May 22

I was sent a book in the mail this week. I send a  small monthly gift to a great ministry called Life Today. They do a lot of mission feeding, drilling of wells for clean water etc. Something I wanted to be a part of. But to my suprise, a book arrived in the mail. I had to look up on their website -it did say that 'from time to time' they will send you a ministry resource. Hmm. I also noticed that in return that they ask you to pray for and promote their ministry. So- to keep things honest- here is the promotion part of it. FYI-I'm always a little skeptical of TV ministries (except Joyce Meyer :) and can't make myself come within a mile of anyone with pink hair and mascara streaming down their face as they cry, but this ministry seems to be good and supported by people I trust- like Beth Moore. Life Today- check it out.

Back to the book. It was not on my 'to read' list (or in my 'book bag') and there were several books 'ahead of it' in my 'que' and I almost didn't want to read it but I am very glad I started it. It is by John Eldgredge and is called "Walking with God". As is often the case in the Christian walk, just when you think you are kind of getting the hang of things, God shows you a whole new level of commitment or experience that you never really even considered possible.

One of the premises of the book is that one thing that builds strongholds in our heart is making agreements. These are often very subtle, come into your mind and then the enemy leaves it alone for a while (maybe years) so you don't even recogize it as an attack. They can be 'current' things, like you wake up in the middle of the night...and think 'oh great, now I'm never going to get back to sleep. I'm probably going to start not sleeping well at all now that I'm getting older". An agreement with a thought the enemy puts in your mind. Or it could be long standing (almost unconsious) belief. Maybe your dad left you when you were a child, then a boyfriend broke up with you and you think, "love doesn't ever last, everyone leaves". An agreement with the enemy....  God has been teaching me this last year to 'Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ" 2 Chronthians 10:5.  Any thought that doesn't align with God's word or isn't true- needs to be cast from our mind and replaced with true thought. But this is a whole new level.

Now I've known some people and sects that have gone overboard with 'praying down strongholds' and 'spiritual warfare'. A lot of what we fight is simply our fleshly desires, not a demon on every corner. But, I think that this idea of not getting into 'agreement' with the enemy is very valid. I was pretty aware of some obvious ones. One that I see all the time is Christians saying, "well, I could never do that" (teach, be a missionary, talk in front of a group or whatever). We even cleverly disguise it as humility. Excuse me, but my Bible says that I can do ALL things throught Christ. But I never really considered 'agreements' (long standing beliefs, assumptions) as strongholds but I can certainly see how that would be true.

In today's reading about a "false witness" it really reminded me that the ultimate false witness  (Satan) likes to dump junk in our head. And if he can't get us to nibble on that, he'll get us to busy and distracted to connect with God.

This only scratches the surface of what the book is teaching about hearing from God and learning to have more than a 'one way' conversation (prayer) with Him but really listen to His voice. If you get a chance- pick it up the book.  Or if you see me- ask me to borrow it. I will be making it big case for putting it on my sister's summer reading list- but after that- you are free to borrow it.