Finding Your Freedom // Leave Shame Behind预览

Battle Against Complacency

It can feel like you are in a holding pattern. You aren’t sure what to do, where I am leading. So, you stay where you are. Not moving. Not growing. Not challenging what things the world tells you that you should question rather than just accept. Come now, I don’t want you to be complacent: trusting in Me does not mean you are passive. 

Let me tell you some things: This world is not a calm one. It shakes, and it moves. It is filled with brutal messages and turbulent situations. While you can trust in Me, there is a part you are invited to play in this world too: Move forward with Me; consecrate your mind and your heart and your body to Me. It is necessary for you to be under my covering—have yourself prepared for the battle that wages against you each day.

Listen: You are wanted on the battlefield. You are wanted to stand by my side. You are chosen, and as you stand, I bring increased faith, increased hope, increased joy to your heart. 

Now, I need you armed for battle. So notice what bothers you about the pain of this world. Notice what is needed. Notice how love is needed. Notice how you are needed to use your talents, the particular way I have crafted you and loved you, to pursue others’ hearts.

There is a war. There is a battling raging around you right now. It’s a battle for your heart. It’s a battle for the hearts of those all around you. Are you going to stand there, defenseless, unaware, apathetic to attack? Or are you going to put on your shield of faith, your helmet of salvation, your shoes of peace, your belt of truth, your breastplate of righteousness, your sword of the Spirit, and stand with Me, knowing that it is my power in you that equips you to do anything worth doing—pursue deeper relationship with Me, for the glory of the kingdom that is here, in my name? 

It is coming. It is coming. The kingdom is here with Me, and it is coming still. You are in the midst of battle that tries to make you believe that you are okay, hiding in the dark, waiting for rescue to come. You are in the midst of battle that tries to make you believe you are okay, frozen in comparison and complacency, ignoring the cries all around you, so many people’s hearts. 

I am here. I am the King in the battle. Using love and hope and the power of my Father to bring glory to his name. Do not forget that you too are made to bring glory to His name. So, go, stand up. Prepare yourself for battle. You are in it, whether you know it or not. Stand. Do not cower. I have made you to fight. You are ready. Watch Me move. I move in you. Take a step now. Lets go.

Exercise:

We’re in a battle. Even in the calm. Even on our most peaceful of days. Though we can’t see it, a spiritual battle rages all around us. Our enemy is fighting tooth and nail for our hearts and the hearts of our loved ones. He wants them, and he’ll do anything to have them. And the way he fights is down and dirty. He’s despicable, and he’s relentless.

So what do we do in the face of a threat like that? How do we respond to that kind of   evil? Well, Holy Spirit, the very spirit of our Warrior King, Jesus, just told us: “Go, stand up. Prepare yourself for battle. You are in it, whether you know it or not. Stand. Do not cower. I have made you to fight. You are ready. Watch me move. I move in you. Take a step now. Let's go.”

Those are amazing words. But what do they mean, in practical terms . . . for today . . . for right now? How do we fight a spiritual battle here in the physical world? How do we take a step, practically? How do we go into battle, today?

Well, Holy Spirit told us that, too. And it’s just as powerful. He said, “notice what bothers you about the pain of this world. Notice what is needed, how love is needed.” And then He said, consider  “the particular way I have crafted you and loved you, to pursue the hearts of others.” 

So, how do we begin? How do we take a step? How do we step into the battle? Well, how about this? Let’s start with a deep breath? Let’s start with relaxing our shoulders and our arms. Relaxing the muscles in our backs.

Now, draw an imaginary circle around yourself—one with a two meter radius, you at the center.

Can you picture your circle—extending out two meters in front of you, two meters behind you, two meters to the left, two meters to the right?

Now, consider this: on an average day, who comes into your circle?

How many people come within two meters of your person on an average day? Who are they?

Picture their faces. What are their names? Can you see them, in your mind, breaking into your circle? A spouse giving you a kiss in the morning? A child giving you a hug before school? A cashier taking payment at a coffee shop? A customer shaking your hand after a sale? A colleague sitting beside you in a meeting? A friend sharing a meal with you at your home or theirs? A stranger standing next to you on the subway or in line at the post office?

Who are your “two meter” people?

Now, switch gears, and think about what these people need. The people you’ve been picturing, notice their needs. How do they hurt? What are their desires? What are their problems? Do they need friendship? Mercy? Encouragement? Love? Tough love? Hope? 

Now, let’s switch gears again and consider how you might be able to meet some of those needs. Consider the ways—large and small—you might bring goodness and love into the lives of the people who come into your world on an average day, who breach your two meter bubble on a regular basis.

This is one way we fight. It’s one of the most important ways. And it’s never more complicated than this. You see, we’re here, in these places, for such a time as this. You’re here for a reason. Your feet are on this ground, right here, right now, for such a time as this. And your mission field, your battlefield, is the ground on which you stand now.

So, “rise up,” as Holy Spirit called you to do. And, as He just said to you: “Notice what is needed, how love is needed, how you are needed to use your talents, the particular way I have crafted you and loved you, to pursue the hearts of others.”

Rise up, my friend, and get into this fight.

Jesus, I confess that I’ve responded to the urgency of the battle raging around me with complacency. With selfishness. With too little faith and too little love. I’ve spent so much time—too much time—focused on myself, ignoring the needs of the people around me. But I’m done with all of that. I don’t want to do any of that anymore.

From now on, I stand with You. I follow You. I’ll follow You anywhere. I’ll follow You into battle. I’ll follow You into the very heart of the battle. I’ll run toward the hard things, not away.

But I need Your help. I need Your strength and wisdom and love in me, as I begin to move from passivity to action. I need Your strength and wisdom and love in me to love the people in my life with enthusiasm and kindness and gentleness. Fill me with Your Spirit, Jesus.

In Your name, Amen.