Hidden In Plain Sight

Back in April I posted a blog about spiritual warfare and shared the series "Hidden In Plain Sight" by Pastor Ron Carpenter. Today I wanted to share with you how God brought that series full circle for me.

Last weekend we attended a Christian concert in San Jose to see Phil Wickham, Matt Maher, Leeland Mooring and unbeknownst to me we were in Pastor Ron Carpenter's church!

When I saw Pastor Ron walk on stage, I could not believe it and the crazy part is he sat directly behind us afterwards and so my husband encouraged me to go talk to him. So, I asked Pastor Ron if he minded if I shared something with him and proceeded to share how God used his series to help me keep the right perspective on a situation that happened & that I instantly knew was spiritual warfare. After brief conversation he hugged me, and we got our picture taken together. I was literally shaking after that because I wasn't sure why God orchestrated that encounter, and I began praying for God to reveal why I met this man who literally changed how I viewed spiritual warfare. What was revealed to me was that I had not completed the entire series and instantly felt led to watch the rest of it, so I began watching the remaining part of the series and do you know it spoke volumes in another area of my life as well?

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

God has been revealing that He wants me to be more obedient and disciplined than I am, especially in my eating habits and after our concert I was sharing with our group that we stop at this specific exit because they have Auntie Anne Pretzels and so I opted not to eat breakfast so I could have the pretzels. Do you know when we arrived, they did not have any made? It would have been a 15–20-minute wait. Truthfully, I was beyond disappointed and in my mind wanted to throw a tantrum because I was saving for these. But as we left, I felt God was saying "If you are not going to be obedient than I am going to step in and make you obey" so he prevented me from eating the pretzel.

I began to view myself as an Israelite and how stubborn they had been in not obeying God. So, after we got back in the vehicle to drive home, I prayed that God would reveal something to me as I was about to open up my Bible and guess what page I turned to? Matthew chapter 6 which talks about Prayer and Fasting. Yup, I instantly felt that God was saying I needed to give up my poor eating habits and start praying and fasting.

I loved when Pastor Ron was saying that the reason a lot of people struggle with the Bible is because it offends people. In today's times everyone is afraid to offend some one and we have to be politically correct. But God is not afraid to speak truth to us, which He does through the Holy Spirit's convictions, which is what I have been praying for and He answered that prayer very clearly this weekend.

That same evening our women's book club was discussing our latest book "Fervent" by Priscilla Shirer and afterwards we decided to stop at a local pizza place for dinner. When I glanced at the soda machine, I saw the Pepsi sign on the side of it and got all excited because I have not had a Pepsi in quite a while, and I was craving it. So, I ordered a Pepsi, do you know what happened when I put my glass under the fountain? The liquid was clear. I told the worker that it wasn't working, and they changed out the soda but could not get it to work so I was refunded my money. Once again, I was extremely disappointed but quickly realized once again that God was stepping in and preventing me from drinking something that was not healthy.

Romans 8:5-6 NIV

"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of a sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."

Since those two experiences I have been praying and asking God why am I struggling with denying myself? Why can I not control my poor eating habits? Why am I allowing the enemy to have this control over me, and I felt I needed to watch Pastor Ron Carpenter's series. Do you know he spoke directly to everything I was struggling with? He brought clarity to all of it, and I began to cry because I knew in my heart God was showing me my answer in Romans 7:15-17.

Romans 7:15-17 NIV

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me."

Friends we are in all kinds of spiritual battles, and we must take every thought captive. Pastor Ron said the devil doesn't make us sin he just presents the opportunity for us to sin. Keep this perspective. Our enemy knows our desires, so he presents those to us. We have to choose the Spirit's thoughts over our own. This means making intentional decisions every single time to deny yourself and ask God to strengthen you so that you can overcome that desire or craving.

Luke 9:23 NIV

"Then he said to them all: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Friends, the good news is we can overcome our sinful thoughts & desires (Romans 8:9) by intentionally choosing God's words over our own thoughts, literally one thought at a time. I don't know about you, but I am grateful that God is gracious and merciful and does not give up on us!

Isaiah 41:10 NIV

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Written by: Jill Theriault

Crossroads Coaching - @crossroadscoachingongodstime