Last year as I ran while training for a half marathon I tripped on the sidewalk and fell. I was blessed to have friends with me that cared for me until my husband arrived to take me to the emergency room. It all happened in "one split second!" before I knew it, I was in it, and it all started because I took my eyes off the sidewalk for literally one second! I looked for just "one second" and bam!
I wonder how many times we stumble and fall because we took our eyes off God for just "one second?"
In that one second, someone talked us into sin, or we walked into sin, or we just simply got "caught up" in sin? It's that one second that we so wish we could change, a second that perhaps changed our entire life or the rest of our life.
We live with the regret and shame of what we did or what we allowed to happen and we allow the weight of that to consume us.
Good News: that's what this whole "He is Risen" thing is all about! While we walk around carrying this "thing" with us, God has said "I already forgave you for that! I already forgot it!" yet YOU can't forget what happened or what you did or what someone did to you! That is not God, that is the enemy!
The enemy loves nothing more than to keep that thing on your mind to distract you from the Word of God. I speak from experience and no one knows better than me that the enemy taunts! He does that because that is the only power he has....the one we give him!
Sometimes he gets me in the ring and we"duke it out!" sometimes he wins but only because I let him. I have the potential to win every time because God has given me the weapon I need. When the enemy gets me in the ring and attempts to "beat me up" I have boxing gloves that I call the Word of God that can knock him out!
So if you have stumbled, if you have taken a fall, do not fall again to the lies of the enemy. Jesus told the adulterous woman "I do not condemn you...go and sin no more." (John 8:11)
You must decide if you will believe the lies of the enemy or the promises of God! You must also surround yourself with those who will encourage you that this "fall" can not keep you down. I had a friend encourage me to train again for another half marathon. I have had others say "Do not do it-you are too old to get hurt again!" what voice do you think I will listen to?"
If you have stumbled, perhaps taken a fall....get up! Start over and believe the Word of God! I have another half marathon to train for.
See I lay a stone in Zion, a precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe, the stone is precious...[Others] stumble because they disobey the message which is what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:6-9
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