Would you go to war without a weapon or armor to protect yourself? When we show up to the spiritual warfare without the armor of God, without the sword of His word, we freely allowing Satan to kill us.
We are in a battle every single day, showing up without being prepared for attacks is just silly. Satan is out to kill, steal and destroy our lives. He doesn’t want us to do any work for God’s Kingdom and we’re allowing him to win over and over again because we’re living unaware of who is behind our daily battles.
1 Peter 5:8 tells us to be sober-minded and alert because the enemy is prowling around looking for someone to devour… Ladies, we need to live intentional lives by putting on the armor of God every single morning and checking our helmet and sword’s sharpness all day long by capturing every thought and making it obedient to God and His ways and His truths. (mind renewal)
I remember when I was a little girl I’d try to playfully, but firmly punch my dad in the shoulder to see if I could make him say ouch, but each time he’d laugh at me and say “a mosquito hits harder than that”. By putting on the armor of God and keeping in step with the Spirit, we can say that same thing to Satan as he tries to use all his strength to kill us and we stand there under the protection of God and say nice try, but you will never defeat me again, I am a daughter of the King and your arrows will do no harm to me. ́
A godly life is possible for us and we can overcome the enemy’s attacks, but only if we’re ready for them and know they are coming. When we are prepared for them, we have the ability to almost laugh at Satan’s attempts to try to knock us over. How can I possibly be caught off guard? We are told of his schemes and continual hunt to devour us? So why is it that I continuously end up feeling blind sided by him, why do I choose to live oblivious to my attacker and go about life unarmed?
Your Internal Drive for Perfection
In the last blog we looked at fear of man from the view of other’s expectations of us, but sometimes our ‘fear of man’ isn’t because of the pressures from others, but instead our perceived pressures from others. Maybe we carry our internal pains of wanting to know if we’re enough to receive love. We, me included must first anchor ourselves in God. because. Let’s practice by taking a step back to realize where the pressure is coming from, it will helps us to recognize whose race we’re running and who we’re seeking approval from.
Without being anchored in Christ, women all over are asking the same questions about their worth and identity, wondering “am I worthy?” This question gets louder and louder as they pursue their worth by doing and continue to feel like the answer, they keep hearing back is “nope, not yet”
Ladies, we can’t keep letting each other hear that answer! We have to anchor ourselves so deeply in Christ that we go out every day with such overflowing love from God that all we do is answer each other with, “yes you are enough”. That’s why it’s so important that we live in the truth of our identity.
The female population is crying out for love, and by living distracted we are not even close to building each other up. Join me in the mission to create generations of women living on mission. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) We need to be the hands and feet of Jesus by living out His truth with courage and in view of everyone around us!
The more women I speak with the more I realize how similar our battles are. After all the years I’ve spent in bondage to my critical inner dialog, I can’t wait to share with everyone what stepping into freedom feels like and how to start experiencing it for themselves through faith!
There are always two voices at play within us. I was told once the example of two wolves – the one you feed is the one that gets the power. The more we listen to Satan’s lies the more power he has over us, and the more defeated we become. However, when we allow the Holy Spirit to be heard, we unleash a power greater than anything we could ever imagine and step into victory! This allows us an overflow of love and life that changes nations.
Performance Vs Excellence
I used to wonder how to just be at the feet of Jesus but to also be a doer of the word and a woman of good works. It did not make sense to me how I would do good but without the striving and performing.
As I entered a relationship with God, He taught me the difference between striving to do and just being while I did. It’s all about our heart posture and where we are putting our worth and trust.
When we believe our worth is in what we do, we feel the stress and striving that keeps us burdened, but when we believe the truth that we are already valued, the doing of good works comes natural because its out of an overflow of our heart from the love and approval we receive from God. Let’s look at the difference between godly excellence and
worldly perfectionism.
Before we leave perfection and performance-based distraction, let’s take another look at Moses. I hear myself in his plea to God that he isn’t enough. I often tell God to choose someone else, I’m not worthy of what you’re asking me to do. But just as in the story of Moses, it’s no more about Moses than it is about me and you. It’s not about us being worthy or doing enough – it’s about GOD! God is with us and promises to never leave or forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:6) Not only will He not leave us, but He promises, as His dearly loved daughters, He will protect us.
He only requires that we lean into Him and do great things because of His love for us. We must be strong and courageous to believe the truth, of who He is and what he has planned for us, so deeply that we are empowered to step into actions of obedience.
We must be willing to move away from the belief that when we are obedient, everything will go smooth. We can’t be victims of our own expectations or the expectations of others and be too afraid to move or believe if it’s hard it’s not from God. Truth is that God’s paths are narrow and are not always easy. Going against the current of the world to live set apart for God is a difficult journey, but take heart, He goes before you and has great plans. We have to let go of the false belief that life as a Christ follower is easy.
Look at Jesus, nothing easy about that journey. God is calling each of us to be His hands and feet in the world, and when we live under the weight of perfection, the pressure of thinking that it is all on our shoulders, or the fear of rejection, we’re missing the work of God in our lives.
It’s time we accept we are already dearly loved. That we are princesses of the King of kings, that we wash our minds daily in the water of the Word and be committed to live for an audience of ONE.
Prayer
Father, we repent of our need to do and do perfectly. That we’ve allowed our to-do list and desires and to have everything perfect that we prevent ourselves from hearing and obeying you. We believe that you are working all things out for our good and your glory and we commit to live in the truth of your approval. Thank you, ABBA, for your grace and mercy that we could earn and mature in our faith and in the way we walk, set apart for you. We pray that your peace guards our hearts and minds during the chaos that warms around us. Give us quick discernment to take our thoughts captive and cast all our cares on you, knowing that you are a good good FATHER. Please open our hearts and our minds as we enter your word. Let it wash over us and cleanse our thoughts, change our hearts and transform us all the way to a cellular level – transforming our identity into your likeness from glory to glory. In Jesus name, Amen
