In the Valley

I was in the valley yesterday big time. I was struggling. I was running.
I was hiding.

In fact, I avoided calling a few people back because I was trying to run and hide so much. How you ever felt like that?

And I learned once again that I cannot completely guardrail my life. It is not possible to guardrail my life so much that I don’t need Jesus anymore. Maybe that is not even healthy. Because if I can completely live a guarded, sheltered life free from the temptations of the world…why do I need Jesus at all? At some point we have to realize that we need to ask God for help. And if we don’t ask Him for help sometimes…we lose.

I realized that an intimate relationship with Christ is my ultimate guardrail. The closer I feel to Him the less I want to sin. And the further away I feel from Him the more I want to sin.

I don’t know what it is about me and equations lately but another one came to me yesterday….

The more in love I am with Jesus = the less in love I am with sin.

I struggled for most of the day yesterday but in the evening I realized that there was a tool that I brought with me that I had forgotten about.

The International House of Prayer live Prayer Room web stream.

I subscribed to this live web stream sometime last year and the reason I subscribed was so that I could go to it and use it as a tool to help me remember that Jesus is better than the temptations of this world.

But I forgot to use it. And I forgot that Jesus was better.

God has given me tools to fight temptation…the Bible, the IHOP Prayer Room, etc…but I just forget to use them sometimes.

Sometimes I think that I don’t want to use them because I KNOW that they will work. Ouch. That truth hurts.

Well I spent two hours watching a Misty Edwards set in the Prayer Room last night during my prime time of 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. This is the time when I really kick it into gear. And guess what…it worked.

Every temptation is an opportunity for us to grow. God wants to use temptation to help us grow closer to Him and Satan wants to use temptation to tear us down.

I have a choice every time I am tempted…I have the opportunity to decide and believe that God is exactly who He says He is and that He is going to do exactly what He says He is going to do.

I just wish I believed every time.