A Suffocating Love

If you listen to the conversations around you, you may notice alot of people speak the opposite of life into our world. As a matter of fact, I am guilty of this myself. Many sentences I have spoken have began with “The way the world is today…”. I’ve been convicted several times by the Holy Spirit and have come to terms that we talk God out of the world so much we almost forget he is here. We tend to fuel the tank of Satan daily by speaking death into the world it’s no wonder we find ourselves feeling miserable, confused, and wondering, “God, where are you?”. We are so quick to see the evil in the world but continuously fail to see the good. Most news stories bludgeon our minds with stories of rape, murder, kidnap, and death. The truth is, we do not have to bow down to the evil in the world. We do not have to submerse ourselves in the pool that the devil wants to drown us in. Rather we should make it our mission to overcome the power of Satan with good. We can easily look at verses like John 12:31 (look it up!) and become intimidated and expect nothing good but only hard times ahead because of Satan is ever present on the earth. Again, we give him too much power and not enough to God.  I challenge each of you this week to focus on the good in the world. I promise you God is here right now, and he is moving in whatever town you’re living in. Won’t you help him? Please pray to experience the revelation that every time you speak death into the world you are turning more and more power to our adversary. Every time you speak death into the world you live in I believe you become less happy and motivated to make a difference. More importantly, how are we ever suppose to win people to Christ if we’re too busy speaking negatively about everything that surrounds us? Choose to see the good in your neighbor. Pray for eyes that see God in everything that surrounds you. Don’t fall victim to those conversing around you about what a terrible world we live in. This may be true, but fueling the fire is no way to live. While we cannot turn our eyes from the evil and become naive, we can choose to become aware and make it our goal to be the change. In closing there are a few questions I’ve asked myself which I’ll now ask you:

#1. Am I really living like I know God? To be honest with you, one touch of the hand of God is able to take your breath away. Our churches are filled with people who go as far as to mock other Christians for their fire and passion for Christ. These are sometimes the people who fuel the fire of negativity. Ask yourself, am I really living like I know the living God? If you are, is your life reflecting it?

#2. How am I counteracting negative talk? From time to time, I fall into the pool of despair and anger when others are discussing worldly events around me. To be honest, sometimes I’m the initiator of such conversations! Awareness is the key to going against the grain of conversations such as these. Rather than build the fire – put it out. Suffocate negative talk with love. It may not be easy at first, but when you begin to change, others around you will change as well.

#3. How am I spending my time? I truly believe that how we spend our time builds us up (or down) for the waves we experience in life. If we’re not prepared and know what God’s word says, we will quickly fall away when we experience hardship and negative talk. As Paul says – therefore we should put off everything that hinders us. That may be a TV show, a book, or a CD you’ve been listening to that needs to go! In our quiet time if we devote ourselves to God, we will be strong enough to fight the battles he needs us to fight.