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Authors: Joyce Meyer

Tags: #Bible, #Christ, #Christian Life, #Religion, #General, #Jesus, #renewing the mind, #spiritual warfare, #Battlefield of the Mind

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BOOK: Battlefield of the Mind
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Abraham knew the dangers of living in strife; therefore, he told Lot that they needed to separate. In order to walk in love, and to ensure that there would be no strife between them in the future, Abraham allowed his nephew to choose which valley he wanted first. Lot chose the best one—the Jordan Valley—and they separated.

We must remember that Lot had nothing until Abraham blessed him.

Think of the attitude that Abraham could have had, but chose not to! He knew that if he acted properly God would take care of him.

LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had left him, Lift up now your
eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward
and eastward and westward;

For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your
posterity forever. Genesis 13:14,15

This passage clearly reveals that even though Abraham found himself in less desirable circumstances after his separation from his nephew, God wanted him to "look up" from the place where he was to the place that He wanted to take him.

Abraham had a good attitude about his situation, and as a result the devil could not keep the blessings of God from him. God gave him even more possessions than he had enjoyed before the separation, and blessed him mightily in every way.

I encourage you to take a positive look at the possibilities of the future and begin to "calleth those things that be not as though they were."

(Romans 4:17 KJV.) Think and speak about your future in a positive way, according to what God has placed in your heart, and not according to what you have seen in the past or are seeing even now in the present.

 

Chapter 17

Someone do it for me; I don't want to take the responsibility.

Wilderness Mentality #2

And Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together to go from Ur of the Chaldees into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there.

GENESIS 11:31

Responsibility is often defined as our response to God's ability. To be responsible is to respond to the opportunities that God has placed in front of us.

God gave Abram's father a responsibility, a chance to respond to His ability. He placed before him the opportunity to go to Canaan. But instead of going all the way with the Lord, he chose to stop and settle in Haran.

It is fairly easy to be excited when God first speaks to us and gives us an opportunity to do something. But, like Terah, many times we never finish what we start because we get into it and realize there is more involved than goosebumps and excitement.

Most new ventures are exciting simply because they are new. Excitement will carry a person along for a while, but it will not take him across the finish line.

Many believers do what the Bible says Terah did. They start out for one place and settle somewhere else along the way. They get tired or weary; they would like to finish their course, but they real-ly don't want all the responsibility that goes with it. If someone else would do it for them, they would love to reap the glory, but it just does not work that way.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY CAN'T BE DE LEGATED

The next day Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great
sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement
for your sin.

So Moses returned to the Lord, and said, Oh, these people have
 
sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold! Yet now, if
You will forgive their sin—and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your
book which You have written! Exodus 32:30-32

In my reading and study, I noticed that the Israelites did not want to take responsibility for anything. Moses did their praying; he sought God for them, he even did their repenting when they got themselves in trouble. (Exodus 32:1-14).

A baby has no responsibility at all, but as the child grows up, he is expected to take more and more responsibility. One of the main roles of a parent is to teach their children to accept responsibility. God desires to teach His children the same thing.

The Lord gave me an opportunity to be in full-time ministry—to teach His Word on national radio and television—to preach the Gospel all over the United States and in other nations. But I can assure you that there is a responsibility side to that call that many know nothing of. A lot of people say they want to be in ministry because they think it is a continual spiritual event.

Many times people apply for a job in our organization thinking that the greatest thing that could ever happen to them would be to become a part of a Christian ministry. Later, they discover that they have to work there the same as any other place; they have to get up and get there on time, come under authority, follow a daily routine, etc. When people say they want to come to work for us, I tell them that we don't float around on a cloud all day singing "The Hallelujah Chorus"—we work, and we work hard. We walk in integrity and do what we do with excellence.

Of course, it is a privilege to work in ministry, but I try to make the point to new applicants that when the goosebumps and excitement have subsided, they will find us expecting high levels of responsibility from them.

GO TO THE ANT!

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise!—Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, Provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the
harvest.

How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of
your sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie
down and sleep—So will your poverty come like a robber or one who travels [with
slowly but surely approaching steps] and your want like an armed
man [making you helpless]. Proverbs 6:6-11

This lazy mindset that the Israelites had was one of the things that kept them in the wilderness forty years making an eleven-day trip.

I like to read this passage in Proverbs in which our attention is called to the ant, who without having any supervisor or taskmaster provides for herself and her family.

People who must always have someone else pushing them will never really do anything great. Those who only do what is right when someone is looking won't get very far either. We must be motivated from within, not from without. We must live our lives before God, knowing that He sees all and that our reward will come from Him if we persist in doing what He has asked us to do.

MANY CALLED, FEW CHOSEN

...For many are called, but few chosen. Matthew 20:16

I once heard a Bible teacher say that this verse means that many are called or given an opportunity to do something for the Lord, but very few are willing to take the responsibility to answer that call.

As I mentioned in a previous chapter, a lot of people have wishbone but no backbone. People with a "wilderness mentality" want to have everything and do nothing.

GET UP AND GO!

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to
Joshua son of Nun, Moses' minister,

Moses My servant is dead. So now arise [take his place], go over
this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to
them, the Israelites.

Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread, that have
I given to you, as I promised Moses. Joshua 1:1-3

When God told Joshua that Moses was dead and he was to take his place and lead the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land, it meant a lot of new responsibility for Joshua.

The same is true for us as we go forth to claim our spiritual inheritance. You and I will never have the privilege of standing and ministering under God's anointing if we are not willing to take our responsibility seriously.

BEHOLD, NOW IS THE FAVORABLE TIME!

He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be
favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. Ecclesiastes 11:4

In 1993, when God showed Dave and me that He wanted us to go on TV, He said, "I am giving you an opportunity to go on television; but if you don't take the opportunity now, it will never pass by you again."

Perhaps if God had not let us know that the opportunity was for that particular moment only, we might have procrastinated. After all, we were finally in a position where we could be comfortable.

For nine years, we had been in the process of "birthing" Life In The Word Ministries. Now suddenly God was giving us an opportunity to reach more people, which we wanted to do with all of our heart.

However, in order to do it, we would need to leave our comfortable position and take on new responsibility.

When the Lord asks His people to do something, there is a temptation to wait for "a convenient season." (Acts 24:25 KJV.) There is always the tendency to hold back until it won't cost anything or be so difficult.

I encourage you to be a person who is not afraid of responsibility. In meeting resistance you will build your strength. If you only do what is easy, you will always remain weak.

God expects you and me to be responsible and to take care of everything He gives us—to do something with it that will produce good fruit. If we do not use the gifts and talents that He has given us, then we are not being responsible over what He has entrusted to us.

BE PREPARED!

Watch therefore [give strict attention and be cautious and active],
for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will
come. Matthew 25:13

Matthew 25 is a chapter in the Bible that teaches us what we are to be doing while we are waiting for the Master's return.

The first twelve verses show us ten virgins, five who were foolish and five who were wise. The foolish did not want to do anything extra to be sure they were prepared to meet Him when He returned. They did the bare minimum they could get by with; they did not want to go the extra mile so they took only the amount of oil they needed for their lamps. The wise virgins, however, went beyond what they absolutely had to do.

They took extra oil to be sure they were prepared for a long wait.

When the bridegroom came, the foolish found their lamps going out and they, of course, wanted the wise virgins to give them some of their oil. This is usually the case. People who are lazy and procrastinating always want those who work hard and take responsibility to do for them what they should have been doing for themselves.

USE WHAT YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN

...You wicked and lazy and idle servant!.... Matthew 25:26

Matthew 25 then records a parable that Jesus told about three servants who were given talents that belonged to their master. The master then went away into a far country, expecting his servants to take good care of his goods while he was away.

The man given five talents used them. He invested them and gained five more besides. The man given two talents did the same. But the man given one talent buried it in the ground because he was full of fear. He was scared to step out and do anything. He was afraid of responsibility.

When the master returned, he commended the two servants who had taken what he had given them and had done something with it. But to the man who buried his talent and had done nothing with it, he said, "You wicked and lazy and idle servant!" He then ordered that the one talent be taken from him and given to the man with the ten talents and that the lazy, idle servant be severely punished.

I encourage you to respond to the ability that God has placed in you by doing all that you can with it, so that when the Master returns, you can not only give Him what He has given you, but more besides.

The Bible clearly shows us that it is God's will for us to bear good fruit. 
(John 15:16.)

CASTING CARE. NOT RESPONSIBILITY

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that
he may exalt you in due time:

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:6,7 KJV

Don't be afraid of responsibility. Learn to cast your care, but not your responsibility. Some people learn not to worry about anything; becoming experts at "casting their care," they get so comfortable that they also cast their responsibility.

Set your mind to do what is in front of you and not to run from anything just because it looks challenging.

Always remember that if God gives you whatever you ask Him for, there is a responsibility that goes along with the blessing. If you own a home or a car, God expects you to take care of it. Lazy demons may attack your mind and your feelings, but you have the mind of Christ. You certainly can recognize the devil's deception and press past your feelings and do what you know is right. Asking for something is easy. .being responsible for it is the part that develops character.

I recall a time when I kept trying to talk my husband into buying a lake house—a place where we could go to rest, pray and study. A place to "get away from it all." I told him how wonderful it would be, how our children and grandchildren could enjoy it and even how we could take our leadership there and have business meetings and glorious times in prayer together.

It all sounded good, and it felt good to my emotions, but Dave kept telling me everything we would have to do to take care of it. He reminded me of how busy we already were and that we did not have time to be responsible for another home. He told me about the lawn care, the upkeep, the payments, etc. He said we would be better off to rent a place when we needed to get away and not take on the responsibility of owning one.

BOOK: Battlefield of the Mind
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