Fight to WIN!!

Something I have learned in the life that God has blessed me with is when you are truly living out the calling that God has placed you in, you will....I REPEAT.....YOU WILL face spiritual warfare! There's no getting away from it. You can run, but you can't hide. Sometimes I feel as if I got the wind knocked out of me, other times I feel a little brain rattled, other times I literally fall right smack down on the ground....but, I'm determined to never stay down long enough for the enemy to count to 10 and let him have the pleasure of saying, " Ha! I won!" You see, with Jesus in my life, I might get bruised and battered in the fight but because HE reigns within me, I WIN because HE WINS EVERY SINGLE TIME!

2 things I've discovered that I must take to the battle line in order to Win:

1. PUT ON God's Armour
I've noticed that when I go into battle and I'm not wearing my armour, those are the time I REALLY get knocked out cold. That's when the "surprise" element comes out to play that something will happen and I wasn't totally prepared for it. Now, the cool thing with God is, it doesn't have to be that way. When we live our lives for God, His Spirit lives within us and REVEALS what God is thinking to us. Combine that God knowledge of His revelation to our lives and put on His armour and then go take on your day and watch how different the battle looks....ha!! It comes down to learning how to be a true overcomer. Read on....

I Corinthians 2:10-16 (MSG) reads,

"The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.

The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can't receive the gifts of God's Spirit. There's no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God's Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah's question, "Is there anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?" has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ's Spirit."



When we live our lives by the spirit, that allows us to know the very details of life that we need because the Spirit of God lives within us that hangs out with Jesus who know's all and reveals all to His Spirit which gives us the insight as to what is going on in our lives. This is how we live our lives and not face unexpected circumstances when we live by the Spirit and keep on the full armour of God, always.

2. Strength comes from Joy.

Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The joy of the LORD is your strength!" I love to think of this verse backwards.....My strength is found in the joy of the Lord. One of the definitions of joy is: the source or cause of delight. That takes me to Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." I love saying, 'Delight yourself in the Lord and HE WILL......." You want to win a battle, delight yourself in God and He will. Getting weary in the battle, your strength is found in your God-given JOY!! It's a crazy concept to think that when going through a battle you suddenly stop and roar out with laughter but I'm telling you, it really works!! The one thing that the enemy cannot relate to is JOY. He existence is to steal, kill, destroy....those are all from the root of one word: HATE. Joy and hate is like light and dark - they DO NOT relate to each other at all. So, when you are facing warfare, laugh in the face of the enemy because when it's all said and done......YOU WIN!!!

Tracee Lee

I'm a girl with muscles.....

Okay, so my muscles might be buried under some flab but I still have muscles! lol!! Where on earth am I going with this blog....muscles, flab??? Here we go...I spent January devouring the book of Romans in The Message translation. It felt like I was reading it for the first time. wow!! I marked up practically the entire book but by the time I got to chapter 15, the Lord dropped my mouth with what Paul was saying in verse 1-2, "Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, 'How can I help?'"

Think about this: every single one of us has a strength(s). That strength is to be used to build up each other, to serve one another, to support each other. Think about how different your world would look if we made that our daily life motto - "How can I help you today?"

When I look back at the life of Jesus - He used His strength and put it to death on a cross so that we could rise up through the power of His strength and live. His strength, through dying, gave us life. Our strengths, through giving, can save a person's life for eternity. What massive impact we can make in our world by the power of one word: Serve. Our strengths are not to be placed on a plaque on a wall and gloat and boast about it, it's to be used to help those who falter, not to be used at our convenience, but to be used at any given moment, whether we are comfortable about it or not. That's where Phil. 4:13 comes in, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!"

My challenge is for us to stop looking so inwardly at our lives, how we can better ourselves, tend to our complaints and pity parties, but to start shutting up the flesh side of our lives and start living by the spirit and let our strengths, given to us by God, radically impact the world we live in. As Paul said, "So, reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it, now you do it!" (v.7)

What can I do for you today?

Tracee

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall

Do you like what you see in the mirror? What’s reflecting back at you? For me, I see zits, yes, I said zits! You’d think after all these years of being an adult they would’ve been long gone, but no, not me!! I help support all those wonderful acne cleansers! I see a person with imperfections, grey hairs that keep trying to play peek-a-boo and that keep pinching my pocketbook to hide every 8 weeks. I see a mom that sometimes loses her patience because her child left his only pair of tennis shoes outside and it rained overnight –when how many times did I tell him to NOT leave them outside! I see the good, the bad the ugly BUT, what I am and have learned to do is to change the way I think and look at myself as someone who is radiant, beautiful, lovely, full of life, believing in myself, my dreams, inspiring, passionate, motivating. I’ve come to a conclusion that life is whatever I make of it – however far I let God be extended in me is as far as I will go.

Let me challenge you to stop looking in the mirror and saying you don’t like what you see – don’t tear yourself down but instead do something different that is so opposite of this world but soooo how God see’s us and that is to speak life into existence in your very life, encourage yourself to become what you’ve always dreamed of, be gentle, kind, passionate and loving to yourself and know that with Christ, there is absolutely nothing that you cannot do because He said He is your strength! Phil. 4:13 God has made us in His image – we are beautiful and He so desires us to live a full and abundant life. So, when you wake up in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror (and throughout the day – You know you pull that rearview mirror down in the car and say, “Girlfriend, You look good!! Haha!), choose to love what you see – it will revolutionize how you think, how you live, what you say, and what you do!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – I am beautiful in God’s eyes and today I believe that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!
Passionately,
Tracee