Stake Your Claim

This is what’s on my heart.

There is an overarching concept circulating amongst believers that we are always either entering, or leaving a “season” in our life.  To a degree this may be true, and undoubtedly saying this is harmless and pure in intent. Even using this rhetoric properly to distinguish periods of life can create a goal-oriented mindset and help describe what experiences we may be going through. Which is wonderful. But considering these ideas, I see how the enemy, in his inexplicable cleverness has subtly penetrated the Church and Christian culture to prevent believers from achieving all that’s available to us.

As said before, only the deceiver could have twisted such well-intentioned ideas for Christians into a dangerous mindset that prevents us from ever truly experiencing what we’re after. It’s like we’re stuck in a Pac-Man screen moving from side to side, leaving the back door only to be entering the front. I know there are “seasons” in our life that have vivid goals and expectations. But those “seasons” aren’t the composition of our life, they’re descriptions of it, nothing more. Don’t get caught in the ambiguities of life. If you need more grace to endure, grab it, “All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.”(1 Cor. 10:13).  If you’re after God’s intimacy, claim it, “For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!” (Is. 54:5). Declarations like these are found throughout our Bible for every “themed season” of our life. Though it’s risky to get caught in generalities. Speaking bluntly we must stop hiding behind vague clichés; truthfully speaking I struggle with this. Easier said than done. We have victory because of the Cross, nothing we can achieve. Apart from God we lose against Satan, so rather than looking for the next process, focus on this moment. God wants us to succeed more than we want to succeed, and that success is apprehended as soon as we identify with an event that occurred two thousand years ago.

This past week we were taught by Dean Sherman, an internationally known author, speaker and teacher of 50+ years. He spoke all week on the subject of Spiritual Warfare. An interesting idea he submitted to us that I’ll leave you with: “God’s very essence is relational. As long as we maintain a healthy relationship with God, others and ourselves then defeat isn’t an option.” Satan’s powerless; the only way he enters into our lives is through broken relationships. It’s the chink in the armour he’s looking for.

Until next time. Love y’all.

Anthony