Living Empowered When You Feel Enslaved - Encouragement Café - January 26, 2016
Living Empowered When You Feel Enslaved, Remembering God’s Power Within Us, Despite The Way We Feel
Café Menu for Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Today’s Special is: Remembering God’s Power Within Us, Despite The Way We Feel
Carefully prepared just for you by your friend, Casey Durham
Main Ingredient:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:11 ESV
Entrée:
Ever had those days where you feel absolutely worthless? Powerless? Unworthy?
If you’re like me, these days happen more than you’d like to admit. Satan likes to try to knock me down not necessarily with huge circumstances, but with tedious day-to-day unwanted thoughts, worries and insecure feelings.
It can range from the smallest things, like how I look that day or my inability to accomplish my to-do list, to bigger things like when I’m trying to serve God in a mighty way or when I’m trying to encourage someone else.
Satan comes in like a roaring lion seeking to destroy me in whatever way he can and, although I hate to admit it, sometimes he succeeds. I become absolutely overwhelmed and by the end of the day, I feel enslaved to my insecurities and shortcomings.
The other day I was driving down the road when the song Same Power by Jeremy Camp came on the radio. I’ve heard this song billions of times but have never taken the time to really listen to the lyrics. They woke me out of my spiritual slumber that day, let me tell ya!
Here are the lyrics to the chorus:
The same power that rose Jesus from the grave,
The same power that commands the dead to wake,
Lives in us, lives in us.
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks,
The same power that can calm a raging sea,
Lives in us, lives in us.
He lives in us, lives in us
WOW! Re-read that several times! Not only are those beautiful lyrics, but guess what gal... those words are biblical! Paul asks,
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV
That’s right, when we become followers of Jesus Christ, we receive His Holy Spirit within us. The same Spirit who performed miracles in the Old and New Testaments. The same Spirit who rose our Savior from the grave. The same Spirit who changes lives today. We have that Spirit within us!
So how is this so easy to forget? Why do I feel so defeated when I’m not able to complete all of the tasks I set out for the day or when I step on the scale and see a number I don’t want to see?
As women, we rarely feel empowered in the ‘small things’ of life, so we definitely don’t always feel as though we are housing God’s miraculous Spirit.
What would it look like if we lived our daily lives as though we had the mountain-moving power of the Holy Spirit within us?
Maybe then we could make satan feel defeated! I love the popular internet quote that says,
Be the kind of woman who when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says ‘Oh no, she’s up’...
Make a conscious effort to live today as though God’s powerful spirit dwells within you, because as a believer this is TRUTH.
Take Out:
When life’s daily struggles get you down and you don’t feel empowered, remember...
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 ESV
If you have to say it aloud...
Greater is He living in me, than he who is in the world!
Dessert:
My Father, thank You so much for reminding me that no matter how defeated I feel when satan attacks or when I attack myself, that You have already overcome it all. That Your mountain-moving Spirit dwells within me all of the time.
God, You alone are the source of my empowerment. Without You, I am nothing. If I tried to rely on myself for anything, I would feel demolished by the weight of the world, but because You live, I too live. Because You conquered, I too can conquer. Through Your power, I am able to prevail.
I thank You for reminding me of this Father. I thank You for Your patience with me. God, forgive me for the times I consider my emotions to be more solid that Your truth. Remind me who I am. Reveal to me more of who You are. Continue to move mountains in our midst Father. In Jesus’ precious name I pray, Amen.
For more encouragement, visit Casey atwondersamidstwandering.wordpress.com.
© 2016 by Casey Durham. All rights reserved.
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