When we worry about what might be
Or about the consequences of following God
We have to weigh in the consequences
Of following our own thoughts and desires
Walking by faith means
Remembering God will back you up
Many use critical thinking to reject God
Christians should use critical thinking to reject the devil
These short term pleasures
Are they worth the long term pain?
It many times scares us to follow God
As we see many examples of suffering servants of God in the Bible
But we fail to take into account the many others
Who suffer greatly doing their own thing
I think one of the ways Christians are deceived
Is that when we want something
We tend to stop thinking rationally about how we acquire it
Or even if we should acquire it at all
Following God definitely comes from sacrifice
This is understood
But the repeated battles can really wear you down
That may be why God tells us to focus on today
It is so easy to get distracted
From the practice of pursuing God
This might be the greatest proof yet
That there is a supernatural world
There is a definite evil and good
And they are at constant war within us
To defeat our own desires
Which the devil uses to tie us down
We need to seek God
With the same fervor as we followed our own desires
We need to see the role of the devil and evil in our lives
And replace them with the Lord
Sometimes evil seems so strong
And there are so many previously made bad decisions
That recovery seems insurmountable
It is easy to get discouraged
One thing that has helped me
Is that I chose a long time ago
To never give up
This stubbornness has had painful effects at times
But also it may save me yet
If used as part of God’s plan
I think it must be almost impossible
To learn to cultivate positive traits
Like learning to be kind or creative
Without first learning to be disciplined and resilient
We must find a way to put a line in the sand
And say no more compromise
But the thing the sinner has to remember
Is that they cannot make promises
Because they do not know
If they will follow through with them
At this point
Instead of continually turning back to God in prayer
We need to turn back to Him in action
When our journey in faith reaches a critical phase
We must prove we believe by the choices
In what we do
Not just in what we believe
And we must make these choices
Over and over again
This is where we need real strength from God
If we stopped and thought about the consequences of sin
Before we committed the sin
It would make it much easier to flee from the devil
The devil is just very good at making
Junk look like treasure
We need to pray to God
To get us to stop and think
Before we do something out of habit
Resisting the devil is all about discernment
Because the devil operates by deception
That is why he has made the Internet possible
Which took 1,000 years to evolve
The Internet contains all the tools and concepts
To lie, cheat, and destroy
The information revolution has brought us lies not truth
In a battle for truth
The most effective weapon is a lie
Those who cannot win anyway else
Are the ones who get good at spying
Or at ambush, guerrilla warfare, or other indirect attacks
All based on deceiving the enemy
God is more powerful
And has a more powerful army in addition
Plus He can and does pull everyone’s strings
Even the devil’s strings
Just as we are surrounded by evil
So the Lord surrounds that evil
Many techniques the devil uses
Can also be repurposed for God’s glory
Forming good habits can counter bad habits
Reinforcement can be used for both good and bad purposes
Feedback loops can help us bring greater victory faster
Desire for things of this world
Can be replaced by a desire to seek God
The drive to attain pleasure
Can be redirected towards pleasing God
The power of addiction
Can be turned into commitment to God
Impatience to commit sin
Can turn into relying on God
The very same techniques used to enslave
Can be used to liberate too
Information and decisions are the keys
To breaking free from sin
As our world and country come
To a great decision making point
So we must choose a side as well
The choice is simple in principle
But all the details make it more difficult
This is one of the most difficult times to be alive
For anyone anywhere in the world today
Including animals and nature
Ironically the same human institutions
We thought were designed to liberate us
Did the exact opposite
What once seemed to reduce suffering
Now merely increases it
The same things that brought about order
Are driving things apart
God is showing us on a grand scale
Human solutions do not work
They work in the same way
Physical and economic laws work
They are quite consistent
But they do not keep you from
Getting injured or starving to death
Sometimes they contribute to those things
Or about the consequences of following God
We have to weigh in the consequences
Of following our own thoughts and desires
Walking by faith means
Remembering God will back you up
Many use critical thinking to reject God
Christians should use critical thinking to reject the devil
These short term pleasures
Are they worth the long term pain?
It many times scares us to follow God
As we see many examples of suffering servants of God in the Bible
But we fail to take into account the many others
Who suffer greatly doing their own thing
I think one of the ways Christians are deceived
Is that when we want something
We tend to stop thinking rationally about how we acquire it
Or even if we should acquire it at all
Following God definitely comes from sacrifice
This is understood
But the repeated battles can really wear you down
That may be why God tells us to focus on today
It is so easy to get distracted
From the practice of pursuing God
This might be the greatest proof yet
That there is a supernatural world
There is a definite evil and good
And they are at constant war within us
To defeat our own desires
Which the devil uses to tie us down
We need to seek God
With the same fervor as we followed our own desires
We need to see the role of the devil and evil in our lives
And replace them with the Lord
Sometimes evil seems so strong
And there are so many previously made bad decisions
That recovery seems insurmountable
It is easy to get discouraged
One thing that has helped me
Is that I chose a long time ago
To never give up
This stubbornness has had painful effects at times
But also it may save me yet
If used as part of God’s plan
I think it must be almost impossible
To learn to cultivate positive traits
Like learning to be kind or creative
Without first learning to be disciplined and resilient
We must find a way to put a line in the sand
And say no more compromise
But the thing the sinner has to remember
Is that they cannot make promises
Because they do not know
If they will follow through with them
At this point
Instead of continually turning back to God in prayer
We need to turn back to Him in action
When our journey in faith reaches a critical phase
We must prove we believe by the choices
In what we do
Not just in what we believe
And we must make these choices
Over and over again
This is where we need real strength from God
If we stopped and thought about the consequences of sin
Before we committed the sin
It would make it much easier to flee from the devil
The devil is just very good at making
Junk look like treasure
We need to pray to God
To get us to stop and think
Before we do something out of habit
Resisting the devil is all about discernment
Because the devil operates by deception
That is why he has made the Internet possible
Which took 1,000 years to evolve
The Internet contains all the tools and concepts
To lie, cheat, and destroy
The information revolution has brought us lies not truth
In a battle for truth
The most effective weapon is a lie
Those who cannot win anyway else
Are the ones who get good at spying
Or at ambush, guerrilla warfare, or other indirect attacks
All based on deceiving the enemy
God is more powerful
And has a more powerful army in addition
Plus He can and does pull everyone’s strings
Even the devil’s strings
Just as we are surrounded by evil
So the Lord surrounds that evil
Many techniques the devil uses
Can also be repurposed for God’s glory
Forming good habits can counter bad habits
Reinforcement can be used for both good and bad purposes
Feedback loops can help us bring greater victory faster
Desire for things of this world
Can be replaced by a desire to seek God
The drive to attain pleasure
Can be redirected towards pleasing God
The power of addiction
Can be turned into commitment to God
Impatience to commit sin
Can turn into relying on God
The very same techniques used to enslave
Can be used to liberate too
Information and decisions are the keys
To breaking free from sin
As our world and country come
To a great decision making point
So we must choose a side as well
The choice is simple in principle
But all the details make it more difficult
This is one of the most difficult times to be alive
For anyone anywhere in the world today
Including animals and nature
Ironically the same human institutions
We thought were designed to liberate us
Did the exact opposite
What once seemed to reduce suffering
Now merely increases it
The same things that brought about order
Are driving things apart
God is showing us on a grand scale
Human solutions do not work
They work in the same way
Physical and economic laws work
They are quite consistent
But they do not keep you from
Getting injured or starving to death
Sometimes they contribute to those things