If You Want Something to Change, Align Yourself With Truth
by Carrie Irving (with Lauren Stinton)
Shortly after my husband and I moved into our current house, the place started falling apart. We’ve had to replace a bazillion things in the last several months.
Honestly, part of me just wants to climb into bed and pull the covers over my head. “I don’t know what’s going on! But it doesn’t concern me, God, because this is Your problem. I’ll just let You fix it.”
Obviously, God wants to take care of us. He’s our Father. We get to cast all our cares and concerns on Him because that’s part of His nature.
But a few months ago, He began talking to me about how I could be part of the solution instead of taking it on the chin all the time. He wasn’t just talking about my house—He was talking about any area where my thinking needed to line up with His: healing, blessing, favor, etc.
Unfortunately, taking it on the chin tends to be my typical response to problems. I don’t see myself as a “battle-y” kind of person. I’m more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person. But He’s calling me to a higher plane.
Spiritual Muscle Development
I feel like when we’re young in our faith, God gives us grace to accomplish certain things without much effort. He’s a good and loving Father, so He gives us gifts.
But as we grow up, there are bigger things for us to step into, and He wants to engage us. He wants us involved in the battle, because the muscles we’re developing as we fight are the same muscles we’re going to need in order to take the land.
Planting Your Feet and Taking the Land
It was a big deal for me to realize that if I want something to change, I have to engage and be involved. My will has to step into the arena to fight the war.
Instead of just accepting difficulty as a matter-of-course, I need to push back. I get to plant my feet and declare, “No! I’m not going to be pushed around by this anymore. I’m going to come against this thing instead—it isn’t going to find a passive Christian anymore.”
A lot of us do our best to stay super passive. That’s the easiest way to live! So if we can avoid the battle, we will. But the battle is an important part of seeing something come to pass.
I keep feeling like God is telling me, “You aren’t going to take ground and NOT be engaged in the battle.”
If I want to take the land, I have to fight for it.
What Does Waging War Look Like?
Practically speaking, we do battle as we come into alignment with truth:
- “God will never leave me nor forsake me.”
- “I believe He has a good plan for my life.”
- “He is my peace.”
- “He is my refuge!”
- “He is my rock that never, ever changes.”
- “He is faithful no matter what’s going on around me.”
That’s how we fight the battle—by aligning ourselves with His truth and not letting all those lies get control of our thinking.
Thoughts can be slippery things, and before we know it, we’re traveling down some road where we’re worthless, and there’s no point of our even being here, and we don’t matter.
But we don’t have to go there! We can say no, plant our feet, and realign ourselves with the truth.
What Is God Talking to You About?
I feel like God is saying, “You know, Carrie, in the past you may have gotten away with that kind of thinking. But now as an adult, you have to be responsible for taking captive all your thoughts. When your mind starts to go there, you’re responsible for taking it captive and not letting it go there.”
What has God been talking to you about lately? What are you reading in the Bible?
Align your heart and mind with it. Stand strong upon it, and don’t allow the enemy to push you off your feet—take the land instead.