Eyes Wide Open

The Enemy Wants to Keep Us from Serving

I am so excited to begin serving at a church I've been going to for 7 years!

That's right, it's my first time actually signing up for a reoccurring serving role at my church.

WHAT? Girl, why so long?

Longtime Coming
Yes, it's been a longtime coming and that's because the enemy was fighting me hard and I didn't even know it! That's right, the enemy is deceptive and sneaky. I'm learning more and more just how much this true.

But, let me start with what scripture points to and was so well said in a devotion I read:

Made to Serve
"The Bible says you were created in the image of God. YOU! You are made to be like Him. If you truly embrace that, then you'll realize you were made to serve, help, and be there for other people."

Since becoming saved and rescued by God and beginning a personal 1-1 relationship with Him, I felt the call to serve so heavy in my bones and every fiber of my body.

Fighting with My Spiritual Body
Except that same fleshly body was fighting with my Spiritual body. The enemy was waging war on my flesh through overwhelm.

It's becoming clear to me that the enemy used overwhelm to keep me from serving in God's kingdom.

Overwhelmed
On every Sunday for years, I would feel the call from our Pastor and Spirit on my heart to serve. But, I never signed up because I felt overwhelmed.

I was overwhelmed with life.
I was overwhelmed with motherhood.
I was overwhelmed by my corporate job.

I thought I wasn't even keeping up at being a good wife, mom or corporate leader - how could I possible add in serving too?

I feared that if I leaned into serving that it would be the tipping point of my overwhelm leading to my life spinning out of control.

Taking Thoughts Captive
Then, I began a 1-1 relationship with God and began working on all these thoughts with Him.

I learned that negative throughs don't come from God. God always seeds us with good; God is good! Any negative thoughts are acts of warfare by the enemy.

My thoughts didn't change overnight

But, then I took a spiritual warfare Bible study and learned how to spot the enemy's landmines and it's become very clear what has been happening!

Spot the Landmines
Now that I can spot the landmines, I can bring them to God making our fight in the spiritual warfare battle one that we're fighting together - not individually.

And, I can skip, hop and jump right past all of the enemy's landmines on a good day; on a bad day I step directly on the big landmines! But, on a good day I'm directly on my path to God's kingdom, which includes serving!

Key Thoughts and Takeaways:
- What's keeping you from helping others?
- Take every negative thought captive
- You're not alone; God is with you
- Blessing is given both ways in serving others

Prayer:
Father, help me on my pursuit for more "good days" of skipping past landmines so I can focus on my pursuit of you and serving in your kingdom.

Scripture:
"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."
Galatians‬ ‭6:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬ (my own emphasis added)

"But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,"
‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:43‬ ‭CSB‬‬ (servant = serve others!)

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬ (my own emphasis added)

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬ (my own emphasis added)

"Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23:6‬ ‭NIV‬‬ (my own emphasis added)