Be Still

I feel like I'm continually fighting so many battles. Unfortunately, I feel like I'm also losing all of these battles but for some reason, I don't change my tactics.

Do y'all ever have those days when it's like you against the world? It's a lot less glamorous than standing in front of a giant globe, hands on hips, cape blowing in the wind, sparkly combat boots glinting in the sun. In Marvel movies, the slim odds are exciting, invigorating, and even encouraging, but in my own life, they are crushing.

Yet I continue to drag myself through the battle field, hands covering my face and slamming into everything. My heart feels like a rag doll lately, tossed continually about by a child far too enamored by an imaginary world. I feel sabotaged by attacks, both surprise and not.

And I do not change my tactics.

Thank the Lord I was not in charge of military strategy during World War II or any big wars because, folks, there would no longer be any great US of A to call home.

I came across this verse the other day: The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still. (Ex 14:14)

Be still. That sounds nice. But there's just too much to do. And that's a lot of control there that I'd be relinquishing, a lot of trust requiring...I don't know. How refreshing does that sound though? In a world where we're continually thrashing about, both by our own accord and others', be still.

So I don't need to fight? How exactly does one just...be still?

I feel like a repetitive point in my writing (due, no doubt, to the fact that it's a repetitive point in my life) is not only is God in control, but we are not. Whether or not we realize it. We're simply not designed to be in control.

I brought this verse to prayer, asking Jesus to fill me with awareness that He is fighting for me, and asking Him to still me.

His response? Ephesians 6:12-19.

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And that is all the fighting I can do. I need to realize that I am not struggling against anyone or anything besides Satan.

Clothing myself in truth; realizing, despite what is being pushed at me, that I am a daughter of God, I am a bride of Christ, I am made in the Image and Likeness of the Creator of the Universe. Consequently, I need to realize that this is the truth and destiny of all; children of the King.

I need to cling to virtue, not vice, that I maybe righteous; embracing the gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord) in the face of the attacks of Satan. I must be eager to spread the Gospel and to let it be powerful, to let it change my life and the lives of those around me; I cannot be afraid of the peace that it brings.

Despite how things look around me, I want faith to influence my every move. I want to be filled with the knowledge that God is working. I want to believe with every part of my heart, mind, and soul that God knows what He's doing and He is doing...for my good and for His glory.

Jesus Christ died for my salvation....I am washed in His blood. The lies of Satan are meaningless against His sacrifice. How I need to remember this! And I need to be drenched in the beauty of Sacred Scripture...allowing it to come alive and penetrate my heart and my life.

Friends, God wants to give us these things...they're not things we have to convince, connive, and beg for. All that we need to do is surrender, give up our lives, and be still.

These are all truths that take self denial to accept. That is found in prayer. I challenge you to pray every day, for at least thirty minutes...let God fight for you. Let Him be God. How refreshing, how relieving that we don't need to be in control, that we don't need to be God! Let Him be Father and let Him hold you. You need only be still.

I'm praying for you.