Identify and Go After Your Enemies

9/21/1995

I did want to just pass on some thoughts that I had as far as the things that were talked about last week and some of the things I’ve been thinking and just been really pursuing and things I’ve had my ins and outs and ups and downs and trying to wrestle with God about, how to go about bringing about change and having a more holy life. I wouldn’t mind sharing some scriptures with you guys about that. One thing I have thought of is that when Mike was talking about identifying specific character traits in your life that aren’t like Him, specific areas of sin, specific patterns of thinking that aren’t like Him – I thought very, very clearly that it is your responsibility or my responsibility to identify the enemies of the cross, the things that aren’t like Jesus and make a conscientious choice to go after them, a conscious choice to chase after those things. It is my responsibility, it is your responsibility to make sure that you find out what your specific enemies are – the very specific things in your life – to find out what they are and then chase after them and make a conscious choice to get rid of them, to make a conscious choice to make sure those things are changed in your life.

We all do have a responsibility for one another, but there isn’t going to be somebody tapping you on the shoulder every day saying, “Okay, what are your five things and what are you doing about them and how can I help you figure them all out.” That isn’t necessarily our job to run around doing that with each other. It first lies with us. We have to be responsible with God’s Word to do what He has told us to do.

So that’s the first thing. And by now I hope that everyone has at least a few things in your mind about what it is that God would have you go after in your life. And again that will be something that we’re doing this together. If you don’t know, or if you are unsure or if your areas are kind of general and they’re not narrowed down to very specific things, make sure that you ask people to help you find the answers before God so that your time is productive, you’re not chasing down a road that’s just some little branch out there that’s really not a real big deal in your life but you think it is. As we interact with each other we will be able to ask each other probing questions and talk about things that will lead us to a productive way of getting to the roots of some things in our lives that need to change.