Found in You - a photo on Flickriver

Found in You

            Your life once you are saved is like a long walk down a long straight street. On each side of the street are two story buildings with windows in the 2nd floor facing you on each side. At the end of the street are both your heavenly Father and Christ, smiling at you, beckoning you to come to them.

And your whole life is really that simple, just walk toward the Father and your savior. Keep your eyes on God, singing His praises and being happy that you belong to Him and that you are heading toward Him – no matter what happens around you or even if you trip and fall, choose to walk in the joy that comes with knowing that He holds your life and that your future is secure.

Beside you, or actually inside you, is the Holy Spirit –God’s own Spirit who strengthens you and gives you the power you need to keep walking toward God. You really have everything you need.

But from the windows from each side of the street are voices calling out to you. They are only voices but they are certainly real. They only have words - but they have been practicing what they tell you as far back as the garden of Eden – and before. Some of them seem to actually be coming from your own head. They cannot actually do anything to you because you are sealed by Christ and protected by his Spirit but if they can, they will try to get you to listen to them. They try every argument to discourage you, to tempt you, to tire you, to tell you that you aren’t worth the love of other people or of God.

It sounds so true what they say, but listen to me: Everything they tell you is actually a lie:
The Word says that you are pure, but they say that you want sin.
The Word says to lay your burdens at His feet, but they say life is so hard and you have so many things to hold up on your shoulders.
The Word says wait to light the fire, but they say you really need the comfort of it now.
The Word says keep your eye on him but they say you could just look up at them.

And if you take your eyes off of God and look up to them, they change to accusations:
The Word says that you are so totally forgiven, but they tell you how guilty you are.
The Word says that you are more than a conqueror, but they say you are a failure.
The Word says that you are beloved, but they say you are despised.
The Word says that you are a child of God, but they will tell you, you are unworthy – worthless.

The goal of these lies (and the million other versions of these lies) is to get you so discouraged and tired that you sit down on the curb of the street and stop moving forward toward God. They will turn up the volume on the accusations to try to get you to hang your face and cry and totally forget how totally forgiven and how totally amazing and how totally blessed you are. I have been there on that curb for months at a time.

The first part of the fix is to realize that this is happening, that it is all just lies to look up and see that God is still smiling at you. You are still His, you will still be with Him for all of eternity. You will see that He is not worried at all anyway, He knows you are His.

The second part of the fix is to ask God right now to give you rest and then sleep as you can. In the morning, the moment you open your eyes, tell God “Good Morning! I belong to You!” Do this every single day for the rest of your life.

Say it loudly since all those voices cannot read your mind but they and all of Heaven can hear your voice. As you do, your eyes will become a little more open and you can see what God sees in you.

The third part of the fix for all of this is as follows: Anytime you hear anything - and you certainly will - coming into your head, grab it ‘at the doorway of your mind’ and compare it to what Gods Word says about you. If it does not line up with what God says about you then you can clearly identify it as a lie and reject it. Say the Truth and reject the lie out loud.

Taken on: January 20, 2013

Tags:

Christianity

encouragement

self portrait

window light

life

truth

casting out lies « less

Sets appears in: • Self Portraits

Groups appears in: • ESSENTIAL BEAUTY(by invitation only)

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/1.4, 1/30 sec, 50mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens:	EF50mm f/1.2L USM
Aperture:	f/1.4
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
Show full info

Stats: 28,070 views / 35 comments

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: