growing together.

I've been learning so much about the Lord lately. So I want to share some of it with you!

At church for the past few weeks, my uncle (the pastor) has been preaching on spiritual warfare and getting set free from bondages and strongholds. It has been my favorite sermon series yet. I feel like it applies to my life right now in an incredible way. It will be the thing that brings John and I to victory over what has happened in this past year.

I'm a big note taker. Especially so when the sermon really speaks to me. I'll have a "wow, that's good" moment and instantly, I miss John. And not in the "boo-boo he's not here" sense. But the "man, I wish he was here to hear this" sense. I wish we could talk about it, dig deeper together, sends texts of encouragement about it, and pray about it. I get so excited for the day we can do all that together. You see, we didn't do that before. There were a few times we read the Bible together or prayed when we were starting to fight, but other than that, we didn't make an effort to grow together spiritually. Everyone always commented on how cute and perfect of a couple we were. And we had a lot of those moments, mostly due to how thoughtful and romantic John is (#winning), but below the surface, we fought. A LOT. It was mostly little things that we got over quickly. But there was so much conflict, and that was due to us not making Jesus the center of our life together. Now I've realized, and from what I've heard, John realizes too, the importance of all of the above mentioned things. I can't wait for the day I get to spill all I've learned to him. And I can't wait for the day that he just talks non-stop about everything he learned and went through while in Teen Challenge. LIKE SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS. Can't. Contain. The excitement.

Since for the time being, John isn't here for me to share all this with, I want to share it with you guys. You've been an extreme encouragement to me, so I want to encourage you as well. :)

Here are some bullet points that I've written down during this sermon series and this past weekend at the More Conference my youth group went to. *Side note real quick. Last year at the conference, John and I were sitting together waiting for the service to start. He just thought this conference was this coolest idea ever. He leaned over and whispered to me in his big-dreamer way and said "babe, wouldn't it be sooooo cool if we could do something like this when we're youth pastors?!" That was the first thing I thought of as I sat down in my seat at this year's conference. I just love him. So yeah, the bullet points.

-Satan is always looking for windows of opportunity. When we allow openings for the devil to enter our life, it's like being in your house and a thief knocking on your door, and you unlock the door, leave it cracked open, and walk away thinking he won't come in and cause harm. A lot of Christians are prideful because they feel they can dabble in sinful things and it won't affect them. (The example here was witchcraft such as Harry Potter, psychic shows, even in cartoons. The bible is clear that we are to have NO part in witchcraft or things of the sort.)

-When we are in bondage, we are often blind to the fact that we are in bondage. Just because you sin, does not mean you are in bondage. Bondage means that you purposefully plan to sin/habitual sin. When you bring that stronghold to the light, satan cannot hold it over you or use it against you anymore. Your body is a temple, and just as Jesus drove out the thieves and robbers from the temple, He wants to drive them out of your life too.

-Once we are aware of the tactics of the devil, we can learn how to overcome them. Satan studies us and looks for our weakest areas. Just like a wolf, he comes peacefully, sizing you up for the attack. The more harmless he seems, the deadlier he is. He watches us and comes up with a temptation plan that is designed just for you, and won't work for the person next to you.

-Contrary to some beliefs, God IS always in control. At times, God allows the devil to "sift" us to bring us back to Him. He gives him permission, but with boundaries. (With Job He told satan he could touch everything except Job's life.) Other times, it is us that gives satan permission to enter our lives. Don't open a door for him to get in!

-Lust always masks itself as love. It can never be fulfilled in a Godly way. But lust is not just sexual desire. It is anything we crave outside the will of God. The spirit of lust lies to us and says it's okay because you can repent later. Be so in love and desiring God, that you don't even have time for earthly desires.

-Sin always leads to death. You may not die immediately, but something within you will; things around you will start to die as a result. *Let me tell you, THIS IS SOOOO TRUE. (See my previous blog posts to prove it haha.)

-Stronghold: a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic. A stronghold is not necessarily a bad thing. Think of a stronghold as a train of thought. The more you think about something, the more it will control what you do. Make Christ your stronghold.

-Our minds are the battlefield. The problem is not our circumstance, it's how we think about that circumstance. Take your thoughts captive and tell them to obey the Word of God. You can't take a thought out of your mind, you can only replace it. When we quote the Word, we take that evil thought captive and replace it.

-The Word of God and our meditation on it is our strongest weapon. When He was being tempted, Jesus combatted the devil with only 3 verses. When you take in the Word, you will reproduce truth and eliminate error. Get the Word into your spirit! Write it, read it, repeat it, sing it, etc. Make sure you are dwelling on it.

-The four times of the day the devil will attack the strongest are (paraphrased): lying in bed at night, lying in bed in the morning, sitting around your house, and when you're traveling. Take those opportunities to train and equip yourself and your family in the Word.

-The Bible is no good in your hands if it's not in your heart.

-There are 6 weapons God gives us for battle: The Blood, the Word, and the name of Jesus, worship, fasting, and intimacy with God.

-The devil is not just after us, we need to go after him. Run into battle equipped with the Word. When you feel a push from the enemy, push back with the Word.

-Adam and Eve were given authority and power over the earth. When they sinned, they handed that power to satan. Then, Jesus died for our sins and restored our power and authority. Through His blood, he took away satan's power! We have Jesus' authority and satan MUST obey that. We need to walk in that authority. 

-Jesus' blood is like a forcefield. The enemy cannot touch what is covered by the blood. (The story of the Passover) As my grandma always says, usually when we're in car "plead the blood of Jesus!" :)

-1 Samuel 16:23 - The evil spirit left when David played and worshipped. Acts 16 - Chains will break when we worship. When we worship, our focus is put on God and satan loses his power.

-Psalm 91 - When we are close to God, we are safe.

I hope you were strengthened by hearing these messages as I was. I've written some of these down and put them around my room. I'm gonna walk in His authority. It's pretty cool that it's so easy to do that.

Until next time…