verse of the day.

2 corinthians 4:8-9, 17-18
"we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed...therefore we do not lose heart. though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

i hate satan.

question of the day: jesus came so we might have life and life abundantly so what are we waiting for? check out joshua's question to the israelites: “so joshua said to the sons of israel, ‘how long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the lord, the god of your fathers, has given you?’” (josh. 18:3)

so i have decided that i absolutetly hate satan and am done letting him have space in my life. so done. he has absolutely no right to have any occupancy so why have i been letting him? he is a defeated foe, and it is high time that i start acting like that is the case. life could be so much better, so much more worth living if i walked in the victory that belongs to me courtesy of jesus' death and resurrection. what is stopping me? lack of faith? fear? lack of perseverance? whatever the case may be, it's time to be done with that. done! today is a new day. his mercies are new EVERY morning. time to start living like the warrior princess i am in jesus. :-)

check out these verses:
romans 8:37
"in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

2 corinthians 10:3-5
“for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of god, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of christ.”

james 4:7-8
“submit therefore to god, resist the devil and he will flee from you. draw near to god and he will draw near to you. cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

oh man. lord god, you are so good. so good. thank you for who you are and what you have done. thank you that you have given us everything that we need for life and godliness. praise you for your patience and endurance. thank you that you don't give up on us. you are good, god. please help me to persevere and not give up. i need endurance. you are able, lord. your will...

observation of the day.

observation: life is really hard, and i don't think it gets any easier. the only thing that makes it worthwhile is involving jesus.

weakness.

"he said to me, 'my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that christ's power may rest on me. that is why, for christ's sake, i delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. for when i am weak, then i am strong."--2 corinthians 12:9-10

the journey.

deuteronomy 31:6,8 "'be strong and courageous. do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the lord your god goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you...the lord himself goes before you and will be with you...do not be discouraged.'"

lately, i feel like i am on a "journey" of sorts. i suppose all of life is this way, but i kind of feel that i'm currently at an in between stage. i'm not sure how exactly to describe it, but i was reminded of the israelites this morning and their exodus from egypt.

that was certainly a journey as well. it had its ups and downs, its challenging points and times where the promised future seemed bleak or uncertain. there were even times where the israelites wanted to go back to being enslaved in egypt because, although unpleasant and even downright terrible, it was known, and known feels "safer." however, in spite of the israelites' questions, concerns, doubts, and accusations, there was never a moment where god was not in absolute control. no matter how complainy and disobedient they were, god never removed his presence from their midst. he gave them the cloud to lead them by day and the pillar of fire to lead them by night. he didn't abandon them to their own devices no matter how unpleasant they were. praise god for his abounding love and inexhaustable grace. i seriously don't know what i would do without it. i don't think i could exist.

after pondering all this for a moment, i kind of felt like the lord was saying, "lisa, i haven't brought you this far to abandon you." in my heart, i know that this is true, but sometimes temporal circumstances cloud this reality. this is where faith comes into play. faith is so hard at times but so crucial. god truly does have a plan, and he is faithful to complete the works that he begins. this is something i can bank on.

lord, thank you for your faithfulness to me, especially in times of difficulty or uncertainty. praise you that you are faithful to the uttermost and that you will never, ever, under any circumstance leave nor forsake me. praise you that you have a plan and your plan is good. thank you that even though you don't remove all obstacles, you provide the strength and ability to overcome them. you, lord, are good. with you, all things are possible. give me the strength to move forward in you. in your name, amen.

those days...

psalm 27:13-14 "i am still confident of this: i will see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living. wait for the lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the lord."

this verse is one of my favorites because it is a good reminder that even when life is not going my way and things seem to be falling apart all around me, i am not alone. god has not forsaken me. he still has a plan. often times, what exactly this plan entails is a mystery to me, but the god who made it is faithful. he loves me more than i love myself, and he knows me better than i know myself. sometimes these truths are so hard to grasp as my feelings do not match, but this is where faith comes into play.

i know that god is good, and he is faithful, whether i "feel" that is the case or not. i have to base my life on something more firm than my feelings. can anybody say amen to that? ha. feelings come and go. they change from circumstance to circumstance. through it all, god remains the same. that has to be one of my all-time favorite characteristics of the lord: his unchanging nature. he doesn't change, his availability doesn't change, and his love for me doesn't change. how can it get any better than that?

the holidays.

oh, the holidays...so many mixed emotions surrounding this "joyous" time of year.

often times it seems that rather than bringing joy and peace, i end up stressed, anxious, and generally not so happy. :-( why does that happen? essentially, it seems that this is caused by me taking my eyes off of jesus and putting them onto myself and my immediate circumstances. i am definitely one to want an immediate resolution to any minor challenge in my personal life, and i generally try to figure out these solutions on my own.

unfortunately, this is not the way life works. god is faithful and has a plan, but his plan may not match mine. and often times his timeline is not mine either. i am reminded of isaiah 55:8-9: "'for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the lord. 'as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

apparently god has his own way of doing things. that does not mean i just sit on the sidelines, take a back seat, and wait for him to miraculously intervene. but perhaps it does mean trying to avoid going in circles trying to figure things out and instead to do what i can to do as 1 peter 5:7 suggests: "cast your cares on the lord because he cares for you."

so simple, so true, yet so challenging.