Spiritual Ponderings

He that overcomes, I will... This is a repeating theme in each of the messages of Jesus to the seven churches recorded early in the book of Revelation. Yet I have come to realize that overcoming has itself become a confusing issue for many people. I know for myself what I long assumed was meant by overcoming was that I was supposed to work very hard (with God's help of course) to overcome sinning, down to the minutest detail in my life, my mind and thoughts. This led me at a very early age to become consumed by an obsession to eliminate every transient thought I might find in my mind that was not something that God could approve. Sadly the result of this was not holiness as I was trying to accomplish but rather a frenzied, increasingly desperate state of mind bordering on and tending me toward literal insanity. At the age of 16 after a number of years suffering from this obsession having taken over nearly every waking minute of my life, pushing me closer an...

Rebuke the scoffers. No, I'm not suggesting a campaign of censure aimed at those who refuse to agree with me or who won't cooperate with whatever program is being promoted by the church. Rather I am referring to the far more dangerous and sinister scoffers, you know, the internal voices always ready to challenge the nudges of the Spirit of God drawing us out to trust God more implicitly. I don't know about you, but I think most people experience a running dialog in their minds about whatever is going on, maybe worrying about what might happen or dwelling on things from the past. Some people when alone even externalize this dialog talking out loud with themselves, while others simply have ongoing conversations or arguments inside. At times this becomes more intense but generally involves our emotions, sometimes our triggers, reactions and opinions about whatever it is we are thinking about or experiencing. It is these internal voices I find to b...