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Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every
circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite
requests) with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And
God's peace shall be yours that "tranquil state of the soul assured of
its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being
content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace]
which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Phil4:6-7(amp) We have been considering life in the Spirit, a life motivated and driven by God; a life illuminated and guided by the Spirit; a life unencumbered by the world, the flesh, and the devil. We have seen that negative thinking and attachments obstruct our spirit from making a good connection with God. We know, also, that faith is the tool we use to receive from God all that he would have us know and enjoy. The unhindered eye sees. The unhindered ear hears. The unhindered mind knows. The unhindered heart loves. So the devil tries to block our sight, our hearing, our mind, and our heart. The way he gets to the spirit man is through the soul and through the body. He attacks the soul through negative thinking and attachments and he attacks the body with anxiety, stress, and physical ailments. The soul can affect the spirit man and the body and the body can affect the soul and the spirit man. We are one: spirit, soul, and body. If we have steeped ourselves in scripture and confess the word of God, if we are exercising our faith, then the devil will attempt to divert our thinking by attacking our body physically, emotionally, or with stress and anxiety. It is the Spirit that gives life: the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life. Jn6:63 "The flesh profits nothing." Keeping the law, willpower, exercise, good eating, all of themselves will not profit an attack from the devil on our body and nervous system. Phil4:6 give us the key to win this battle. When anxiety hits, we must use our faith and confess the word until the devil learns that such tactics will not divert us from God. Whatever situation you are in, whether it is financial, physical, health, emotional, relationships, or sin, the tool we use to deflect the attack is confessing and practicing Phil4:6. Not allowing anxiety to effect the mind, we pray and make our petitions known to God, thanking him in advance for being our provider, healer, savior, and redeemer. We continue to establish ourselves on God's word, without effort on our part, and the fear, anxiety, and stress will lift and God will get the glory. It is the miracle of faith. Petition, thanksgiving, our faith, an assent to the love and power of God, will drive the devil back to the pit where he belongs. Tell God what you want and need, believe that you receive it, thank him for it in advance, believe in the goodness of God, and God's peace that passes understanding will guard your mind and your heart so that the devil will not have a place to attack. So fight the good fight of faith. Have others pray with and for you as well, and lay hold of what you believed you received when you prayed, as well as the best gift, eternal life. Amen. |