I started the first article with this same title and confessed I get offended. I also admitted I don’t have this idea or practice under control and often need to confess my frustration and anger to God. All that being said, I also stated that we all get offended from time to time. If you never get offended I would suggest you aren’t passionate about anything or anyone. To have strong beliefs opens you up to being offended when someone or something seems to violate your values or loyalties. If you haven’t read the first article on this subject please do so before continuing as it will make more sense.

I started this topic of our common struggle as Christians with doubt and unbelief by saying that many times our assumptions about what the Christian life should look like gets us into real trouble.  We might assume that once we are Christians doubt just disappears because we are disciples of Jesus now. This connection to Jesus doesn’t guarantee less struggle with doubt but actually can intensify it. As unbelievers we walked in deception and now as believers we are trying to walk in truth and reality.  That is difficult! Remember the movie the Matrix?  There is the choice of taking the blue pill, which represents deception and going back to sleep, or choosing the red pill, which exposes us to what is really going on. If you haven’t read the first two articles please do so before reading this one. It will make more sense.

In these articles on “Who Takes The Initiative” I have been trying to build a case for not waiting for God to command us to do something but rather to take the initiative in desiring God to approve what we see is a current or pending need. I have encountered many believers who have come to the false understanding that if God wants us to do something he will tell us. The point I made in the second article was that God created us to be like him and therefore he gave Adam the first task of naming the animals. God wanted us to take the initiative in creating and managing the world we are in. If you haven’t read the first two articles please do so before proceeding. 

We have been exploring the significance of Elijah the prophet of Israel in 1 Kings 17. We are dealing with the events and repercussions of Elijah’s prophecy that there would be no rain in Israel until he prayed again. The drought went on for three and a half years, which enraged king Ahab who was a most wicked man. Our title focuses on “When The Brook Dries Up,” so I want to ask the question, “How Do We Handle” when God’s provision is taken away? How we answer this question will, in a large part, determine whether we move forward in our relationship with God or as some have coined the phrase, “Backslide” in that relationship. Please read the first two articles before proceeding.

This subject matter of “Thinking & Doing” with regards to evil is incredibly important. So much of modern Christianity and teaching revolves around our feelings and well being rather than biblical truth.  The subject of evil seems to only be addressed with regards to how it affects us personally and not how it affects God and others. My desire for this series of articles is to stir true believers to have a balanced life with regards to living in this broken world. If you have not read the first eight articles please do so before proceeding with this final one.

Spiritual warfare has been a subject that I have studied since I got converted back in the late 1960s. To me, it is so obvious that humanity is in a war with Satan since the beginning of creation and, if your eyes are open, it can seems that he is winning. In the book of Revelation, God will overcome Satan but not before there is great sorrow in the heart of God over so many being lost to Satan’s schemes. 

We have spent a considerable amount of time delving into our thinking process with regards to evil. In the last article we started to address the doing part. From my experience in Christianity over the last 68 years, professed believers in Christ do more talking than doing. Christianity was always about engagement more than about quoting bible verses or quoting Christian history. When the church was young, some two thousand years ago, people paid a heavy price to say they believed in Jesus.

This is the fifth article about understanding the process of our thinking and reason and now I would like to shift gears into the action we should be engaged in regarding dealing with evil. How and why we think makes all the difference in how and why we should act. From my experience, most Christians don’t have a good thinking and reasoning process engaged in their lives and thus bounce from one idea and sermon to another. Our soul was meant and designed by God to function on our acquired knowledge, experience and wisdom in order to have a successful life. But what happens when we fail to follow through with an actionable lifestyle based on these God-given principles? That is what we will be dealing with in the next few articles. 

In my first article on this subject we were looking at how many have considered evil a battle we can’t win and often people resign themselves to just try to avoid it as best they can. This is the lie that comes from Satan to persuade us to give up before we try. I used as an illustration the Star Wars saga and the battle of what seems to be weak rebels and the mighty corrupt empire. In real life we are confronted by many forms of evil from telling simple lies to out-and-out brutality. Evil is a fact but doesn’t have to win the day. God made us with the ability to not only challenge evil but also to win over it. According to the apostle Paul that’s called a “Good Fight”. If you haven read that first article please do so before reading this second installment on this subject.

Sometimes in life it feels like it doesn’t matter what you do because evil is going to win. The problem with that thinking is that it’s a lie and Satan and his evil servants want you to believe it so that the lie becomes enlarged and the truth shrinks in your eyes. Satan wants you to believe that evil is stronger than you are so you will give in and surrender.