You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Philippians 2:5 (NLT) What do Jesus and Navy Seals share in common? An attitude of never submitting to the enemy. One year I spoke at a leadership conference near a Navy Seal base, and afterward I had the opportunity to talk to several Seals who attended. One of them explained his job as a sniper. His sole focus was the mission, and he defied anything that distracted him from it. He’d lay in his own bodily fluids, suffering through itchiness, stench and bugs crawling on him. He’d wait in freezing, leech-filled water up to his neck for hours without moving an inch. How? As a sniper, he’d been trained to withstand anything to complete the …

The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!” Proverbs 22:13 (NKJV) If a lion was chasing you in the streets, your first thought should be to start running, not instantly resign yourself to being taken down! Yet as believers, all too often we take this defeatist attitude in different areas of our lives. “It’s a tough year in the economy. I guess I’ll lose my job.” “My kids are out doing drugs, but that’s just how it is these days.” “Our marriage is as good as it’s going to get.” “I get every flu that comes around.” These are things we submit to without even realizing it! This is the lazy mentality that today’s verse highlights. As …

Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (AMP) Sometimes we as believers resist what God is trying to do in our lives. In Acts 7:51 (NLT), Stephen says, You stubborn people! …Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? Yes, sometimes we choose to resist God’s efforts as He tries to take us somewhere new whether it be softening our hearts, getting us to work on our marriages, or teaching us how to walk in love. In doing so, we begin to not only resist God, but we also submit to wrong attitudes. This is when we open up our lives to pain and heartache. It is critical to learn what to submit to …

But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8 (NLT) Our bodies continually resist what doesn’t belong to them. They reject any foreign object, whether in our eyes, lungs, bloodstream or sometimes even on our skin. This resistance is what keeps us healthy. We are designed to only accept what belongs and reject anything that tries to hurt, harm or kill us. The same principle applies with things that are not of a physical nature. We must learn to maintain this powerful, positive resistance against anything that doesn’t belong in our lives according to God’s Word. As beings with free will, what we reject or accept is our choice. But problems develop if we start basing this acceptance …

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4:7 (NKJV) Let’s say I had a rich uncle who died and left his entire estate to me. His will said, “This is all yours. You now own shipping companies in Europe, hotels down the Riviera, and sheep farms as far as the eye can see in Australia.” You’d better believe I’d read that will! I’m an heir, and I want to know all that I’m entitled to. I don’t have to earn any of it; this inheritance is already mine. I just need to learn how to access it. It’s the same with God’s Word. It lays out the inheritance that Jesus …