Guard Your Heart

It is Friday, Day 9 of my series Speak Praise, as part of the Write 31 Days challenge. (Click here to follow the series and catch up on any you've missed.)

Already I have experienced many obstacles in persevering to write everyday. We have an enemy who wants nothing more than to put a rod in my wheel spokes and throw me off the road.

Only a week before this October writing challenge began, my family was hit with a life-sized trial. It comes with a whole subset of challenges that we must adjust to, throwing off our routine, our lifestyle, and our worldly securities.

That trial was followed by other news and a whole range of depth of emotions that follow. Suddenly our calendar has become jam-packed, our phone rings off the hook, and we're wondering if we are going to have a “normal” holiday season, let alone in the new year.

On top of all that, we discovered termites are eating their way through the beams of our covered patio. It would seem that our home is being invaded.

So when my blog series theme is Speak Praise, and I throw my hands up because I want to give up, the Holy Spirit helper nudges me that the trials are not a surprise. And that should give me cause to rejoice! What?

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. JAMES 1:2-3

When we are called to do God things, ordinary things become supernatural things, and everyday things become targets for spiritual attack. We are talking fiery darts, lies, accusations, condemnation, and adversity of various kinds.

We are called to rejoice. Since I am writing about that very thing--rejoicing in the Lord, the power of our thoughts, words, worship, and God's word--why am I surprised when the accuser brings it all into question?

One week into this series and I am learning it clearly: giving praise in the midst of adversity is the way through.
 

Praise is the way we reinforce our belief in a God who is good all the time; to claim the promises we believe to be true in the scriptures; to live the claim of victory we have in Christ.

What we must remember in the midst of spiritual warfare, the voices that call names, accuse, and condemn only come from one place. We have to call-out the father of lies and claim our territory as God's temple, that we have already been established victoriously through the blood of the Lamb.

We cannot get to speaking praise if the well is empty and filled with the raw sewage of lies spewed from the mouth of a serpent. We must become worshipers in Spirit and in truth so we can fill the well of our heart with living water and fortify our temple with the truth of God's word.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose]. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:58 (AMP)

This Friday, I am sharing a word from a “cheerleader of the faith”, Kelly Balarie of Purposeful Faith.

Kelly writes about what to do when our heart, also called the temple of God, comes under attack and how to “Protect What God Loves Most in You.”

Click to continue on and read her post: http://purposefulfaith.com/god-loves-most/