The Courage to Cast Down

3 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." II Cor. 10:3-6

Like it or not, we are in a battle. If you haven't noticed, it is raging more and more with every passing day. In fact, I am sure you have noticed. Each day, we have a choice: to be defeated and dejected or to use the weapons God has provided us to walk in spiritual victory.

I have not learned this in an easy way. Nor have I learned it to the extent I need to. No way. For me, the battle is in my thoughts. How about you? In sermons, I have heard this statement: "A thought can make or break you." Every day, we are inundated with thousands of thoughts. The one secret I have learned is that I do not have to accept the thoughts that come into my mind as my own.

For we are surrounded by an atmosphere around this earth and this atmosphere is under the domain of God's enemy, the devil. He is called the "prince of the power of the air" in Ephesians 2.

1 "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

The thoughts, ideas, and opinions of this world system stand opposed to God's thoughts. God tells us in Isaiah 55 how our thoughts compare to His thoughts. There is no comparison.

8 ​​“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
​​Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 ​​“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
​​So are My ways higher than your ways,
​​And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Today I read in I John 2 and was struck again by how the world system is totally opposed to God's way of thinking. John tells us

"15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

So, that is one way I can test my thoughts. Is it concerning the lust of my flesh or eyes or having to doing with pride in my achievements? Then I can be certain it is not from God and I can cast it down as a vain imagination that rises up against the knowledge of God. For every thought has one of two origins: either from God and devoted to His glory or against God and devoted to the enemy's lies and destruction.

I used to foolishly think God was selfish in order to want every thought to be for His glory, until I learned that His glory gives the highest and best to fallen creatures such as us. Think of what happens when the opposite occurs: what is the benefit of evil being glorified? Only misery and bondage and death.

GOD is LIGHT! In Him there is no darkness at all! (See I John 1:5) When I summon the courage to deny a thought that comes into my head as not being true, and cast it down, I walk in the light with my God. Sometimes, this is hard for me because my mind is screaming that the thought just has to be true, but if I resist it, the devil will flee. James 4 reveals:

7 "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

Even if it is hard, even if it seems we are in a constant uphill battle, we will overcome if we do not lose heart. We destroy the mountains of lies that the enemy whispers in our ears one by one, like tearing down a brick wall. And then, as that wall of untruth tumbles down, we fill our mind with good things, the things God has for us, and promises for the life to come.

9 But as it is written:
​
​​“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
​​Nor have entered into the heart of man
​​The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9

If we do not faint today but let God's Word pour into us, we will have strength and courage to cast down the lies the enemy sends to defeat us.

Andrew Murray, quoted in the devotional, None but the Hungry Heart for the day 12-30 says: "The Father works to will, and He is ready to work to do, but, alas! many Christians misunderstand this. They think because they have the will it is enough, and that now they are able to do. This is not so. The new will is a permanent gift, an attribute of the new life in Christ. The power to carry out this will is not a permanent gift, but must be each moment received from the Holy Spirit. It is the one who is conscious of his own utter powerlessness, as a believer, who will learn by the Spirit alone he can live the Christian life."
(emphasis mine)

We receive hope and help moment by moment as we cast down vain imaginations which lie against God and His Truth.

I hope these thoughts have encouraged you today as you face the many thoughts that come your way. And speaking of hope, I would like to announce the publication of my book Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering is now available through 4RV Publishing.(It will also soon be on Amazon.) It tells the story of believers throughout the Church Age who overcame huge obstacles by their overcoming faith. http://www.4rvpublishingcatalog.com/megan-vance.php

Revive Us, Oh Lord

Psa 80:14 Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see,And visit this vine. Psalm 80:18 Then we will not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.

I don't know about you, but I think we need revival in this land. Studying the lives of many people who walked with the Lord for my non-fiction book Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering (under contract with 4RV Publishing), it really impressed me how much work was done for the Kingdom in the 1800s and early 1900s with men and women like George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, D.L. Moody, and Amy Carmichael, to name a few. What was different then than it is now? One thing I noticed is there were revivals back then. It stirred my heart to think, maybe God would grant us a revival again today.

We certainly don't deserve one. Look how far we have slipped from God since 1962, the year we took prayer out of public school. God has been so patient with us, but He cannot wink at our gross immorality and godlessness. He will bring justice. In the meantime, though couldn't we cry out to Him to revive us?

I was talking to a friend of mine, and she told me she believed there had been a revival in this country in the 60s and 70s among the hippies of that time. But I have heard of none lately, at least not in America. Just that our freedoms to believe and share our faith are slowly being eroded until one day, they will be gone and it will be too late.

Today is Memorial Day and I think of the thousands and thousands who shed their bled across the centuries for the sake of this nation. They died for our freedom's sake. I wonder what they would think of what is happening today. For their sakes' we should pray. I also think of the future generations that are just starting out. We want to give them freedom. For their sakes' we must pray also. And what about us? Do we still want the freedom to read our Bibles, attend our choice of choice, to vote and enjoy the blessings we have taken for granted? For our own sakes, we must pray.

But before I even ask another to pray, I need to look to myself. I think of Daniel in the Old Testament and how he wept and pled for his nation before the Lord before God in Daniel 9:5-10, saying:

“we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets."

Daniel continues on with his prayer for his people in following verses. I noticed though, that Daniel seems not to have any noticeable character flaws in the Bible, yet he takes responsibility for the sins of his people.

Isaiah also takes on the sins of his people when he receives the vision of the throne of the Lord in Isaiah 6:5, saying:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”

Neither man was afraid to identify with his people as they cried out before the Lord. We need to realize that if we the church in America had been acting as salt and light, we would have shown forth to the unbelievers in our nation as a city on a hill. We would have been a preservative for our country. (Matthew 5:13-14)

But it is not too late. We can start praying today for revival. Consider a few other verses on this subject:

'Restore us, O God of our salvation,
And cause Your anger toward us to cease.

Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?

Will You not revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?" Psalm 85:4-6

"if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

"Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way." Psalm 119:37

"Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth." Hosea 6:1-3

9/30/2013 Blog Tour

Psalm 23 "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

First off, thanks to my God for His everlasting consolation and salvation through Christ.

I want to thank my writing friend, Joan Y. Edwards http://joanyedwards.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/blog-tour/ for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour. I also want to thank her for helping me be the writer I am today and for introducing me to http://www.4rvpublishing.com/

If it weren't for Joan, I would not have my book: Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering undergoing edits for publication next spring (May or June, 2014). The Lord did direct my path, just like He did for David in Psalm 23. I would like to tell you a little bit about me and my book in this blog tour post.

1. I started writing as a child. I never thought of myself as a writer though. I did have stories in my head but did not always get them onto paper. One of the stories remains with me today. I guess I should get around to writing it. I remember one thing that encouraged me with my writing as a child. One summer, our library had a little writing contest for children. We were to read the book Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. I liked the book because of its story line and its pretty illustrations by the author. We were to write a book report about it. I won the contest that summer and received a "Snoopy" statue as a result. Growing up, I did not receive many rewards. I was just slightly above average in schoolwork. So, winning that small contest meant a lot to me. I never thought that it indicated I could have promise as a writer.

2. In high school, I wrote poems about things that affected my life. One of the poems was about my paternal grandmother. I only saw her once a year and "goodbyes" were always difficult because I never knew if she would be around the following year. My poem was called "Wise Old Grandmother" and was published in our high school literary magazine, along with one or two more of my poems.

She is in the picture below, with my Dad and Grandpa. I wrote about the values I saw in her: hard work,sacrifice, and a simple lifestyle.

3. When I went off to college, I ignored my stronger abilities and chose a career in the nursing field because I wanted to help people. It never occurred to me that possibly I could help people through writing instead. Although I loved interacting with my different patients, the medical part was not really for me. I managed to get my bachelor's, but when I married and began having children, I was glad to stay home with them.

4. I home taught my children and in the process, discovered many wonderful books that I had missed as a child. Reading aloud to my kids became a priority and one son claims he still sees some of the stories in his mind. That is when I discovered the wonderful world of children's literature.

5. About eight years ago, when my last child was entering high school, I signed up for the Institute of Children's Literature course, Writing for Children and Teenagers. When I graduated with my Basic diploma and had one of my stories published, I was recommended for the Advanced, Book Writer course. And that is how my book Sure Mercies was born. With the help of my instructor, I came up with an idea to write about my favorite Bible character, David. I always had loved David's Psalms. They helped me through the rough times of growing up and especially as a teenager. My sister got me a fascinating autobiography of David by F. B. Meyer. I wanted to tell more about these Psalms. I also loved reading about heroes of the faith. I came up with 40 of David's Psalms and a person to fit each one of them. In my stories I explained how each person overcame some difficulty in their life and exemplified a portion of that Psalm in that way. Some of the heroes were from modern days, but some in early church history as well. They spanned across the whole church age. I ended up putting a timeline at the end to show how their lives intertwined amongst themselves, one influencing the other like a stack of dominoes. I also put in a study guide for further contemplation on Scripture, and a Scripture index and resource guide. I wanted my readers to understand that not only the Psalms, but the whole Word of God directly fit together as the Ultimate Guide Book for our lives. My audience was originally for teenagers, because I remembered how difficult adolescence was for me personally. I wanted to show Jesus Christ is the best friend we can ever have. It ended up that this book will be appropriate also for adults. I want to reach as many people as possible with the message that in Christ there is hope for the bleakest situation. It is never too late as long as you have breath.

6. I have been extremely blessed to find 4RV Publishing, who was willing to take a chance on a first time author. In addition, I found a wonderful editor (who lived within walking distance) who helped me get my manuscript ready for submission to 4RV. Friends within my critique group believed in my book and helped me to carry on when I was ready to give up. My family cheered me on, with my husband, Kevin, the biggest helper of all. Now, I am hoping to write many more books. I love to write about the LORD and His love, but also have a funny side and enjoy writing about my cat Missy (aka "Super Cat") and her antics. I worked with children of varying ages for about nine years. My own children and the kids I cared for helped fuel my imagination for other children's stories and poems as well.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog. I recently began a new blog specifically about kids and adult books. It is my hope to direct you to great reads on there. I encourage you to stop by there as well. Come on over and also see me at: http://meganvance.wordpress.com/