With the Armour of God on each day ,your sure to remember that you’ve been made new , you’ve been made Holy , through the same Prayer , the same Spirit , the same Word and the same Body of Armour that Our Savior wore when he walked this world . The Lord’s Prayer will help you get dressed each day by reminding you what to wear and how to wear it .Never leave home without it . The Devil Does not want you to know that when you pray the Lord’s prayer each day , the Prayer starts out and ends the same way your day should . By giving glory and praise to God . Your day should resemble everything in that prayer because when you pray the Our Father,  your not praying alone . Jesus is praying with you and it’s because of him that God becomes ” OUR  Father ” and we become his children. Thank God for that too , because any good Parent that loves their child will never stop telling their children what to wear and what to put on to protect them  . This is how Our Father in Heaven protects his children. 

By telling them how to dress and what to wear before they ever leave the house. Each piece of God’s Armour is a piece of God’s love.  Especially on the days when our Prayers are answered his way and not our own . That’s how God grows his Soldiers in Christ and that’s how God grows their Faith in him, by bringing them something they didn’t ask for , but giving his Soldiers someone to fight for and something to fight with . God is real , but always good  and while this dark world in which we walk ,may  bring us to our knees , that’s God’s way of bringing us back to him.  By reminding us that both are real ,  our struggles and the enemy.   Put on the full Armour of God and battle both by reminding the struggle and the enemy that they may be real , but their also temporary.  Because neither last forever . But the ONE who taught us how to pray , who prays with and for us daily does last and does goes on forever and he’ll always be more real then any struggle that you face and more powerful then any enemy that you don’t and the Devil Doesn’t want you to know that .