What’s stopping you from living a Life of Significance?
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
I’ll never forget one sunny Sunday morning more than thirty years ago. Our family had piled into the car on our way to church. My sister sat behind my mom in the front passenger’s seat, and I settled into the seat behind my father, who was driving.
Years earlier, I had accepted Christ as my Savior, but something changed when I turned thirteen. A compulsion or compelling from within my spirit stirred. Something or someone prompted moves in directions I least desired. Read the Bible, pray, or tell the boy at school, from the wrong side of the tracks, about Jesus. These requests seemed awkward, embarrassing, or ill-timed. Nevertheless, they were increasingly consistent.
The Holy Spirit had made his introduction both subtly and convincingly. And this Sunday morning, his prompt bellowed brazenly in my spirit even as everyone else seemed unaware. They vacantly stared out the window as we turned onto the road to begin our twenty-minute drive to church. .
I envied their vacant stares as my stomach twisted and squeezed from within. Tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose to attention. My brow furrowed as my palms grew sweaty. I squirmed and shifted and desperately wished to escape this conviction.
Defiantly, I attempted to will my thoughts in a direction I could control, but it was to no avail. The Holy Spirit had a new conviction, and it had been brewing for weeks. Today was the day I would not escape his confrontation.
Two invisible entities seemed present and settled in the seat between my sister and me. One was a friend, the other a foe. But I had judged them incorrectly. Dread was new but faithful. He warned me of the inherent dangers tethered to these unsolicited prompts. With great skill and insight, he carefully laid out the perils each conviction produced. He presented himself as a friend and his case with persuasive words. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, seemed to be the problem. His challenges and prompts forced me from my reveries and into situations I wished to escape. He seemed to be intrusive and invasive. And everything he asked of me seemed difficult or awkward.
Both friend and foe battled for my mind and emotions, but more importantly, they fought for my will. What would I do?
Insidiously, the Holy Spirit wedged in between Dread and me and whispered…say something, say yes.
Dread reminded me I did not want to say yes. It was too overwhelming. I could not bear the ramifications of yes. But I also knew I could not escape the increasingly consistent and rising conviction of the Holy Spirit. Something had to give. God help me.
Before I realized it, I whispered in a barely audible tone. I think God is calling me to Africa.
I was fourteen years old.
At fourteen, I did not know how to hold my thoughts and feelings up to the Word of God. I did not know how to take every thought captive. Because of that, I was easy prey for the devil. He deceived me. I believed my feelings. I believed my thoughts. I believed my friends Dread and Fear when they told me I would be all alone in Africa, with no family or friends, living in a mud hut, with no food, starving children, mosquitos, HIV, and malaria.
Dread and Fear told me God was not good, and he was holding out on me. I believed they were right. There was nothing good to be found by following Jesus to Africa.
Satan is going to tempt you to believe the same thing. He is going to tempt you to believe the lies he whispers into your ear. He will pressure your emotions, knowing an unguarded heart will pave the way for his lies. He wants you to believe God is holding out on you, that God is not good.
He wants you to believe when God asks you to stay, give, or do, God is asking you to give up your life and happiness. The devil knows staying or giving will look a lot like dying to self. He also knows God’s Word is true. God says in the end, losing your life will look like finding your life (Matt. 16.25). That is a secret the devil desperately wants to keep hidden.
I thought saying no to Africa, no to God, would keep me safe or happy. But this is the great deception. Saying no keeps you stuck. Saying no keeps you frustrated. Saying no to God robs you of passion, purpose, adventure, and ultimately satisfaction. It diminishes your ability to please God. Believing lies and giving way to emotions not tethered to the Word of God rob you of the desire or ability to say yes to God.
Saying yes to God runs counter to your flesh, logic, inclinations, and our culture. But saying yes is the answer. It is the gateway to all God has promised, the abundant life for today, not just eternity.
So, what are the three most common things preventing you from living a Life of Significance?
Your emotions.
Your mind.
Your will—your choices.
The enemy will relentlessly attack your emotions, your understanding, and your willingness to choose God. We must learn to say yes to God despite how we feel or what we understand. We must learn to submit our wills to God’s will.
Saying yes to God, obeying God is the first step to living a Life of Significance.
Want more? Start here.
Do not believe every thought you think or feeling you feel. Assess who is the source of those thoughts or emotions.
Read John 10:10, 1 Peter 5.8-9, and 2 Corinthians 10:5.
Take an inventory of your thoughts and emotions over the last several days. Determine if there is a connection. For example, when I think about this, I start feeling that or vice versa.
How might the enemy use your thoughts or emotions to prevent you from obeying God’s Word or the Holy Spirit? For example, when I think about what she said to me, I get so angry. Is the devil using your anger to stop you from forgiving her or prevent you from treating her with grace and kindness?
