Confronting My Thoughts

The mind is amazing.  It can be good and bad.  The thoughts that it can think are incredible.  They are endless.  And they can control us.  Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 addresses this very thing by saying: “....and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  In my experience, that is much easier said than done. 

I recently wrote in my journal:  “The memory of that day, is like a stab in the heart.  The pain is fresh and sharp and takes my breath away.  I want to cry.  I want to run.  I want to scream.  I want to hit something.  Life is hard and I know could always be worse.  But this reality brings no consolation to me.  In fact I say it probably more so out of fear knowing that worse could happen and I don’t want to have to experience the worse there is.  Lord, help me today I pray.”

Thoughts.  They are always there.  Memories of the past.  Projections of the future.  Seeking to process the present.

So what do we do with them?  We can’t run away from them.  We have to confront them.  Head on.  A straight forward offensive against the thoughts that plague us. 

By confronting them, truth is able to be revealed.  Sometimes they are memories of the past that can’t be changed, but just are.  Other times they are worries of the future that has not yet been, and therefore need to have no power over us.  By confronting them, they are brought into the light for inspection.  I believe this in part is what Paul was talking about.  Confront your thoughts and Jesus will show you the truth, error, or deceptiveness of them.

Jeff Powell

Life Is Short

Life is short!  If this saying is true, then it must make a difference in how we see the world, act toward the world, and speak about the world.  Rather than falsely believing that we have all the time we need, a fire would be lit beneath us to get us moving proactively in the direction we’ve always wanted to go.  None of us are promised second chances.  We only get today.  And today is short. 

The question then becomes, “what are you going to do about it?”  For me I get both comfort and uneasiness from this reality.  To be honest I feel like I never do enough.  There is always more to be done.  I waste time.  I spend time on things that are useless.  In reality, at times, I live like today lasts and lasts and lasts....but it doesn’t.

Today will end.  Tomorrow may or may not come.  Regardless, if it does come, it too will end.  On and on we go until one day we wake up and realize that our life has swept by and we are now nearing the last stretch of the race.  Paul said it this way, “Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Cor. 9:26,27).  Do you see the focus in Paul?

Elsewhere, James says it this way, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).  Translation?  Life is short.

Here is the good news:  If you are reading this, then your life can still make a positive difference.  Look up to God and then look out to see what you can do.  Life’s short, AMP Up!

Jeff Powell

Silence Screams

There are things that cannot be put into words.  And I love words!  I am what I call an “extroverted thinker.”  This translates into “I speak BEFORE I think!”

But even still, there are those times that words are just inadequate to describe the feelings inside.  Through the death of Allie, we (Jane, Tyler, Austin, Ashlynn, and myself) have been FORCED to feel such opposing feelings...at the same time:  Doubt and Belief.  Pain and Peace.  Love and Hate.  Calm and Anger.  Laughter and Tears.  Confusion and Understanding.  Hope and Despair....

At times like these, words don’t cut it.  Not the words we speak and not the words others speak to us.  At times like these, Silence Screams!  Only one that has experienced the feelings I have described understands what I mean by Silence Screams.  Because things are so....so...FORCED and so....so....OPPOSITE, words fail.  Silence Screams.

This is Biblical.  Romans 8:26 says, “...the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”  Okay, I know this does not address the opposing feelings at the same time, but it does address “weakness” “not knowing” and “words that cannot be expressed” - all of these are components of the opposing feelings I’ve described.

Silence DOES Scream!  Thankfully in the midst of the silence, I can find rest knowing that God’s Spirit is praying for me with such force that words cannot even express.  I can rest in this.  The Silence can Scream.  It will never be louder than the groans of the Spirit praying for you and me!

Jeff Powell

Eyesight Problem

I have an eyesight problem.  I really do.  I require glasses to see things far off.  Countless times I have looked at something from a distance and made wrong conclusions due to my faulty sight.  Thankfully, my eye glasses help me to overcome this problem.

Spiritually speaking, I am no different.  I have a sight problem.  But this sight problem is mostly concerning things that I see up close.  I tend to see the distant future pretty well, it is the things up close that I see as not so clear.

I find myself being very much like Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6.  An enemy King had sent his army by night to surround the city Elisha was in so that he could capture and presumably kill Elisha.  Elisha’s servant sees this in the morning and panicks.  What does Elisha do?  He says, “Don’t be afraid, those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  (vs. 16).  Are you kidding me Elisha?  Look around, we are surrounded by the enemy...or are we?

Verse 17 then tells us, “And Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.‘  Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”  I want glasses like that!  Too many times I see what is before me and cry out “I’m surrounded by my pain, my lack, my problems, my circumstances!” 

Lord, help me to see what is true reality - that you are always with me and that your provision and presence is far greater than any problem and pain I face.  In your mercy, would you open my eyes so that I may truly see.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Hoping you are seeing better today than yesterday,

Jeff Powell

Overcoming Unbelief

A story is told of a man asking Jesus to heal his son.  Jesus says to him, “Everything is possible for him who believes.”  The father then says, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”  (Mark 9:23, 24). 

I can REALLY relate to the father in this story!  I believe, but there are many parts of me that doubt.  In my low times of sorrow and sadness; when the pain and pressures of reality surround me; when exhaustion and experience are not what I want them to be - it is then that I am most apt to doubt.

Feelings of unbelief flood my mind.  Questions that, out of pride I would never verbalize to anyone other than Jane, easily come to the surface.  Like the muddy bottom of a lake being stirred up to cloud the clear water, so is doubt to my belief...or is it?

I am convinced that it is easy to believe when the waters of life are calm.  Send the waves and one sees what they truly believe.  Honestly, if everything is possible for him who believes as Jesus stated to the father, then I am tempted to conclude that nothing is possible for me!  The possibilities of life cannot rest on my belief...they cannot.  And maybe that is the point - to rest not on what we believe, but on the belief that God grants us to have or not to have. 

I am convinced (and scripture backs up my assertion) that even the belief we have, originates not within us, but from God (see Romans 12:3).  The question then becomes what do we do with the belief that we have?  For me, the most honest thing I can do is what the father did:  I declare, “Lord I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”  In that, everything then becomes possible not because of the great faith I have, but because of the great God my faith is directed toward.

Loving and Leading,

Jeff Powell