What Voice
What voice are you listening too? What seeds are you allowing to be planted in your mind, your heart? Is it a negative thought, things such as “I don’t have anything to bring to the table. I’ll never be good enough. I don’t even feel like going on any more.” We have to guard our hearts and minds against this kind of thinking. We have to guard our hearts and minds against the voice of the enemy that will try to take us out and bring us down so that we do not fulfill God’s will for our lives.
Every day we have a battle that we fight. The battle is in our mind. Whose voice are we going to choose to listen too? God tells us:
· Deuteronomy 31:8 NKJV, And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed.
· John 6:37 NKJV, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
· Matthew 4:19 NKJV, Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
· Matthew 11:28 NKJV, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Our Lord has surely been so gracious and merciful to us! Why would we heed any voice but His? He promises to be with us, never leaving us. He tells us not to be afraid. He tells us that He will use us if we choose to follow Him and He will not cast us aside. He promises us rest when we are weary. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT), Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
Do we really trust the LORD with all our heart? Do we really trust Him to lead us, to guide us, to use us, to protect us, to give us rest? If we believe this, then why do we listen to the voice of doubt and fear? As Goliath taunted David, David could have listened to Goliath. He could have run away in fear. He could have listened to those around him who were also in fear. He could have caved to fear. David recognized the greatness of God and knew that God had prepared him for a time such as this. Just as David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”… “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you, And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel ( 1 Samuel 17:37 and 45-46 NKJV).” In turn we should follow David’s example, and take these thoughts captive that want to exalt themselves above Jesus and we must make them obedient to Christ!
Every day is a battle. Every day we have to keep God’s word fresh in our mind and our heart. “…If God is for us, who can be against us?(Romans 8:31 NKJV).” There are power in your words, whether you think them or say them. Use your words to speak life, to speak Jesus into you circumstances, into your relationships, into your finances, into your ministry, whatever God has blessed you with. Don’t let the enemy overpower you with negative thoughts and emotions!
(c) 2022 Leslie Wittenmyer—all rights reserved