by David Brenneman
"And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.” After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.” Mark 9:17-29.
"God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble." Psalms 46:1.
"Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life." Proverbs 4:23.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit." Psalms 51:10-12.
"Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish 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. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints," Ephesians 6:13-18.
"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete." 2 Corinthians 10:5-6.
"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you." 1 Peter 5:8-10.
Guard your hearts my Dear Reader. There indeed was much to preface today's post but then again I only included what I am told to. There's certainly more that applies to guarding the heart.
We make the gravest of mistakes in not starting early enough in life at guarding our hearts.
We are indeed influenced by those involved in our upbringing. We are influenced by the peer pressures of others as we are developing in our school years. We are influenced by technology, television, music, entertainment, sports, the internet, political parties, supposed influncers, and even AI - artificial intelligence.
We are bombarded by small doses of these influences and some make it through. We can easily make the mistake of believing we can take it, we can handle it, we're smart enough and strong enough to persevere. Never seeing that trap we're about to spring.
We live in this rapid-fire world that has no patience to wait for a proper answer. So what is perceived as good is ran with.
We all do this. Regardless of what psychology says or purported experts say...what the Bible reveals is what is truth. The facts as revealed in Jesus's day are the same as what's in our world today.
We are in the same spiritual war as Daniel as Jesus as Paul, Peter, James and Timothy. Satan's schemes are well known but all too often disregarded. Called anything but what they really are. Demon possessed people exist in our world today. Cast out demons move on to someone new who's not saved. Demons cannot inhabit the life of a Believer. They can seek to disrupt the lives of Believers. Satan's schemes are his attempts at lobbying for permission for those things.
We really don't do enough to guard our hearts. The evidence is in the facts of how few Christians are daily in their Bible. It's not that they don't have the time, their choices made that take up their time are what's at fault. Want to really scare yourself about your phone/internet usage? Look at your combined history on your browser. Add in your television and or other social media usage. There's a scary picture.
We need to guard our hearts. We need the honest report from God that if there be any wicked way in me to cleanse me of it. We need to cultivate our relationship with Jesus more than those things we have made important in our lives. We need to maybe sacrifice some sleep to maintain our time commitment to be reading our Bible or to be in prayer. We maybe need to shut off a few things or drop a few things that have honestly been consuming our hearts.
We aren't still here after coming to Christ for our own self gratification or self anything. We are here as workers in His fields. We are here to learn to grow in Christ. We are here to be lights in this present darkness. We aren't here to be experts in useless things.
We aren't here to be consumed by so much stuff that we have no prayer life. That we have no communion time with Jesus.
Our belief needs help. Our prayers ought to include asking for help with our own unbelief. Our prayers ought to be more about what Jesus wants of us than they are about us.
The last 10 months have been an eye opener of learning for me in the dedicated study time that took the place of some other things in my life.
We can't know or understand how far removed from what God wants of us unless we pray with earnest to need more of Jesus in us than us in us.
This battlefield of the mind is real.
This war over the souls of mankind is real.
This needing to ask for God's help in getting our hearts protected is essential.
Lord help my unbelief! Lord grow me in you! Lord create in me a clean heart!
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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