Sponges. Soak up the mess, rinse, squeeze and they’re ready the next time you need them. Forget that last part and man oh man, you’ve got one stinky sponge on your hands.
Our minds are like that sponge. They soak up messes (others and ours) and if not rinsed and squeezed, those garbage thoughts are going to cause our lives to stink and we’ll end up taking our drug of choice. The writer of the Hebrews calls this, “throwing off everything that hinders” so we “run the race the race marked out for us.”
Over the course of the next few days, we’re going to examine some of those garbage thoughts that need to be washed (expose the lie and exchange it with the truth) and then squeezed out (focus on and then exercise that truth).
One hindering thought to squeeze out is doubt. Research has shown that “self-doubt leads to anxiety and depression, which, in turn, leads to numerous physical and mental consequences like weight gain, high blood pressure and chronic fatigue.”
When you start to experience doubts wash them out by focusing on specific lie-fighting truths; such as, God has prepared a good work for you to accomplish (Ephesians 2:10). You can do something positive and good with the life God has now given you. Make a list of who your God is. It is “in Christ” that you can do that something He prepared for you to do. It’s not just self doubt, but God-doubt that makes our lives stink.
Look back and see how God has changed your life to this point. Remember. Remember. Remember. We often forget in the midst of our current struggles how far He has already taken us. Yes, we are not “there”…yet. The truth is that the “author” of our faith is also the “perfecter” of our faith. He will finish the job. Remember, we are in process.
Lastly, speak truth into each others’ lives (Eph. 4:15). Be in a Bible Impact Group where you are mutually encouraging each other. These words of encouragement, when focused on, are great ways to squeeze out the doubts.
Victors in Christ focus on the good stuff and wash out the bad. Wash out the doubt and focus on the truth that you “can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”
Set Fr“EE” Nowww

“I am grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to spend this special time with Him and for helping me realize that there really is no place for stress or fear.”
These are the words of a gentleman who was caught in an unexpected, yet violent storm while kayaking in the Chesapeake Bay. Though it was a sunny day, they could see clouds on the horizon and decided to stay close to shore. While enjoying their session, the guy’s wife radioed that the storm was picking up speed, causing the group to return to base. Within five minutes of shore, the storm slammed into the coast causing 4-5′ white capped waves that pushed him out to open water.
In his own words, “Talking to God was never so real. Although I had to use the skills I learned to get back safely, the outcome was not in my control. Our role is to put in the appropriate effort; God is responsible for the outcome. That’s what I was thinking about as I was being thrown around in my kayak in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. A sudden sense of calm overtook me and I no longer felt any fear. I knew with certainty that my fate was not up to me.”
This guy was not crazy, but actually quite sane, when he said it was a “special time” with God. Life’s storms can be special if we choose to focus on Jesus and to use our biblical tools before and in the midst of those storms. As you exercise the truth during such times, you’ll become more like Jesus, which pays off today and well into eternity.
Your job is to believe, which means using your biblical tools every day everywhere (including storm kayaking) and to leave the results to Jesus. You can not only trust Him to get you through life’s storms, but through them successfully as well.
Set “FREE” Nowww

“Every part of the human existence is governed by Scripture and a biblical worldview (i.e. listening to and following Jesus every day everywhere) constructs our reality in relationship to everything. It’s not only what we do, but the very way we view the world. That’s why one of our choices each day must be to listen to Jesus while reading the Word as it helps us to see the true reality of the world around us as God constructed it. That is what biblical faith is all about – faith that constructs all of our reality.”
As believers, our faith is not something we simply believe. It is something we live out with every choice. What part of your day isn’t covered by “whatever you do, in word or deed, do in the name of Jesus” (Colossians 3:17)?
In order to live consistent with the world as God created it, we must learn to listen to the One who created it throughout our day. In order to be able to listen to the One who created the world, we must know how to hear His voice. In order to hear His voice, we must know what it sounds like. In order to know what it sounds like, we must be learning to listen to it in the only Source that we for sure know speaks for Him – the Word of God.
Jesus came to give us life. The only way we can experience that life is to live each day consistently with how He made the world and us within that world. This starts with the Book of Books. Make it your joy to learn how to listen to Him while reading through it each year.
S“E”t Free Nowww

It was a military training exercise for special ops where the trainees were to climb up the side of a hill using various rock climbing techniques. One of the trainees got half way up that hill and froze. He started hearing the wind, seeing rocks tumble over the side, looking up and then down and simply couldn’t make another move no matter how much “encouragement” was shouted by his instructor from the bottom of the hill.
Finally, the instructor climbed up to where the trainee was hanging. He simply said, “Three feet circle.” It was a reference to block out everything outside of a 3’ radius from the person. Everything within that 3’ was within their control and everything outside that 3’ radius was beyond their control. In this case, when this person focused on what was beyond his control – the wind and rocks – he froze. When he focused on what he could control – his next handhold and foot placement – he again started moving up the hill.
What an example of exercising the truth! It’s 3 feet. Stay focused on what you can control – your choices – and you’ll continue to walk in victory with Jesus. Focus on what you can’t control – the choices of others, past and present – and you’ll worry, stress out, sense anger and end up frozen in your drug of choice.
It’s 3’ baby! Focus on Jesus right where you’re at while asking the Spirit to give you the strength to exercise the truths you already know and you’ll keep climbing victoriously over life’s challenging hills.
Set “FREE” Nowww

Abraham was asked by God to leave his country, his people and his family to go to a place God would later show him. Abraham’s response in English is, “So Abram left, as the LORD had told him” (Gen. 12:4). The literal Hebrew translation of the phrase, “as the LORD had told him,” is, “Go for yourself.”
One Hebrew commentator rephrases it like this, “Go for your pleasure and your good.” In other words, “Go for yourself, Abraham, not for Me.” This almost makes it sound like Abraham went to Canaan for selfish reasons.
Before you jump to that conclusion, keep the context in mind. God told Abraham to leave everything behind: his comfort zone, his culture, and his family. Abraham had to leave his way of living, the sources of his drugs of choice and his old influences behind. In light of that statement, God was telling him, “I’m telling you to go, Abraham, because My way of living is the only way you’ll find true pleasure.”
As one author put it, “Abraham understood that the way to true self-fulfillment is through selfless devotion to God. The opportunity to fulfill God’s will offers the profound pleasure of identification with He Who is the Greatest Good.”
It is not selfish to choose to walk with God in order to gain all the good stuff that comes with living in His presence. Why? Because that’s how He created us to live! In fact, part of the biblical definition of faith is that you must believe He is good and “rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). Faith does has it benefits, long lasting ones.
“S”et Free Nowww