What are you believing?

Lynn Davidson

For about two weeks I have been going through a struggle over something with potential to be life altering, and with that has come fear, depression and many negative thoughts.  It is not something I have shared openly but the Lord has been sending me encouragement which has finally won out.

Have you ever succumbed to the place of despair and such terror washing over you, however fleeting, that you believed there could be no hope?  Even though you know that Jesus is your Hope, have you ever felt it was just a lost cause to believe for anything positive for yourself?  Have you ever allowed the enemy of your soul to continue whispering into your mind the lies intended to pull you down and steer your focus off the Lord and onto your situation?  Worse yet, that situation then grew to such proportion it was all you could see - because it was being fed by your fear.

In this season of renewal, this celebration of life, there is so much for which to be thankful.  There is One who suffered all things that we would have a way of escape from the hold of all that is not of God.  In becoming Sin for us, the Lord Jesus became intimate with all our fears, sins, sicknesses, wild imaginings and anything else that would potentially remove us from the life of God.  In dying for us He took upon Himself the penalty of death so that in our acceptance of Him and of His sacrifice for us we stepped into the Saving Grace of God.  How amazing is that!

During our times of self-centeredness we deny Him.  Too harsh?  Think about it.  In self focusing, in living life our way, in believing the lies of religious thought and the foolishness of man, we rebelliously set Him aside saying in essence .. 'what You did for me is not good enough.'   We cheat ourselves by living as though we are not changed, not new creations, lowering ourselves back into the old life thinking and habits.

Do you know who you are in Christ?  Do you KNOW that you are accepted in the Beloved?  (Ephesians 1:6, NKJV)  When  lies of the enemy surface against you, when you are feeling worried and stressed, when you cannot see beyond the circumstances, what do you KNOW?  More importantly, WHO do you know and in Whom do you put your trust?  If the Lord is not the first one you think of and turn to, then get back in line with Him.  Look at the amount of time you give Him and realize that you are His most cherished treasure.  If you are found in Christ then you are accepted in Him, accepted by the Father because Jesus' sacrifice was acceptable to God.  

It has been a tough couple of weeks, but I am glad to be able to say that I KNOW who I am in Christ, and it is not a snivelling fearful child at the mercy of the enemy's tactics of hatred and maliciousness!  I have allowed myself that place of 'less than', the place where I no longer live.  I visited and it is not only a place to not dwell, it is a place to not even pass through.  I am better than that, above all that, and so far beyond that place that it has been a very dark and deathly detour to venture back into, and not worth my time nor the risking of my peace of mind.

Yes, I believed the lies.  Yes, I fell for the reminders of who I was.  But today I know that I am not who I was, I am who I am in Christ and that will not change.  Nothing and no one can change who I am in Him, but I can choose to live beneath my station in Him.  He is our great High Priest, seated in Heavenly Places ... so for me to choose less is to live beneath my place in Him as nothing is above Him nor equal to Him.  Glory!

Allow me to encourage you today to seek His face, bless Him with your praise and gratitude, and step deeper into your relationship with Him.  He is worthy and you are so precious to Him.