When your tired

Have the faith to remember that with God all things can be made new. Your past is just that. But your future in him is limitless. All God looks for is a desire to begin moving in the right direction, and he will be there to embrace you.- Woman of faith

I started out my day feeling a little defeated... As I mentioned yesterday, every battle we win for the Lord, we stomp Satan. Well, the Lord and I have been stomping on Satan all morning and he's gone, but I'm tired from the war.

Just when you think you've got something figured out, the reality of what it really means to win the battle sets in. You may walk away victorious, but the battle can still leave you tired. And this is how I feel now...

So now I'm moving forward, or attempting too, my heart was pierced slightly in battle and I'm limping a little, I will admit, I had the wind knocked out of my sails, and I'm sitting here with the word of Lord open before me, as He sooths my wounds.

I feel a little bit like that disciple who keeps asking the Lord to reveal the meaning behind His parables, and He continues to tell them in plain terms, but gets a little frustrated with them because of it...

Maybe He's not frustrated with me, but I'm tired of having to ask Him to reveal to me the meaning behind His lessons. Why can't I just take them for what they are? And have the wisdom to understand? I know I do not know everything, and that's probably a good thing...but discouragement is not found at the end of the victory so this is where I need to pick up on God's promised to me...

Trust in me with all your heart child and lean not on your own understanding...

It's my human understanding that gets me into trouble in the first place and just knowing that the enemy is being defeated makes me want to trust even more...

So know this friend, discouragement does come at times, fatigue does set it here and there, but staying there, is not of the Lord, and He has a much better place for you to rest..

And it's beside His still waters...we just have to go there and be willing to leave our discouragement behind us. I know that even when Jesus was on earth He got discouraged, we all do, and it's normal. But, it's the staying there that is not of Him....we need to run to the healer, and He will give us the spiritual balm that will heal our tied hearts, our feet that have blisters from the constant walking on His path, and the wounds from the enemy that pierced us while doing battle. Do you ever feel like you leave a battle ground with an arrow still stuck in your back? I have felt this way, and that is especially the time we need to go to the Lord for healing and for Him to bath us in His pure clean water of truth...to restore our souls and remind us that He has won the final battle...

He knows all and is in charge of all...we learn lessons because we need to. Something needs fixing and we need to be more refined. Each time we fight with the tools of the Lord, we defeat evil and conquer the desire the enemy had for us to succumb to. God trumps Satan when we fight with His tools. So I know my friends how tiresome this battle can be. It is hard...and getting lost in the defeat of battles lost also can wage war on the peace in our souls. God forgives, forgets and takes us onward to a new day, all He wants is a willing heart, ready to take up His sword, in His name, and in His power. Remembering all along, this battle, this victory, this outcome, is not about us, it's about the power of the Living God...the God who conquers all evil, and rejoices in the obedience of our lives.

So go out there and kick this enemy, put on your sword, and fight. Not in your own power, but in His...and I'm right there next to you...

Even when there is blood on my face, and tears in my eyes, I know that as I keep slinging my sword of truth at the enemy, he is brought down and defeated by the power of my Great God...a God who has not abandoned me....

Take heart warriors..the battle is not ours to win alone, it's God's. And in that I can fight with courage, and not linger on my despair, be released from my discouragement and rejoice in the Lord and all of His great power...and glory.