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#TheLoft
The Loft is the place for conversation, community, networking, and Christian growth.
Each week we provide a topic to start the conversation.
PLEASE NOTE: We want to foster community and transparent conversation with one another, just like we’d do if we were meeting in real life. So we ask that your link stick to the weekly topic and that you mention The Loft in your post. Thank you so much!
Monday night, at 9pm Eastern, the linky goes live and all week you can link up your post on that week’s topic.
We’ll have fun topics, serious topics, practical, soul-ful, holiday, and so, so much more…we can’t wait to get started! This is not only a great way to connect with others, it’s also a fun and easy way to establish a writing habit. If you aren’t a blogger, you are welcome to join in by leaving your comments in the comment section.
So grab your coffee mug and come on up! Hang out for a bit. We bet you’ll be glad you did.
To Participate:
1. Be creative. Feel free to use words, photos, video, audio, your family pet, whatever, to communicate on the weekly topic. But please stick to the weekly topic 🙂
2. Listen twice as much as you talk. If you leave one link, visit two. Trust us on this one.
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When you link up at The Loft, your link will appear on 5 blogs! We’d love for you to visit The Loft co-hosts and know who we are:
Now it’s time to link up!
This Week’s Topic: “Fighter Verses”
Spiritual warfare.
It is ugly, and always makes me want to rip Satan’s head off. At 50 years old, one would think I would remember to just send Jesus in to deal with that snake, but sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I try to do it myself, and the outcome is never good when that happens.
The first time I consciously used Scripture to do battle was in 1996. Yeah, I know, I’m a slow learner.
I owned a condo in suburban Atlanta. Greg and I had married a year earlier, and we needed to sell my condo in order to move further north where he would be opening his dental practice. We found a home near his new practice that we put a contract on, contingent on selling my condo. I listed my condo, and in just a few weeks, got an offer. A really good offer. In the mid-1990’s the Atlanta condo market was S-O-F-T, and I anticipated having to either take a loss on the sale or just break even. So, the offer I got made me want to do the happy dance.
The couple buying my condo made the purchase contingent on the sale of the home they were currently living in. AND, the sale of that home was contingent on yet another pair of buyers being able to sell their home. Verily, verily, I came to hate the word contingent.
So what do we have? Our new home, let’s call it ‘A’ was contingent on my condo, which we will call ‘B’ selling. The sale of ‘B’ was contingent on home ‘C’ selling, and the home ‘C’ sale was contingent on home ‘D’ selling. Basically, it was a disaster looking for a place to happen. There was no way humanly possible that all those homes would sell in time for us to purchase our home.
As I sat reading my Bible and pondering the dilemma, worrying myself sick over the whole thing, the Lord led me to 2 Chronicles 20:17 (NIV).
You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’ “
I had not been looking for a fighter verse. In fact, I had never heard of ‘fighter verses’ but the Lord gave me one anyway. I knew it was from Him. I began to claim that verse over our situation. I knew that only God could make all those contingencies go through, if it was in His plan. A few weeks later all four homes sold within 36 hours. God had stepped in and showed off. My job had been to trust Him, and rest on the last word I heard from Him.
A couple of other verses that I consider important as I battle the god of this age.
Jeremiah 32:17 (NIV) – “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
When our problems try to outsize us, we must remember that God is bigger.
Hebrews 12: 1-3 (NIV) – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
‘Cuz really, if we will just keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. He has gone before us, walks beside us, and now lives to intercede for us.
So, there are a few of my fighter verses. Can’t wait to hear yours.
Next Week’s Topic: “Potluck” (Periodically, we’ll have a “potluck.” This is a blogging version of bring-your-own-dish. So pick a post and link up any post you want to share with our community!)
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