Friday Fight 99 - Thriving or Surviving

Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF99.

How often have we gone through the motions of the day, but the joy and treasure of these collective moments seem lacking? Some days we are prepared and embracing things as they come; other days, we are playing catch up or bouncing around in response to what is directionally coming at us. So, what is the difference between these two days, and how do we maintain a more consistent flow?

Thriving or Surviving:

Too often, our daily routine can be reduced to mundane schedules, traffic patterns, and time limits dictated by the necessities in our lives. We begin our week with the best intentions, yet as the days come and go, we find ourselves taking things as they come. An analogy I like to use is a scheduled trip. Will we gas up, check the fluids, confirm plans, and do everything we can to ensure our protection on this drive, or will we address things as they come and hope for the best? If we do not pay attention or give ourselves adequate time to prepare, hoping for the best is where we may find ourselves. Confronting the journey with a confident mindset allows us to make the most of our time, knowing we have covered every area between us and our destination. Using this analogy, one is surviving, and the other is thriving.

Let's apply this to our spiritual lives. Surviving would be taking what comes at us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Prayers may be inconsistent or generally only after things fall apart. Are we beginning our day by praying to God asking for coverage for our day, including those things known and unknown? We may not have considered spiritually surviving when we leave our day to their circumstances and allow darkness to steal small parts of our lives.

On the other hand, thriving is welcoming each week, knowing we have lifted ourselves, our day, our families, and our mental and emotional health to the Creator of the universe. We ask Him to forgive, sustain, and protect us while giving the glory back to Him. In thriving, we surrender our hearts to God; instead of darkness continually stealing parts of our lives, God restores the little pieces of us that were stolen. We are restored and forgiven and walk in the spiritual confidence that we postured ourselves according to God's will. In Thriving we are walking in God’s best for our lives.

Darkness does not want us to ever thrive, instead wants us to feel like we are constantly drowning, beginning by moving us from thriving to surviving. Then from this position to feeling like we are treading water and drowning. How often have we commented about repetitive things coming at us repeatedly? If we are commenting this way or see a pattern, try making time for prayer each morning and see how much our life changes.

We are God's children, and he loves us all dearly. We want Him to have our hearts and lift everything to Him in prayer before the day begins. By His grace, we are saved, and devotion to Him places anything we lift to Him right before His throne. Doing so means God can minister to the hearts of those we lift in prayer and those who pray—offering our hearts, intentions, problems, concerns, praise, love, and thanksgiving. Let's surrender to Him everything our hearts have to offer and allow Him to work in and through our day and survive and thrive in the Grace of His goodness. God will make Himself known as we extend our gratefulness to be in His presence.

Pastor Shannon

New Life Calvert