Check For Leaks

“And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 13:52


I read a good quote last night that said, “Ships don’t sink because they are surrounded by water. Ships sink when the water that surrounds them gets into them. Don’t let what’s going on around you get inside you and take you down.” That serves as a great reminder to me as someone who can hear 99 good things during the course of the day and 1 negative thing and find myself sinking as I let whatever that is into my heart and mind. Maybe you can relate?

The best way I have found to not let my boat take on water is guard my heart like Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to do, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” In other words remember another pithy statement that says, “garbage in, garbage out”. In Ephesians 6 the apostle Paul instructs us to put on the full armor of God so we can withstand the schemes of the wicked one who is always out to sink us any way he can. Paul writes that besides all the other pieces of our armor we need to, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Salvation as a helmet to me means never forgetting salvation is a gift from God that is not merited nor deserved but offered to us freely as a gift. The enemy seeks to take us down by making us think we aren’t saved and that God doesn’t love us because of some sin or failure on our part when in fact we are not saved by anything we have done but rather what Jesus Christ has done for us. All we have done and all we can do is believe and trust in what God has done for us in Christ.

The enemies attacks against us can feel like waves crashing against the hull of the boat, but don’t forget that boats were made to float and you and I who are in Christ were made to stand and withstand whatever the enemy throws our way today. Meditate on things that are pure and lovely and praise worthy then knowing that even when that one negative thing happens that the devil is seeking to sink your ship with don’t forget, “Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Remember, you can’t take on whatever the devil is trying to fill your mind with if you are already filled with God.


I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

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