Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

• John 16:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

• Matthew 6:33-34

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

• 1 Peter 4:12-13

“Moab has been at rest from youth,
    like wine left on its dregs,
not poured from one jar to another—
    she has not gone into exile.
So she tastes as she did,
    and her aroma is unchanged.

• Jeremiah 48:11

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.

• Psalm 91:14-15

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

• Psalm 19:14

Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,
    but your name alone do we honor.

• Isaiah 26:13

Let your eyes look straight ahead;
    fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
    and be steadfast in all your ways.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
    keep your foot from evil.

• Proverbs 4:25-27

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

• Hebrews 3:1

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

• 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17

“The crucial detail for us to have peace in the middle of everything we face is to stay close to the Lord. …
“We think we want comfort in the I-don’t-know times of life.  But comfort isn’t a solution to seek; rather, it’s a by-product we’ll reap when we stay close to the Lord.
“What if the comfort and certainties we crave today are a deadly recipe for complacency that will draw our hearts further and further away from God? There are many examples of this in the Bible, but let’s look at one tucked into Jeremiah 48:11. …
“The Moabites were not jarred from their complacency. Therefore, their culture was saturated with satisfaction apart from the Lord, and their people were full of impurities. They had no need to draw upon the Lord’s strength, so their hearts were far from Him. …
“When we express God’s truth, we depress the enemy’s lies. And as I did some more research on what parts of us are most vulnerable to being controlled by those lies, I came up with this list. The enemy tries to gain a foothold over:
Affection—my heart, what I love
Adoration-—my mouth, what I worship
Attention—my mind, what I focus on
Attraction—my eyes, what I desire
Ambition—my calling, what I spend my time seeking
Action—my choices, how I stand firm.”

• Lysa TerKeurst, It’s Not Supposed to be this Way

Lysa TerKeurst defines the problem and the solution.  Satan is the father of lies.  We fight him with the Truth.  How did Jesus fight Satan during His 40 days in the wilderness?  He quoted Scripture.

And Scripture tells us that we will have troubles.  Efrem Graham said on CBN News recently that trials are either blessings in disguise or lessons to learn.  And one of those lessons should be how to fight our enemy.

And as for comfort…

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end. If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth — only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

• C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Lysa Terkeurst states that the most powerful weapon is God’s Holy Word.  As she lays out the six “Fighting Words,” she makes three affirmations that are followed by Scripture that bolsters that affirmation.  I will give a little synopsis of these six fighting words:

Affection

I love God and God loves me.  (Psalm 91:14-15; Jeremiah 24:7, Psalm 112:7).  God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die so that we might live.  And then Jesus rose from the dead, showing us that even death has been defeated.  But God knows every detail about our bodies down to the cellular level.  And when we see an Almighty God who loves us that much, it is only fitting that we love Him in return.

Adoration

My desire is to be pleasing to the Lord, and part of that is in how I worship Him daily. (Psalm 19:14; James 5:13; Psalm 138:1-3, 7).  We must put away the distractions that can become temporary or long-lasting idols in our lives.  Our worship should focus on the Lord.

Attention

I focus on the Lord.  I try to spend my time seeking Jesus and being more like Jesus.  When my eyes lose their focus on Jesus, I go astray. (Isaiah 26:13; 1 Peter 5:8; Proverbs 5:1-2).  We have such short attention spans these days.  We have the internet, television, and radio.  Within the internet, there are a variety of social media platforms.  Not only do those take our attention away from Jesus, they have a tendency of shortening our attention span, which makes it even more difficult to maintain our attention on Jesus.

Attraction

My eyes focus on what I desire.  My desire is Jesus and His kingdom. (Proverbs 4:25-27; Philippians 3:15-21; 1 John 2:16).  When God is our only desire, that is all we can see.  What attracts our attention will have an effect on our integrity, our morality, and our growth as a Christian.  We will spend eternity with Jesus.  We need to practice that attraction.

Ambition

I want to serve the Lord, even if I dig a ditch.  Whatever my career field is does not define me.  Glorifying God defines me. (Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:10).  We focus in many churches on the pastor having a “calling,” but we should all have a calling.  Our calling should be to glorify God and Enjoy Him forever.  We can do that in the work that we do.  We can do our best.  We can love the workers around us and help them achieve their goals better.  And what I have been asked by management at many of the jobs that I have had is “What makes you tick? Or Why do you put everything into your work?”  I do not advertise that work ethic, but in glorifying God, everything that we do should be done to the best of our ability with grace and joy accompanying it.

Action

And those actions are much of what I just mentioned.  Everything that we do should be to the glory of God.  If we cannot do that, are we in the right job?  (2 Thessalonians 2:15-17; Philippians 4:1, 6-8; Numbers 23:19).  And actions that glorify God include doing more in that direction.  Stretching ourselves, getting out of our comfort zones to do more.  But actions, in an odd way can be eliminating actions that do not glorify God.  When we see some of our actions and they continuously fall short, should we continue down that path?

I do not know which is more powerful?  I am leaning to the Bible Verses, but to have those six fighting words, it can help us draw our attention, attraction, and ambition back to those Bible verses.

Lord, guide me. You have power in this world.  And to fight the enemy, You have given us Your Holy Word, the Bible.  Help us to hold the Truth close to us, so that we can defeat the father of lies as attacks come our way.  Truth defeats falsehood.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.