We know from Isaiah 55:10-11 that God’s words have a targeted purpose. Think about your words as seed in light of verse 10. It says, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.”

Do your words water the heart of the one you are speaking to? Do they have substance that will bear fruit? Let’s look at 1 Samuel 3:19. Do you catch what God did with Samuel’s words? It says, “So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground.” Wow. Have you ever said something that you wish you hadn’t?

God designed our heart to think so that our thoughts would be our words. He also gave man a free will. We are the only ones who can control our thoughts. It is up to us. No one makes us think the way we do. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” Death words are derogatory, critical, condemning, destructive, and the list goes on.

What are life words? Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Samuel’s words were prophetic. God used him to speak to His people. He did not let one of his words fail. Do your words fail to impart grace?

Isaiah 55:11 says of God’s words, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” How can we speak so that our words will be a life-giving seed that will prosper in the heart of the one who heard it?

When our heart is full of God’s words, they will empower our speech to be a fertile seed. God’s word is a truth-seed. Psalm 15:2 says, “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.” Psalm 1:2 says of one that God blesses because, “…his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

What we put into our heart, and what we keep in our heart affects every one of our thoughts. Thoughts become words. It isn’t that we are spouting Bible verses as our words. It is the cultivation of truth that impacts our words. Think of 2 Corinthians 1:4. It says, “Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble…” The words that the Lord used to comfort us in our trials cultivated our heart. 

They plowed up the soil in our heart. He used them to remove any clods of doubt, fear, unbelief, or worry. He sowed sustainable seed that would sprout and grow to fill our hearts to give us His True Comfort. As that seed began to bear fruit, it became part of our thought process. When someone in a trial asked us to help them, our words were laced with the same grace the Lord imparted to us in our trial.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” Have you ever thought about the truth that we cannot MAKE our light shine? We can’t fake light. Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

There is a huge difference between making and letting. Letting His light shine out of us is synonymous with the fruit of the Spirit. We do not produce the fruit of the Spirit. We bear it as we submit our will to the Holy Spirit’s work. Galatians 5:16 says, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

1 John 2:16 helps us understand this truth. It says, “For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world.” Building emotional walls could be categorized as the pride of life. The emotional walls are self-protective measures rooted in pride. 

We have the audacity to even think that we can control anyone or anything. John 15:5 clearly indicates our state. It says, “…for without Me you can do nothing.” Isaiah 64:6 is a great reminder of our own efforts. It says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf.”

In the tree’s dormant season, the leaves all wither and fall to the ground. It is God’s process for new growth in the springtime. Psalm 1:3 was the description of one who meditated in God’s word day and night. It says, “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth the fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

Do you see the difference? Our way of doing things will fade as a leaf. God’s work IN us, through our submission to the Holy Spirit, will never wither. It is a spiritual work with eternal roots. Colossians 2:7 says, “Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

The word ‘taught’ means that there is a teacher. Solomon taught his son wisdom that the Lord gave him. Proverbs 2:1 says, “My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you.” The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. 1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

It is when we abide in Christ, that our light shines the brightest. Our emotional walls have to come down, otherwise we block the brightness of a shining testimony. Here is the key: we follow the Holy Spirit INTO the light that He is leading us into. He works in light that dispels all darkness. If we try to take down our walls in our own strength we will fail. The walls will come down through our submitted heart: one wall at a time until the strongholds are demolished.

First we need to recognize that our emotional walls are sections of our emotional strongholds. Second, our walls are open before the Lord. He knows every layer that we deceptively believe in. 1 John 1:5 was Jesus’ message that John wanted his readers to understand. It says, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

Psalm 139:12 says, “Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.” Our walls of darkness are illuminated before the Lord’s eyes. John 3:20 says that those who walk in darkness are practicing evil. Wait! What about a believer? 

Negative thoughts are dark, because they are against. Either they are against ourselves, others, or our circumstances. They are classified in Matthew 15:19 as evil. It says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…” We are born again in His Light. Colossians 1:13 says, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”

John 3:20 says, “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed.” Did you live in a night-life before you were saved? Then you might remember how dark that darkness was. Then His Light of the gospel penetrated that darkness, and you were instantly transported out of that darkness! 

2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:13 is an apt description of our experience. It says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

Here is how we walk INTO the Light for deliverance from our emotional walls and strongholds. Romans 13:12 says, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Verse 14 says, “…put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.”

We ‘cast off” and ‘put on’ at the same time when we follow the Holy Spirit INTO the Light that He is. He is the Spirit of Truth. The only way that we will be freed is through experiential truth. We experience God’s truth when we make it our own. We put it on like we put on our clothes for the day. Ephesians 6:14 says of this piece of God’s armor, “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth…”

I love the picture in 1 Peter 1:13 which says, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind…” Here is the note in my Bible: …comes from Orientals necessarily gathering up their long robes with a belt to prepare for action. Our thoughts precede our actions. Epehsians 4:23 Amplified says, “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude).” Renewing our mind with truth is walking INTO the Light.

Burying our emotional pain only adds another layer of wall to our emotional stronghold. What is God’s way? First we have to remember that His ways are higher than our ways. Anything that we concoct in our own strength will fall short. Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”

Hannah poured out her heart before the Lord. She was depressed, she wasn’t eating, and her heart was grieved. 1 Samuel 1:10 says, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.” Verse 13 says that she, “…spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard…”

I call this ‘the dark night of the soul’ because I have been through this. There is so much anguish that it cannot be expressed in words. It is a heart language of emotional pain. Eli confronted Hannah, thinking she was drunk. She answered him in verse 16, “…I am a woman of sorrowful spirit, I have…poured out my soul before the Lord.”

Let’s go to the interchange between Nehemiah and the king. Nehemiah 2:2 which is the question the king asked. It says, “…Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart…” Proverbs 15:13 says, “…by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.” Proverbs 17:22 says, “…a broken spirit dries the bones.” Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression…”

Emotional pain was caused by something in our past. Remember, a few minutes ago is our past. Since this is the case, we have to process our past pain in our present. 2 Corinthians 5:17 helps us. It says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Our past is passed. We cannot go back and change anything that happened. It is essential that we truly believe that our past is in our mind. Therefore to process emotional pain from the past we have to deal with our thoughts. I like to think of buried emotional pain as something relegated to a dungeon in my heart. The emotional pain continues to cry out for release. It filters through every thought process, even when we choose to ignore it.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” We are a composite of our thoughts. That is scary when we refuse to not dwell in the negative. It makes us a very negative person that does not see good when it comes. Our soul is jaded, cynical, and critical. We live in denial of our root cause. It sets us up for disease.

The walls of Jericho were wide. I’ve heard that a chariot could ride on it. Our emotional stronghold is built with multiple layers of emotional walls. As formidable as the walls of Jericho to man, it was nothing to the Lord. He caused them to fall down flat. He will do the same with ours when we confess them as sin, renew our mind with Scripture, and build new strongholds of truth.

What are emotional strongholds? They are houses of thoughts. Think of them as citadels, or fortresses around emotional pain. They are taking up real estate in our heart. They influence our thoughts which become words. Matthew 12:36 says, “…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Our heart is designed to be a reservoir of Scripture that we have hidden in our heart. It is there for the Holy Spirit to draw from when the need is present. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119 is full of verses about God’s word and its impact on our lives.

There should only be one stronghold in our heart. David expressed it well. Psalm 18:1-2 says, “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Here is a verse I pray for folks who are stuck in sin. Proverbs 21:22 Amplified says, “A wise man scales the city walls of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.” There is the key. They are trusting in whatever their sin is. However, they have walled themselves in through self-deception. Their sin is wide open before the Lord.

Here is a verse we need to all heed. Hebrews 4:13 Amplified says, “And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.” Any emotional stronghold that we hide behind is a figment of our imagination.

2 Corinthians 10:4 is the only way to freedom. When this verse is put into practice it will topple our emotional strongholds. It says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” Jeremiah 1:10 was God’s recorded instruction for His prophet. We can make a personal application. It says, “…to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

Our first action is to confess our strongholds as sin against God. That will open the way for His word to be activated. We need to acknowledge why we built the stronghold in the first place. It is usually a self-protective measure to guard our heart from being hurt again. We have to see this as a lie. There is NO way we can protect ourselves. We do not have the ability.

An emotional stronghold is created through hardening our heart against emotional pain. It runs in the category of ignoring rather than processing. Hebrews 3:12 says, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” We usurp the Lord’s place. He is to be our Stronghold, not something that we perceive through our deception.

Verse 13 says, “…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Now let’s go to James 4:4 and apply it to ourselves and our relationship with the Lord. “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?…” When we depart from the Lord through building our emotional strongholds, we are shutting Him out. He is the only One that can heal our wounds.

Luke 4:18 Amplified says, “…He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity).” This is God’s way. Let us start out this new year before Him. Let’s ask Him to reveal any emotional strongholds that are blocking His fullness in our lives.

Hebrew 10:35 says, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.” Confidence is a settled assurance that cannot be shaken. It is a deep inner persuasion that does not waver. It is steadfast faith in only One, not something or some one. As Hebrews 6:19 says, it is what anchors our soul in the storms of our lives.

Here is one of my anchor verses. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful…” Why? The verse goes on to say, “…He cannot deny Himself.” He is our confidence as we face 2022. Our next step is unknown to us, let alone the whole year. However, we can go forward with confidence and boldness because He has gone before us.

Psalm 85:13 says, “Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.” When our thoughts, purpose, and actions are conformed to God’s will, nothing can derail us. It is when our thoughts veer off the path of righteousness that will compromise our faith. In Galatians 2:20 Paul made a declaration of faith.

It says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live…” Paul was grounded in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Nothing could lure him away from his anchor of hope. The verse continued, “…but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Think of Paul’s words in Romans 8:38-39. He expressed his heart-anchor. It says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, no things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Did you note the words ‘nor things to come’? There is nothing. Let me say it again. There is absolutely nothing that the Lord is not able to handle. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Our confidence is based on Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. That is the gospel that brings light into the world, and inner transformation of souls. 

Let’s take Abraham’s declaration as he faced his impossibility. Romans 4:20-21 says, “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” There is a key for us to apply. Verse 19 says, “…he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”

Hebrews Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” No matter what impossibility we may face as we stand on the brink of a new year, we can go forward with confidence. He will be Faithful to take us through in His grace which will be our total sufficiency.

1 John 2:21 says, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” Verse 3 says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” Psalm 119:2 says, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart.”

Here is a new song that really opened my eyes when the Holy Spirit gave it to me in 2004. I often sing it to Him. Let His words capture your heart. 

I lift my unveiled face to gaze into Your face. Face to face I behold You as You behold me. No veil separates us. No fear of being known. We have intimate communion. Our hearts are knit as one.

I stand O Lord in Your presence unashamed. All guilt is washed away. All condemnation is cleansed. Through the blood. Through the shed blood of Jesus.

With joy I lift my heart in song. A song that flows through me like a river. A song that cascades and rushes to be expressed. In pure worship knowing Your joy as You behold me.

O the wonder. The marvelous wonder and awe. All my sins are cleansed in the power of Your blood. Let my joy be a fragrance that delights Your heart O God. An extravagant oil poured upon Your feet in worship.

​To know the Lord is to be known by Him. Our heart acknowledges that He knows us and we are not ashamed. Even as I am typing this to you tears come. Why? ​It is hard for our finite minds to fully comprehend such truth. Yet, it is this truth that sets us free. Do you ‘know’ His joy as He beholds you?

What does the Lord treasure? Isaiah 33:6 says, “…the fear of the Lord is His treasure.” Psalm 25:14 Amplified says, “The secret (of the sweet, satisfying companionship) of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its (deep, inner) meaning.” It is through our unveiled worship that He makes Himself known to us.

​In Proverbs 2, Solomon was addressing his son. Yet when I read it, I read it as though the Lord is instructing me in the fear of the Lord. Verse 1 says to treasure His commands within. Listen to the progression. Verse 2-4 says to incline our ear to wisdom and apply our heart to understanding. We are to seek it like one looking for hidden treasures. The result is verse 5 which says, “Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

We revere the Lord when we treasure His words. Psalm 138: 2 says, “…for You have magnified Your word above Your name.” Proverbs 15:6 says, “In the house of the righteous there is much treasure…” 

Ask yourself: Do I treasure what the Lord treasures? Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Job 23:12 is a great picture of intimate communion. It says, “I have not departed from the commandment of His lip; I have treasured the words of His mouth, more than my necessary food.” Selah. Selah means to pause and calmly think about it.

Years ago I read a book that changed my walk with the Lord. If you have never read “Pursuit of God” by A. W. Tozer, I highly recommend it. His life was from 1867-1963. His ardent pursuit of God stirred my heart. At the end of each chapter he wrote out his prayer. As I repeated them, they became my own in crying out for intimacy.

They reminded me of Psalm 42:1-2. It says, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” The ‘pant’ was from a deer knowing that if it could not get to water it would die.

Tozer would cry out in his prayers with words like: Lord I’m thirsty, but make me thirsty still, I long to long for You, I desire to desire You. His prayers stirred me to adopt David’s words from Psalm 63:1-2 as my own. 

Let your own heart echo David’s. Let his words stir up any dry areas in your heart, and water them with deep longings. It says, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”

Psalm 63:8 Amplified says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The world constantly lures us into its system. The devil sets sin-traps to derail us. Our flesh lusts. Our spirit cries out for the Lord. When we abide in Him through intimate communion, the power of the lures is broken.

David was called a man after God’s own heart. Read his heart-words in Psalm 18:1-2. It says, “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

David had one desire. He expressed it in Psalm 27:4 which says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”

We are the temple of the Lord. We have been bought with a price. The Moravian’s were a group of believers with an ardent pursuit of God. In 1732 two of those young men heard that there were African slaves on St. Thomas Island with a hunger for God. They had no one to share the gospel with them.

As those two young men boarded the ship, knowing they would never return, they called out, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.” They had a burning desire for Jesus to be made known to others.

That is our purpose in life. However we need to know Him in order to make Him known. What do you know about the Lord experientially? Ephesians 3:19 Amplified says, “(That you may really come) to know (practically, through experience for yourselves) the love of Christ…”

Here is a new song that the Holy Spirit gave me in 2002. The title comes from Psalm 110:3 which says, “…in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth”

Womb of the Morning

I come to You O Lord in the womb of the morning. To sit and worship You and call upon Your name. You answer me with a sweetness that melts my heart. And opens me to receive Your words.

Your words like oil penetrate the places in my heart that were hardened through fear. You say My child don’t be afraid. I’ve been there all along to shield and protect. Let go of that which you clutch so tight. That I might fulfill the deepest longings of your heart.

Don’t let the cares of this life choke out My words. Open your heart to hear the beat of My own heart. I desire oneness with you but I won’t compete with that to which you give yourself. I will but wait until you tire of your own pursuits. And nestle down in My love.

Be still now and quiet your heart before Me. I have so much to share to reveal the  depths of My counsel. For in Me is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I have all and hold all. Through the power of My Word.

In Me you will lack nothing. Your very sustenance comes through sweet communion. Through intimacy that cannot be broken. Nothing in this earth can compare with My beauty of holiness. In the womb of the morning.

Hidden sin hardens our heart through its deceitfulness. God’s word is like oil that can penetrate to soften and loosen our calloused places. That is His part. Our part is to be in His word daily. He uses His word in many different ways.

Jeremiah 23:29 says, “Is not My word like a fire? says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Isaiah 59:19 says, “…when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.”

Psalm 149:6 says, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand.” Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.”

His word has significant application for every aspect of our lives. It is not a bandage to cover, He wields His word like a skilled surgeon does his scalpel. Hebrews 4:12 says that it pierces and penetrates to split apart that which defies His will and His ways through our thoughts.

Everything goes back to our thoughts. Our thoughts are key if we are to spiritually thrive. We are called to live in His abundance. I love Jeremiah 33:14. It says, “I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.” Are you filled and overflowing?

Like David said in Psalm 23:5 ~ in the presence of our enemy, He causes our cup to overflow. Our adverse circumstances never alter the Lord’s purpose for our lives. He uses them to draw us closer to Him. He desires to share His heart with us through intimate communion that will sustain and fulfill us in every aspect of our lives.

James 4:2 says, “You lust and do not have…” I’m stopping right here because that is how the Holy Spirit stopped me when I started to read. What a perfect picture of the fruit of envy…spiritual emptiness. The Amplified says, “You are jealous and covet (what others have) and your desires go unfulfilled…” There would be no envy if we viewed our lives as fulfilled in Christ. Paul learned how to do that. 

Philippians 4:11-12 says, “…I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” He learned. Learning takes striving against every distraction that tries to pull us off course.

Paul made this declaration in verse 13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul learned how to live with his thorn in the flesh. It was through God’s grace. Read this verse slowly. Let the oil of these words seep into every nook and cranny of your heart. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

Though this verse is in the context of finances, we can make an application. It is the blueprint for spiritually thriving. I like to visit these verses in Psalm 65:9-11 because they give me a picture of thriving. It is speaking of ground that the Lord waters. The soil of our heart is watered as we read His word and drink it in. Think of these words: verdant, green, lush, fertile, abundance. Verse 11 says, “You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.”

We are in the last days of this year. Many will be making New Year’s resolutions that they will fail to keep. How then shall we live? The Lord has called us into His abundance. 2 Peter 1:3 says that He has given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness through our knowledge of Him. Therefore the key to thriving is knowing the Lord through intimate communion.

Jesus finished well. He has called us to follow His example. John 17:4 says, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given me to do.” Paul said similar words. 2 Timothy 4:7 says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Hebrews 12:1 instructs us on how to run our race. It says, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” 

We have to strive against every temptation to sin. We do that through our thoughts. We know that satan will use every lure with the intent to capture our affections. His lures get more wily each time we resist. He is looking for that chink in our armor. When we put on the armor that the Lord has provided, we will be able to stand and keep on standing. I encourage you to set aside time to ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything in your life that is blocking His design for you to thrive.