When you Know you Know

Bubbles of breath boil to the surface of rapid gurgles; tirelessly swimming around and through each other as you fight to keep from swallowing. The strain on your neck flexes with fear, nostrils confused on the decision to breath. Your senses are weakened; minutes countdown as your willpower is challenged. Can you keep going?

Many days, life seems robotic. The colors of my mornings darken slightly as weeks, months and years pass by. The sanctuary of my nights are choked by a knowing that tomorrow will come. It's a sad and lonely place to be. Wake up, go to work, come home, sleep and all of life's responsibilities in between - only to do it again the next day.

This is hard to swallow when you know there is more in you. You know there is more to the days you have been experiencing. You know there is a purpose and will for your life. While you have ideas as to what that may be or as to the desires in your heart, nothing is changing. You may try some things here and there, but the rejection, disappointment, fear, the unknown and the time spent has continuously muted your desire to keep going. So why keep waking up to this? What's the point of this pain?

What I've come to realize is that it is through these moments where an escape is possible. We navigate this dreary path daily and will continue to do so if we don't see rope that extends from a distance. These moments are tests. We can chose to grab hold of the rope and climb out of the grime or we can chose to hold on the deadened gaze of our yesterday, today and tomorrow.

There is a plan and purpose for your life; for all of our lives. But if you don't recognize when that time has come to fulfill your purpose, you will miss it - your days will continue to twilight the previous and the next and your blessings will turn into curses. There are at least two circumstances that can occur where you will need to grab hold of the rope and climb into all that God has for you.

THERE WILL BE A SPIRITUAL CONFLICT

You are living in a physical world but you are fighting a spiritual battle. According to Ephesians, we don't fight flesh and blood, we fight against principalities, rulers of the darkness - the evil spiritual forces in heavenly realms.

What you will experience in these fights is a tug of war between the desires of your heart - of the good of your heart and the voices in your head and hardships you experience. The battles against your finances, your family, your thought-life; your entire being will be challenged profusely with the good that you feel in your spirit. These forces are heavily armored and frequently we lose the fight because we give up and lose hope.

The devil will attack the weak. He attacks those who keep repeating the same mistakes. He focuses on the spiritually depleted and ignorant. Equally and maybe even more importantly, he assaults the strong at heart, those fighting for their seraphic purpose and armored with the power of Christ. His attack here is brutal and bloody. It's when you are inches from the rope that he claws at your back and attempts to knock you to the ground.

YOU WILL BE PROMOTED

Promotion comes in all different sizes in our life and is quite subjective. We get promoted at our jobs, in clubs, in our social groups. etc. You can't argue that a majority of people have an immediate selfish intention when it comes to that promotion. Sure, prior to the promotion many may voice all that he/she is willing and wants to do with that promotion for others but when the time comes, a different story is written.

New money. New friends. New status. New opportunities. The possibilities are endless with promotion. We can buy things that we couldn't by, go places we couldn't go and connect with people we may have otherwise not been able to. But is this what God wants us to do with this promotion? Are your plans for the promotion self-centered or can you realize that this gold rope is your opportunity to advance His Kingdom while being blessed at the same time?

I guarantee you most people won't see it this way. Many will walk past the rope as it brushes against their skin dangling back and forth. It does not have to be this way friends. Know that promotion is an opportunity to do good under God's name. In that, you too will be blessed. Spiritual Conflicts are tests of strength. In those, you can see your breakthrough or you can be sucked back into destruction. We all have choices! Go get your blessing!