Stable ground...

by Elizabeth Stewart

In this culture, where it seems that having a fixed mindset about anything is thought of as narrow minded and bigoted, I'm of the opinion that having a fixed mindset on some issues can actually be crucial to your victory.  God's Word tells us that a double minded man is unstable, unreliable and uncertain about everything.

I'm sure you've been around someone who's opinion is wishy washy and easily swayed by whatever they see or hear.  Their social media feed reflects their instability as they frequently jump from this band wagon to the next one.  As Jesus followers, our mindsets should be changed and transformed by Christ, not conformed to the thinking of the culture.

The enemy of our soul and the bombardment of our culture often attack us in two main areas-

the Word of God

and

the character of God.

In my opinion, until we come to full belief that God's Word is right, even when it smacks up against what we think or feel or what the culture is telling us, then we are standing on unstable ground.

"it is important to note that, up until recent times, (1) belief in the inerrancy of Scripture (even when it was not practiced fully) and (2) claiming to be a Christian, were seen as two things which necessarily went together. If you were a Christian, you also trusted in the complete reliability of God’s written Word, the Bible. If you did not believe the Bible, you did not claim to be a Christian. But no one, until the past two hundred years or so, tried to say, “I am a Christian, but at the same time I believe the Bible to be full of errors.” As incredible as this would have seemed to Christians in the past, and as incredible as this may seem to Bible-believing Christians today, this is what is now happening within the evangelical world." Marking the Watershed by Francis A. Schaeffer

The other area that I believe we need to decide once and for all, relates to God's character.  satan loves to blame God for the ails of this world.  he creates chaos, destruction, and enmity and then stands back and accuses God of not being good.  We need to recognize his lies for what they are and have a mindset that is confident in God's love, goodness and faithfulness.  ALL His work is done in faithfulness, Psalm 33: 4 tells us.  Even the things we don't understand, even the hard things. Looking back over five plus decades of following Jesus, I can testify that this is true.  In hindsight I can truly see how He faithfully worked in our most dire and difficult times, making them turn out for our good and His glory.  Of course, in the middle of the mess, it was impossible to see anything but the wind and waves we were in. If I could go back and say something to that younger me, who wondered what in the world God was doing and listened too often to the enemy's accusations against God's goodness, I would say, "Just wait and see, girl, what God is going to do with this mess! It's going to blow your mind!  Even when it all falls apart and you can't imagine why in the world or how in the world God could be allowing this, trust in His faithfulness in and through it all. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Keep walking.  Don't quit.  You'll see in hindsight what you can't imagine now." 

"The word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in faithfulness".  I firmly believe this.  Do you?

still following,

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