Comparison vs. Confidence Part II {Crystal Lewis}

Spiritual Growth

April 8, 2013

This is a continuation of part 1 which can be read here. . . .https://themommahood.com/comparison-vs-confidence-part-1-crystal-lewis/

James 3:14-16

But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

whoa. that’s not what i want, it’s not what i thought i was doing. but it is EXACTLY what happens when we allow our thoughts to form patterns. the old saying is true…

“watch your thoughts for they become words, watch your words for they become actions, watch your actions for they become habits, watch your habits for they become your character, watch your character for it becomes your destiny.”

the Bible says it better… out of the abundance of the heart…the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34)

what goes on in our hearts and heads…comes out of our mouths, through our attitudes, and ultimately through our actions.

the good news is that while there are clear reasons as to why we are prone to think this way, there are clear solutions that will cure us, bringing hope, healing and straight-up happiness to our hearts.

first, we have to address the problem:

the enemy.

the Bible says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

and John 10:10 says the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.

we have a real and immediate danger wanting nothing more than our ultimate destruction. if he can trip us up with subtleties, he will. by whatever means necessary he seeks our demise. the crazy thing is he doesn’t really use new methods. he just figures out what works, then continually applies the same methods. and like idiots, we fall for it. again and again.

i’m going to give you 3 things that you can do to combat the attacks of the enemy. 3 weapons.

BE AWARE :: our first line of defense is awareness. realizing there is an imminent threat. a ‘great’ enemy, says 1 Peter 5:8. a capable adversary. a bad-to-the-bone-villain. we need to know our weaknesses, where the chinks in our armor are. take a minute and jot down what you know in your heart to be that achilles heel, the vulnerability that typically trips you up. i don’t mean what you see as your flaws…where you fall short…no. i mean areas in your heart where you know the enemy has it easy.

BE ALERT :: that same passage also says ‘STAY ALERT’! now that you’re aware of your weaknesses, you need to be prepared. i love this definition of alert: wide-awake, swift; agile; nimble; an attitude of vigilance, readiness or caution, as before an expected attack. this is our hard-core-super-hero to the bad-to-the-bone-villain.

i will admit here, that most of my thoughts, decisions, actions and moves are first funneled through what i like to call, the ALIAS filter. i love action. my husband will go romantic comedy all day long. no. give me indiana jones, gladiator. the bourne movies. and i love none as much as ALIAS. and Wonder Woman. i think as a kid i developed this sense of strength and power through imagination and it just never went away. so when it comes to spiritual warfare…i’m all over it. i love the imagery of hero vs villain. and since i completely believe that every word of the Bible is true, it’s easier for me to visualize this spiritual battle raging for my soul. i need to be on guard. anticipating the inevitable attack on my mind. as soon as we let our guard down, those weaknesses become liabilities. they expose us to the arrows of the enemy, giving him a clear shot.

i assume that for most of you, there are a couple things that the enemy has been whispering in your ear even over the last few minutes. or maybe leading up to this trip. and maybe you’ve spent time agreeing with him. you’ve heard his lies so often you’ve begun to believe them. stop giving him ground. quit letting him win. the Bible says:

greater is HE that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4) this is TRUTH!!

BE ACTIVE :: in order to defeat the enemy and gain victory we need a game plan. we must actively pursue that victory. we can’t sit around and hope it’ll just happen. that’s called complacency, and growth is stunted by it. in other words… it doesn’t happen. we do not want to be like the dumb guy in the parable Jesus told about the master who gave 3 different servants different amounts of money. 2 of the guys invested it and made a bunch more, while the 3rd guy buried his. buried it. sat there and waited for the master to return. and when he did return, he took the dumb guys money and gave it to the one who’d risked the most, invested the most, made the most. so we too have to risk and DO and pursue. how can we BE ACTIVE?