Fighting Shadows
The “well done” of the Father will drown out the clamor of the world. Do not let your enemy intimidate you back into the shadows.
Jon Tyson • Fighting Shadows
Great perspective. I often fall for the more immediate “well done” by the world instead of waiting for the ultimate “well done” of the Father. Additionally, the worldly “well done” is not often well done.
But it turned out, just like God placed Esther in power to save her people, and he also moved Joseph to Egypt to rescue the people of his day, God put Nehemiah in the perfect place to rebuild the ruins and remove the reproach of his people. Nehemiah just needed ambition to activate his potential, and this happened by asking a simple question.
Jon Tyson • Fighting Shadows
All three of these stories are remarkable in the unlikeliness of them. From a human perspective, there is no way Esther, Joseph, or Nehemiah should have been successful, but God worked through them to do the extraordinary.
We are working through the book of Esther for men’s and women’s Bible study at church currently. I am teaching on [[Esther 2]]. It is crazy to see all of the things occurring, the “sins” of Esther and how she consistently violates Torah, etc. and God uses her to preserve a remnant of his people.
In practical terms, you need to come to God with the parts you hate most about yourself, not just the parts you love—the struggles you wish you didn’t have, the parts of your story and life and mind you wish weren’t there.
Jon Tyson • Fighting Shadows
It is ironically humorous that we try to hide these things from God who already knows everything and still accepts us. Maybe, it is because we are trying to hide it more from ourselves than we are from God. Denial is a bitch. If I can deny something, then I don’t have to deal with it, it isn’t “my truth.”
Just because a shadow is quiet doesn’t mean it can’t engulf you in darkness. In fact, just like my shadow of shame in this story, it will stick around and keep growing until you face it and deal with it.
Jon Tyson • Fighting Shadows
Rather, the prospect of being doomed to loneliness essentially froze and dulled them. And that’s exactly what loneliness does. According to Joiner, loneliness is the “experience of unwanted solitude and disconnection.”5 Further, loneliness has two facets: social isolation and emotional isolation, with emotional loneliness being the symptom of the r
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There is a significant study at the moment discussing the “loneliness epidemic” we have never been more connected, yet further apart. This is also why we highlight community groups in church so often. Being alone is deadly in more ways than one.
But help is on the way and hope is on the horizon. That future hope changes you in the present moment. And so it is with us as men and Jesus. We know our future. Help is on the way. The armies of heaven are rising over the crest. Do not give up the battle. Hold your head high and your sword higher. You are backed by legions in the spiritual realm,
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