Wow... Long Time!

Greetings, Readers.

Geez, has it already been two weeks since my last post? Somewhere close thereof at least. I guess that's what happens when Satan very expressly tells you that he's not happy with the direction you're turning in. Well, Satan, here's some news for you: You're just gonna have to deal with it and go mess with someone else. Jacob is tired of putting up with your crap, so now you have to deal with Israel!

For those who don't pay attention to my calendar (wait... I have one? No, I don't. Maybe I should get one...), I just came back from a Men's Encounter on Sunday. Since I had recently discovered the great plans God has for me, I went to the Encounter asking Him to show me what I will need to do to live up to these plans, and where to go from here to head in that direction. What I ended up realizing is that I haven't truly given God first priority in my life. A large part of that has its root in the flesh-vs.-Spirit battle that I've been talking about now and then.

Part of the reason I haven't posted in awhile is because I've just been getting too worn out at work lately. Whenever I come home, my flesh has just been telling me "Okay, it's time to just chill until bedtime.". While writing this blog, and reading the Bible and praying can be (and is) quite relaxing and "chilling" for the body and mind, that's not what my flesh (and, of course, Satan) wanted me to do. So, instead I would come on and log on to one of my favorite games (See Links section to left.) until my body said it was time for bed. Then later on, get up for work and do it again. Through this behaviour pattern, I allowed myself to be distracted from God, and remained stagnant in my walk with Him, although my Spirit has so much longed to grow stronger, so that I would be able to do the things He wants me to do in my life.

Eventually, I began to recognize this as an attack from the Devil. See, one of the grounds that he uses to intrude upon our lives is called the Battlefield of the Mind. In this instance, his attack was for the purpose of distraction and delay. Satan knew I had received my calling to service from God, and Satan knew that I wanted to find out what God wanted me to do to work towards the fulfillment of His calling on my life, and so Satan wanted to distract and delay me as much as possible so that it would be longer before I would actually come to do God's work, if I should ever overcome that distraction to begin with. For a time, I let this just slide. Don't know why. Maybe in my flesh I just didn't much care, and I wasn't letting my Spirit take enough control to work otherwise.

Such is the Christian life, it seems: A constant battle of human flesh vs. God's Spirit. One thing I always have said on this: God's greatest gift and curse to humankind, rolled into one, has been free will. He'll put the path before us that he wants us to walk, tell us that he wants us to walk in it, but we must choose every time to do so. He's not going to force us, and He's not going to stop us if we choose otherwise.

So now that I know that it has been the Devil trying to distract me from God's will in my life, and I know what's in the Devil's tackle-box, I know how to better listen to my Spirit and focus more on God as my top priority, so that I can walk in the paths He wants me to walk in.

A Biblical expression of the choice we are given to make through the free will given to us by God, can be seen in Psalm 119:32, in which the Psalmist says: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." In this, he is expressing that because God was the one that set his heart free (gave him free will), he will walk in the paths God has for him, instead of choosing otherwise.

So, now is the time for me to get my priorities straight. I know I need to start putting God first in my life, in my schedule, in my mind. Then, focus on the family. Everything else can come after that. Only when I give myself completely over to God's will and service, can He lead me to fulfill the calling that He has put on my life.

- Iszi

Song of the Moment: Scott Krippayne - I'm Not Cool