Author: marquitabp

Bloodied But Unbowed

 

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."  2 Corinthians 4:8-9

 

God never ceases to amaze me.  Tonight I had the favor to watch the most powerful testimony I've seen in a while.  You see we all go through things–willingly and unwillingly.  We experience things at our own hands and at the hands of others.  Sometimes we inflict these troubles upon our selves or we appear to be the target of a random act of violence.  Sometimes we faithfully endure these situations hoping and praying that God will miraculously deliver us from the oppression that we are experiencing while at other times we muster that last bit of courage and make whatever decisions God instructs to turn the situation around.  But most times, we do not ever leave the battle unscathed.

 

Bloodied but unbowed…taken from a very inspirational poem; now taking an additional meaning because of the scriptures above.  Everyone who followed Jesus' teachings during this time was persecuted.  Having had the favor to see what they lived in while trying to spread the message, I am humbled and truly know what they mean.(I went to Turkey in 2006 and in Cappadocia are the Underground Caves that made the Underground City where the persecuted Christians lived.)  Nowhere in the Bible does it say that life will be pain free; in fact, it often says the exact opposite.  As Christians we will suffer.  But we must not give up and surrender our power to the enemy.  We must not succumb to the attacks he brings against us.  Why?  Because Jesus already defeated Satan.  Our job at this point is to glorify God by keeping the faith.  Keep on believing and being steadfast.  Do not bow in defeat.  We are not crushed!  We are not driven to despair.  We are not destroyed.

 

'"Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.'  John 15:20

 

Here is the link from the video and I most definitely think you should look at it and give God all the glory.

 

http://www.tbn.org/watch/files/index.php?file=2010_8_3_300k.wmv&show=85
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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17

Change the Channel

 

"They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2 Timothy 4:4

 

You've got to change the voice that you are listening to.  Change the voice that is talking in your head.  What kinds of things are you listening to?  What people are you listening to?  What are you feeding yourself?  Are you poisoning yourself with words that go against the word of God? 

 

When I go to sleep most nights, I play gospel music or the Bible as my lullaby.  When I heard someone say to me for a 50+ time the importance of guarding my eye-gate and ear-gates, I realized that a lot of the music I listened to promoted things that did not speak to me the way I needed.  I needed to hear praise and worship, I needed to hear the word constantly.  Now I am sensitive to complaining, self-pity parties (well almost immune to my own), and anything that does not speak life into a situation. 

 

Our minds are like computers.  If you a write a program to solve some problem, that is what is will do.  If you tell it to print xyz every minute, that is what it will do.  Likewise, with your mind, if you program it with negativity, complacency, complaining, and self-hatred programming, that is exactly what will be produced in your mind and eventually your life…everything involving you.  If you were raised to by a nagging, negative mother/father that only pointed out your faults, that is all that you will see.  Honestly, I think that all of our problems are a result of some negatively programming.  You have to be strong enough to recognize that within yourself.  Stand up and recognize these things.  You cannot expect to progress and produce anything positive if you are too weak to change it.  Only you can decide once and for all to put an end to it and allow God the freedom to change the channel for you.  Stop believing the lies before it starts coming out of you.

 

"Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.  Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'"  Mark 7:14-15

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17