From Death, Life

I have some heavy burdens on my heart tonight.  

Some days, spiritual warfare seems to hang heavy in the air, like a thunderstorm building in the distance.  It's in these moments that I am reminded we serve a powerful God, but also that we have an enemy too big to defeat on our own.

To write off the devil's attempts to twist our motivations and the good things in our life would be a mistake, but we must remember that there is One greater than him.  We must remember both that he is more powerful than us and that God is more powerful than him.

We are told in Romans that the power that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of us and that it gives us the power to defeat our sin.  This world was never going to be an easy one, but we must take heart, for He has overcome the world.

As the apostle Paul put it, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." -2 Corinthians 4:8-10

It is in moments like these that I thank the Lord that I have a joy not dependent on my circumstances.  Below any pain I feel tonight, there is a deep, untouchable joy that refuses to be quenched.  As I open my mouth to ask questions of "why" and "how", God moves closer, pulls me tightly, and in a comforting whisper, reminds me that he still holds my heart.  And suddenly, my mortal frustrations and confusion melts away in the beautiful face of Eternity.