Practices that yield greater vision, focus, and spiritual preparation and renewal have the capacity to elevate us to new levels of faith and so much more. We can’t remain in our comfort zones if we want to increase in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are desiring our lives to change, we really need to give this serious thought, because becoming too comfortable with business as usual is almost always a recipe for getting stuck. Many of us are complaining that there’s little to no movement in our circumstances. Life feels stale to us because we’re doing the same things daily, but the walk of Christ is not designed to be stale. So, we need to assume the posture of renewing our whole thought process around the unlimited possibilities of life in the Spirit. We need to motivate ourselves in a really big way, because it’s a new day. God is taking us in a new direction, and if we don’t recognize it, we just might miss out.
The Apostle Paul’s encouragement in the epistle he wrote to his apprentice, Timothy, is extremely poignant for the time in which we now live. We are bombarded daily with negative and divisive information, and this stuff is not only toxic for our ears, it’s corrosive to our minds. In 1Timothy 6:12(ESV), Paul’s encouragement to Timothy and to us as well is to “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” This truth about faith and what we must do to sustain it is extremely important for our lives.
1John 5:4(NLT) declares, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.” With everything coming at us, we should be clear that faith is indeed a fight. We must also understand that the battlefield of faith is in our minds. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be confident that God has equipped us through Jesus Christ to win. He’s given every believer the victory that Christ won. Therefore, we should never give up or give in, but grab hold of our faith like a dog with a bone, because our faith in God will yield victory every time.
Tune it out
It’s our responsibility to believe in the victory that Jesus Christ won for it, and not just believe it, but walk in it. To do this, we must filter out all the noise of the world. The bad news, the ugly behaviors of others, the filth of immorality being pummeled through just about every channel and outlet available. The level of toxicity is astounding, but this is exactly what satan intended it to be. To overwhelm us with outside influences and the trickery of darkness is always the devil’s aim. Many of us are enjoying some of this and have a need to be entertained 24/7. So, there can be no doubt that the first fight we must be committed to win is that of tuning out a lot of this stuff. We must do this to give God’s Word ample space in our minds. God commands us in Ephesians 4:23-24(ESV) to “be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” This is required if we desire the direction of our lives to change.
Pray more
If we’ll be brutally honest with ourselves, we might find that arrogance has subtly sneaked into mindsets and attitudes. We’re not doing all that God requires because our minds are so consumed with distractions that we can’t hear His directives clearly. Jesus Christ teaches in Luke 12:48(NLT), “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” This is God’s law at work. God has given us the life of His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Because of this and the wealth of God’s blessings bestowed upon us, something is required of us. We are stewards of God’s bounty, and our lives must reflect this.
If our lives don’t reflect that we understand what God requires of us, it is inevitable that at some point we have to swallow a hefty dose of correction. Things have become too perilous for us to be under the assumption that we are not facing both God’s chastisement and His correction. He’s given us a bit more time to get our spiritual house in order. If we look outside ourselves and focus on the external, we will miss this.
There has never been a more urgent time to pray, and to do so fervently and frequently. 1Timothy 2:1-2(NLT) tells us, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” From this passage, we should understand that we are obligated to pray for all people, especially our young ones; the teens that are out on the street without food or shelter, the babies that are hospitalized, struggling to live. We must pray for those with mental challenges, and for our seniors that are feeling very alone and without the compassion and care they should be receiving.
We must pray for those living on the streets, and that the organizations providing food and shelter have enough provision to accommodate the increasing needs of those that are without. We must pray for our government and for those in authority, for this is God’s commandment, and or likes and dislikes do not matter. Most importantly, we are commanded by God to pray for the salvation of others. He tells us in 1Timothy 2:4 that He wants everyone to be saved.
If we want the direction of our lives to alter course and begin to flow in the bounty of where God is taking us, this change must first begin in us. There are some things that we have been doing because we see everyone else doing them, and we think these are okay. The indulgence of social media, the fanaticism over celebrities and entertainment, the toxic conversations and attitudes, and selfishness and inflated egos, our allegiance to these things are squeezing God out of our lives. We’re packing minds and hearts with worldliness instead of Godliness and this has got to stop.
Pressure is mounting everywhere, and we should interpret it as our call to tune in to God and pray as often as we can. We need to hear the Spirit’s voice, and we must have confidence in his guidance. God warns us in Psalms146:3 (NLT), “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.” Only God can save us. We may not be able to trust those the world considers powerful, but God wants us to know that we can always trust Him. He is in control and He’s reminding us to exercise maturity instead of allowing situations, conditions, and people to dictate our emotions and focus. We have to change course, because the old way will not cut it. Recognize that God is leading us in a new direction. We need to do everything we possibly can to tune in to Him and pray more so we can follow wherever He leads. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“A New Direction”, written for victoryinjesuschrist.life. Copyright© 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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