This morning when I woke up I had a teaching from my time at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) running through my head, it was from Lordship Week with the one and only Mark Parker. I could write for days about things he said that impacted my life in some way but I won’t right now. For the moment I want to focus on what I woke up thinking about, living a life with arms wide open.
I know God created us with a natural need for one another but to connect to the level God intended we have to live with an open heart. But when Mark Parker first started sharing on living a life of openness I am sure he could sense the brick walls we were all laying to block him from our hearts, or at least the one I was. He quickly went on to talk about if we lived with the Shield of Faith up like we are supposed to then living open wouldn’t be so scary. Ephesians 6:16 says, “In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” I can still picture our incredibly animated speaker giving us a visual representation of what he was talking about. He did this by, standing with his arms wide open and then quickly bringing his arms around as if he were hugging someone and then moving them away from each other and then back together as to signify the Shield of Faith in front of his chest.
We are coming up on three years since I first heard this teaching and I still have issues with this. To be open and vulnerable with people in my life is something that takes a conscious effort from me but I believe it is because a lack of my own faith. If I truly believed Ephesians 6:16, that the shield of faith would protect me from ALL the flaming arrows, then what would be so scary about living a life of openness? Now the trick is to cultivate that sort of faith, a faith I fully put my trust in. If faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17) then I suppose the first step is to speak out the promises of God.
I guess it is time for me to step it up and declare the unending promises of God over my life. Promises like: we can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13), that we are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37) and that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38) to list a few.
Well, I have found my challenge for the weekend, to declare the promises of God over my own life. Happy Friday all!
Great post Lauren, knowing and declaring Gods promises over our lives is so important, declaring His promises is how we receive His promises.
“declaring His promises is how we receive His promises.”
What????
Gayla, According to Mark 11:23, Proverbs 18:21, Romas 4:17, Matt. 12:31-37 we get what we say, we receive what God has for us by faith and we release our faith by speaking.
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