What does the enemy not want me to see?

Recently I have been thinking on this question,

What does the enemy not want me to see?

When fighting a war, you want to do your best to make sure your enemy doesn’t know your weaknesses.  It’s probably a given that your enemy knows your strengths, but even then they are looking for the wholes and cracks in the system that might allow them to take down the whole army. 

Lately I have been thinking about the gifts and wiring that God gave me which makes me come alive and gives me increased purpose each day.  As I begin to step into this, I can’t forget the enemy is at every open door and opportunity doing his best to sidetrack me, looking for those cracks in my infrastructure. 

At the same time I don’t want to give the enemy more time and attention he deserves because he’s not someone I need to fear, as know God is bigger and above anything he could ever try to do against me or anyone else.  Yet, it’s important to know our own weaknesses and where the enemy might try to take ground that’s rightfully ours. 

As I have thought specifically about what the enemy doesn’t want me to see, I think one of my weaknesses is to sink back into the luxury and ease of the American life.  The enemy wants me comfortable, content, and cozy and not ready for the assignments God has ready for me.  Probably some of my strengths are determination, hard work, and achievement, and obviously, any of these overextended will actually become a weakness but I would rather air on the side of pursuit than caution. 

All to say, I spent some time making a resolve list.  Resolve means to decide firmly on a course of action.  Also, Johnathan Edwards made a resolve list he read once a week, so I figure it might be a good idea! Click here to check out his list.  

I resolve to remind myself each day:

I am a force to be reckoned with.  I do not back down from challenge, discouragement, or disappointment.  I do not hesitate at the sound of my Father’s voice. 

I am not lazy spiritually, physically, or otherwise. 

I am a child of the living God, who has equipped me and will equip me for the battles I face and the opposition I encounter. 

I resolve to not sit back and settle into the comfy life the world promises me. 

I long to know God and know Him more with a daily passionate pursuit. 

When I need to recover from life’s challenges, I will rest in Him.

I resolve to push through the open doors of 2014.

When I don’t know what else to do I resolve to stand and wait for His single.

I resolve….because there’s ground to take and I want it to count.    

After I read through this, I thought geez Mikaela chill out, you aren’t in the Marines, but then I remembered the battle we fight in the spiritual carries more weight and power than any earthly structure and maybe it’s time I get even more serious and remind myself of the true reality.

 

So…what does the enemy not want you to see?

Who are you becoming in 2014?

What are your goals for 2014?

What are you going to do that’s new and exciting?

What are you going to do to make a difference in you and others around you?

What? What? What?

It’s that time of year when there are so many questions and goals having to do with action, achievement, and performance.  Especially as Americans, we can’t help but work hard and achieve, achieve, achieve, and I am the first to fall in line for this and like many others consider it a strength of mine.

But…But...But...I think you saw this “but” coming, any strength overextended becomes a weakness.  Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.  All this focus on achievement, performance, and success and what we are doing, and so quickly forget about the “who". 

Who we are becoming, rather than what we are achieving. 

What’s the character that’s actually brewing and forming within us?

Make no mistake running a marathon, quitting smoking, losing 50 pounds, learning something new, getting organized, and goals like it are all very notable and amazing achievements, and may ultimately produce deep character within you. 

Although, I wonder how many goals of 2014 were made with the intention of improving who we are?

How much of who we are actually determines the degree of what we are able to accomplish?  My guess is more than we realize. 

If we focused on a heart of discipline, would that 10k race actually happen? If we cultivated a heart of self-control, could we actually stop smoking?  If we learned patience, could we actually get along with our co-worker?  

I think it goes something like this.   

Who we are becoming establishes the platform, for the magnitude of what you were made to do. 

The maturity of your character affects the level of influence released on your destiny. 

No doubt God can use us regardless of our character flaws but I cringe at the thought of God not using me because the heart within me isn’t ready for the greater responsibility He has for me.

I am reminded of David, a man who God said was a man after His own heart and yet David often plagued by the remembrance of his murder, affair, and ultimately his sin.  He let an area of his character slip and it cost him.  I often wonder if we missed out on seeing even more of how God wanted to use David because he let lust creep into his heart.

That thought alone is enough to put a “who I am becoming goal” on my 2014 list!

Don’t get me wrong I am not a hater of the “what” goals I only wonder if we miss out on true breakthrough all together.   

If who we are becoming, establishes the platform for the magnitude of what you were made to do, than who do you need to become this year to get there?

Maybe more patient? Kind? Confident? Just? Truthful? Loving?

Who are you?

But more importantly who are you becoming?  

No Man an Island...a poem of sorts

This life not meant, to go at alone,

No form or thought abandoned on their own

A man an island, no way, no how

For a life deserted is no life at all

Life together was the purpose, more than one of us the plan

Our destiny revealed, through the unity of man

Alone and abandoned, there’s no greater fear

Than living this life from the drop of every tear

So who will you choose on this walk together?

Enduring the good, the bad, no matter the weather

To choose to love, and to live, and enjoy each day

To choose to listen and to learn, all they have to say

To trust in who they are even when you doubt

Believing in the good, when you’d rather just spout

Bumps and bruises are evitable

Fights and furies are in store

But a life without each other

Is a life we weren’t meant for

So will you be an island?

Or will you be a friend?

It’s up to you to choose

The cost of love, always worth it in the end 

Who are you doing life with in 2014? 

What doors will open for you in 2014?

An open door.

It’s inviting.  It’s welcoming. 

It can symbolize opportunity.  Adventure.  The unknown.

Whether you know it or not, 2014 is the year of the open door!

The Jewish year, this year is called ayin dalet (hebrew), the year of 5774. 

The word ayin means eye, to see, to understand and obey. It also means divine providence.

The word dalet means door and can mean the movement of one coming from or going into the tent.

Divine doors will open this year.  Declare it and believe it. 

What doors do you want to be open?

What divine encounters will you believe God for?

It is said that during dalet, one will either move out of or back into their tent.

Not every opportunity or open door is necessarily from God, we need discernment of His voice to know when to move.

If God is divinely opening doors, is this there anything in your heart hindering you from going through it?

Is there already an door open that you are not stepping through?

What holds you back?

What do you have to lose?

John 10:10 says...

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

He has a FULL life for you.  Open doors awaiting.

It’s time we start making some real news years resolutions. 

Invitation awaits.