God: He can't help you. Only I can help you and the only thing you should be thinking of and planning is spending time with me and my word, and I will take care of you and your problems.
Me: Why do I always have to be reminded, Father, but I'm so thankful that you are so patient and keep reminding me. You have been telling me this for some time now and I think I finally get it. I'm finally realizing how important it is for me to meet with you every day, because it just makes the rest of the day so much sweeter.
Father, I want to thank you so much for last night. I was so discouraged and upset with myself yesterday and after dinner when I turned on the TV to watch Joyce Meyer's program, everything I heard I knew was there for me. First, I heard a preacher by the name of Bil Cornelius talking about ground and pound, which is an offensive move in ultimate fighting or wrestling. Apparently, your attacker gets on top of you and starts pounding you, and all you can do is be on the defense. He said we are in a spiritual warfare and we need to stop being on the defense all the time. We need to stay in the offense. We are in a cage fight with the devil and we need to get out from underneath and fight. He said David was a warrior but he was also a worshipper. Worshipping is a form of spiritual warfare. When we worship God, we are making an offensive move, because while we are worshipping God, God fills us with his Spirit and fights through us. I so needed this yesterday, Father, because all day I felt like I was being pounded on by the devil. Every thought he put in my mind brought me down a little lower. I can see why you want us to stay in the offense, because it's easier on us.
Father, as I'm typing this I felt you put this thought in my heart:
God: If you stay on the offense, meaning you worship me, praise me, thank me, spend time with me, sing to me, and read my words, and when the devil attacks you in your mind, your spirit will be so filled with my Spirit that I am do the fighting, but if you don't do those things, then your spirit will not be filled with my spirit and when the devil attacks your mind, you will be in the flesh, and you will be in the defense trying to fight the devil and when you fight the devil in the flesh, you will always lose.
Me: I'm seeing things so much clearer, Father. Thank you. I understand what you are trying to teach me. I need to think about and plan my time with you and I need to guard that time religiously, so I can be filled with your Spirit for the day, and when the devil attacks my mind, I will not have to fight him in the flesh, you will fight him through me. Even though it will be me mentally doing the fighting, it will be you Spiritually because it will be your power and your strength. I'm beginning to understand a whole lot more than I used to.
And finally I turn on Joyce Meyer's program and it's about power thoughts, which is exactly what I needed today. She said we need to confront our stinking thinking and refuse to let our mind be a garbage dump for the devil. She said we need to think about what we are going to do before we are tempted, so we don't have to think about what we should do when we are tempted. We will already have a plan. Sounds like offense instead of defense to me.
God: Protect your morning time with me and you will be on the offense instead of the defense all day.
Me: Awesome, Father. I will protect my mornings with you from today on. I won't even let sleep get in the way. Father, there's another thing I wanted to mention to you. I still feel guilty all the time. I have these types of thoughts all the time: I could have done it better. I could have been earlier. I didn't get up early enough. I over ate again. I should have done more. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have drank that. I shouldn't have eaten that. I should have done this. I should have done that. My mind never leaves me alone.
God: That's why I'm telling you to protect your time with me every day and don't let anything get between us, because I will fill your spirit with my Spirit and those thoughts are not in my Spirit.
Me: Thank you, Father, for another full day of teaching me. It sure is a full time job. There's so much to do and I seem to be a slow learner who needs to be reminded an awful lot. I love you, Father. Thank you for loving me.
