The battle starts in your mind!
I so love the way things that seem random come together in such a way that makes beautiful sense to me. God is so good like that.
With my core (abs) torn wide open 4 weeks ago, I'm the most sensitive I think to how important our core is to us! Reaching for things while I'm lying down, trying to go from a lying to sitting position, trying to stand for more than 5 minutes, trying to sit at the computer for a few minutes, leaning over to get something or put on my pants! I could go on and on. Each thing is a struggle when there is no core. The Armor of God Bible study that my mom's group is doing is one that I've been doing on my own from home. The battle that wages that we can't see has a direct impact on every aspect of our lives. We may not like to admit it, but the things that we are battling right now (relationship issues, health issues, weight struggles, motivation issues, defeat, despair, discouragement...etc) are NOT the real issue. It is the tactic of the enemy to get our eyes off of God and the power that He gives us because He lives in us! But, if the enemy can help us to forget about, doubt or divert our attention, than he can make us fight all these battles that are keeping us from God's best! The very beginning of the verses from Ephesians 6:10-19 start with "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.......stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth" The beginning of the awareness is that there is a battle and to gear up and get your core strong by knowing God's truth. By spending time in the Word of God, we are able to see how to stay strong and to fight the schemes of the devil. It is no coincidence that my challenge group is doing Fight for Your Life. Our core in the physical sense is the key to so many parts of our abilities/agility and strength. If we ignore our core, we will not withstand much, we won't have stamina and we will ultimately experience lots of pain and imbalance. This is such a parallel to our spiritual core! I pray that you would be fully aware of the battle but know that we have the power of God in us! Starting with strengthening our core is going to be critical. Get to know God's truth and then stand on it!
