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| THE BATTLE FOR YOUR GARDEN |
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There is a very real spiritual battle that is going on in the life of every Christian and it revolves around your spiritual "garden," which is the ground of your heart. The enemy is constantly seeking to overtake Believers' lives by planting the wrong kinds of seeds within them. He does this through thought injections that are designed to create wrong images in their minds. As a soldier in the army of the Lord, it is your responsibility to vigilantly guard your heart and mind with the Word of God. This will keep the weeds out of your garden and ensure that the seed of God's Word grows up in your life to produce an abundant harvest. Every day, Christians are barraged with images, words and suggestions that try to sway them away from the truth of God's Word. Whether it is a news report that glorifies the work of the enemy, an ungodly television show or even a billboard that promotes an ungodly lifestyle, there is no escaping the fact that we live in an environment that is determined to plant the wrong seeds in us. But God has given us His bag of seed that we must plant in our hearts. It will grow healing, deliverance, financial wealth, joy, peace, happiness and all kinds of promises from God.
The key to making sure your garden stays "weed-free" is to guard it. You must continually keep scriptures before your eyes, in your ears and coming out of your mouth. Satan is on a mission to try and dominate your life and all he does to accomplish his goal is get you thinking about his suggestions. Though they may sound good, don't take the bait. It is critical that you become a custodian over your thought life and refuse to accept the enticement of the devil. Adam and Eve fell prey to his schemes in the Garden of Eden because they failed to guard what God had entrusted to them. Satan showed up in the form of a serpent and made a suggestion to Eve. His question, "Hath God said...?" planted a seed of doubt in her mind as to the validity of God's instructions to her and her husband. Although God had already told them that if they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they would surely die, Satan challenged God's Word. Isn't that what he is doing today in the lives of Christians? God has said one thing, and he comes with a contradictory statement to try and get us to doubt or question whether or not God's way is best. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of the devil. Once they "took" his thought injection, they began to be moved by their emotion, noticing that the fruit looked good and appealed to their hunger cravings at the time. Their feelings led them to act in a way that separated them from their connection and fellowship with God. Their decision to disobey ushered a curse into the earth. They allowed the devil to pollute their garden simply by accepting his thoughts.
You may be wondering how you can avoid being infected by the enemy's thoughts. Although you may not be able to stop the thoughts from coming, you don't have to accept them when they come. The Bible gives clear instructions on how to handle ungodly thoughts when they show up. Second Corinthians 10:4,5 says, "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Your weapon against negative thoughts is the Word of God! When those suggestions come to your mind, open your mouth and confess God's promises in faith. This is what it means to capture your thoughts and cast them down. There is no thought or imagination that can stand against the Word. It is the final authority in your life.
Don't ever get slack where guarding your heart is concerned for the issues of your life flow out of it (Proverbs 4:23). Be a good custodian over your thought life and feed your spirit the Word of God on a continual basis. When you do, you will protect your garden and see the promises of God become a reality in your life.
Dr. Creflo A. Dollar
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| To add a comment to "THE BATTLE FOR YOUR GARDEN" |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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| I have to do continual weeding :) thanks for the post, love ya! |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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| Amen Mostofall, there are too many negative images and suggestions that we should beware of, love Stu! |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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| POWERFUL...POWERFUL message Mary...And right on point...Thanks for sharing ;o) |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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"You must continually keep scriptures before your eyes, in your ears and coming out of your mouth." Amen Mary. Continuing to learn how to do this! And teaching my children to do the same! |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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Yes! It's important to learn that there is nothing to be done about thoughts that present themselves to our minds; we just choose to set our minds on different thoughts. If I told you that I'd give you a million dollars if you can go the rest of the day without thinking about pink monkeys and you say to yourself, "I'm not going to think about pink monkeys"...we'll you thought about them. And most likely you would think about them trying to remember why you thinking about the other things you think about. Sometimes we suffer in the flesh while we are making the choice to think about the things that are above, and there is a battle...but the battle isn't about the presence of a other thoughts, but about which ones we are choosing to set our minds upon. It really helps if we know that we are not sinning if we are tempted by something. The real temptation is to "do" something about the temptation; when we do that we have moved from the truth in Christ (that our flesh with its passions and desires has been crucified, that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ) and are back in the flesh trying to do something about the thoughts or trying to get God to do something about the thoughts when He's told us that something has already been done. 8:6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 8:9 But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. Best regards, Craig |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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Cindy, Stu, MarJay,Mike, Craig:
It is a constant battle and one that we must fight day after day. If we take our eyes off of the Word, do not hear the Word, do not speak the Word, then we are lost..... We are fed constantly by the enemy day in and day out, through the media, billboards, radio,people and we have to be vigilant to not leave the Word by the wayside.
Father: Remind us everyday in everyway that your Word is Truth and in that Truth there is no error only Life. Thank you for your lovingkindness in giving us a way home... |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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| Amen!!!!! |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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Yes, a constant battle...a constant opportunity to see his power made perfect in our weakness. As it is written: 4:11 For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ESV interprets it as "constantly being". The exchange is death (weakness) for his life (power). And so we end up glorying in our weaknesses because the allow Christ to glorify himself! No longer something to fear because we believe that we have to be strong; but something to look forward to so we can experience His life being manifies through us. Wonderful! Craig |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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There is a very real spiritual battle that is going on in the life of every Christian and it revolves around your spiritual "garden," which is the ground of your heart.
This Battle took place today. Thank God for Praying Friends....Amen |
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