“Freedom’s price is vigilance.”

I’ll bet the owners of this fence were totally jazzed when they first put it up. They beamed with pride as it not only accented their home, but also protected their property from possible intruders.

Over time, though, without proper maintenance, the law of physics took its toll. One by one small parts of the fence rotted and broke away. And because of seasonal weather changes, the nails worked themselves loose resulting in slats falling to the ground. Both cost the fence its ability to protect their home.

The law of physics hits the life of the believer as well. Just like wood can become fatigued, so too can what we thought was a character strength. We also go through seasons of life that expose lies in our thinking that need to be replaced with scriptural nails to protect us from attacks.

Scripture talks about this! Right after the Spirit talks about the armor of God – our ability to stay free in Christ (Gal. 5:1) – He tells us to be vigilant in prayer for each other (Eph. 6:18).

The enemy is constantly probing to find weak points in our fence. This is why we need others looking out and praying for us. They can see in our actions and/or hear in our conversations a slat or a nail that needs to be replaced with God’s truth in order to stand firm during the attacks.

Again, in the context of spiritual warfare, the Spirit also writes that we are to be humble before the Lord (1 Peter 5:6-10). Will we listen to what the Spirit is saying through others so we can stay free in Christ?

Want your fence to be strong? Humble yourself before the Lord to listen to the spiritual intel He gives you through others so you can let Him replace your worn-out character with His everlasting character.

Want to stand firm when attacks come? Humble yourself to listen to what the Spirit is saying through others who are praying for you, even when you don’t know it, so you can have new slats and nails in place when the enemy attacks.

Your freedom and growth in Christ take team vigilance.

“God has a purpose for your pain and a reward for your faithfulness. Trust Him and keep climbing.”

How much pain would you endure, if you knew the path you were on was part of the Father’s plan?

David knew he would be king. Yet twice, David spared Saul’s life only to live on the run. David had a higher purpose for living and murder was not part of it.

Paul was told by a prophet something he already knew. He would be arrested in Jerusalem. Paul went anyway as he was given a higher purpose for living – share the gospel with governors, kings and Caesar, which he did.

Jesus also knew exactly what was going to happen if He entered Jerusalem. He’d be arrested, power beaten and killed. Yet, He too was living with a higher purpose – save humanity from itself now and ultimately after leaving earth.

The Lord gave you life. His purpose for that life may not always be easy or comfortable. Yet, how much pain would you be willing to endure to be able to say, “Lord, Your will be done?”

Humans simply are not humane at times. In fact, humans can be the creators of chaos, carnage and confusion through both their words and their actions.

As children of God, we were never promised an exemption from what humans can do. The Father can use us, though, to be His agents of pain relief, especially the eternal kind, if only we’d keep climbing through the pain.

“Faith is to believe what you cannot see; the reward of this faith is to receive what you believe.” St. Augustine

“I love the view from the top of the mountain,” said a man laying on a grassy hilltop with a deep look of serenity on his face. His serenity, however, didn’t last too long as he ran down that same hill, “I can’t handle all the problems that come with seeing that far!”

Ephesians 3:20 tells us that our God is able to do “immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine;” and yet the Psalmist writes, “I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul.” (31:1-2)

Contradiction? Nope, they go hand and hand as seen in Ephesians 2:10. The mountain top view as to what God not only thinks of us, but what also He is capable of doing in and through us – potential (“God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works”). Yet, this potential can only be experienced as we walk with Him today (“which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them”).

God wants us to believe in His possibilities of who He is and what He can do; thus, our prayer life should reflect this kind of faith. Our daily focus, however, must be on living with Him by faith in the moment.

You can’t take tomorrow’s steps today. You can only choose to walk with Him right now. Live out the joy of fulfilling your God given potential, which requires faith to believe it, and then faith to take steps in that direction today.

“Stop seeking validation from a world that crucified a perfect man.”

The first time in Scripture Jesus heard the words, “This is My Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17), He said nothing. He got a “thattaboy” right before heading into battle with Satan. He needed validation for who He was (My Son) and the direction His life was going (well pleased).

It was the same for the second time Jesus heard those words as He was about to face His biggest challenge yet – going to the cross (Matt. 16:21; 17:5).

As a human, Jesus needed to hear that someone was proud of Him. As a child, He may or may not have heard them from his step-father Joseph or Mary, His mom. We don’t know. But we do know He heard those words of validation from His Heavenly Father.

We all need validation. The question is, “Where do we seek it?” I could give a litany of ways that you, myself and others seek the validation that we are okay, loved and heading in the right direction. But they all have one thing in common – broken human beings who may fail in this department.

Yet, for those who have put their faith in what Jesus did for them on the cross, we have a Father who is perfect in this department, if only we’d listen to and believe what He says. We are loved – period. We are accepted – period. We are His children – period. And, we’ve been given a purpose for living. And, as we do it in His power, will hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

God at times will bring this validation Himself. But there will also be opportunities for Him to use you. You can catch someone doing something right and say, “I’m proud of you. Good job, keep going, you’re heading in the right direction, even if times are tough.” And when they ask why, tell them.

We all crave it. We all need it. So why not let Him send His words through you? Those very words may be what someone needs to hear at that very moment to keep moving forward today, one step at a time.

Hear Him now. He’s proud of you! Why? You’re reading this instead of endlessly scrolling on your phone. Keep listening to your Father’s words of validation either through His voice directly or through someone like you and me.

There is a path that leads to life.

Before you lay a great hill for tubing covered in a few feet of fresh powder snow. With a determined look, you hop on your tube, stomach down, slowly making your way down the hill without smashing your face into a tree through creating a new path in the snow.

You’re covered in snow, but smiling. Now, with each run on that new path, you will go faster and cleaner. Why? You packed and removed snow that brought resistance against the tube.

This is a wonderful picture of true Jesus life change. To defeat the thoughts causing resistance to change (anti-God “strongholds, arguments and pretensions”), you have to create new neural pathways in your brain to replace the old pathways that led to face planting into a tree.  

You’ll need to know two things to do this: 1) the lie(s) in your head that created the face smashing neural pathway; and 2) the truth from God’s word that sets you free from that lie to create a new smiling at bottom of the hill neural pathway.

Once the Spirit gives you this truth, it’s time to verbally and mentally rehearse that truth (“do not let it depart from your mouth”) throughout your waking hours (“mediate on it day and night”), which creates and reinforces that new neural pathway. This pathway then deepens with each choice to stay on it (“be careful to do everything written in it” and ”take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ”).

Every time you rehearse and act on this truth, your brain is being rewired to take the new path. After a while, this will be your automatic choice because your old character will have been transformed into Christ’s character due to this deep neural pathway in your brain (“transformed by the renewing of your mind” Rom. 12:2).

True life change is not easy, but possible as we shift our focus from changing our behavior to changing the thinking behind our behavior (Josh. 1:8; 2 Cor. 10:3-5).   

Want the smiles and victories that come with becoming like Jesus? Ask the Spirit of Truth for the truth you need to rehearse throughout your waking hours to create a new neural pathway to victory in your brain.

And as you do, happy sledding!