Creative Worship: How do you fight your battles?

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
Hebrews 4:12

We are in a battle every day, and that battle is won or lost in our mind. While the enemy cannot take you from God's family if you are a child of God, he can defeat and discourage you and make you completely ineffective in your spiritual life. Sometimes the battle is external - a conflict, a disagreement, a physical ailment - but often it is internal, and it stems from our own sinful heart. This is not a battle that can be fought with physical weapons. The only way to fight back is with truth from God's Word.

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that:

"All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

You can't trust your heart ("The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" Jeremiah 17:9), you can only trust what God's Word says is true. And the only way to know what God's Word says is true, is to get His Word in your heart and mind ("be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2).

So when you find yourself in a battle for your mind, solidify yourself with God's truth.

God's truth about worry:

John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be trouble, neither let them be afraid."
Matthew 6:25-26, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
Psalm 59:16, "But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress."
Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Psalm 4:8, "I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou O Lord only maketh me dwell in safety."

God's truth about discouragement:

Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
John 16:33, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope."

God's truth about body image:

Psalm 139:14, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
Proverbs 31:30, "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Genesis 1:27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
1 Samuel 16:7, "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

God's truth about forgiveness:

Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
Mark 11:25, "And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."
1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
James 5:16, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

What battles are you fighting today? Are they external or internal? Are you trying to fight them on your own power, or are you relying on truth from God's Word? I encourage you to take a few minutes today to see what the Bible says about your specific battle. The enemy is the Father of Lies (John 8:44) and will do all he can to defeat and discourage you. Don't let him win the battle for your mind today! Fight your battle with TRUTH.

Page Details

Getting messy with Distress Oxides and stamps really is my happy place. I used Distress Oxides in Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, and Wild Honey to create this page. I first prepped the page with gesso so I could get the fun water effect, then taped off my scripture passage with washi tape (careful when you pull it off at the end so you don't rip the page!). I then used daubers to apply the ink to the page and immediately spritzed with water. It's fun to spritz the page, then tip the page up so the water runs down the page - gives it a really great effect. I then stamped the page using the following stamp sets: Fall in Love with Jesus, The Lord's Battle, Marker Alpha, and the Texture Tiles 1 and Typewriter Text Background stamps.