Well, good day to you all. It was the last Sunday of 2019 and our Lord gave me a word. First of all I don’t have it with me at the moment. What I do remember was the first part of it. The Lord told me “barriers are defiance.” A short yet very thought provoking statement. As I meditated on it I have come to realize that anything I put before our Lord is a barrier. Meaning that what I don’t want to give up becomes a barrier. Anything that I want to keep hold of. One example in my life would be music. Being a traditional hard rock fan from the 70’s on is the type of music I enjoy listening to. Thou it didn’t tell you to kill the cop or promote violence it did sing about sex and drugs. This is what I grew up with and knew about. And still this is what I choose to put into my mind. It has become a barrier between God and myself.

Now some could say that not all of it is bad. But the point is that it has a place in me that God wants and needs. It is like putting up your hand in God’s face and telling Him to talk to the hand because I’m not listening. So, my alternative is to listen to more worship music and good christian songs. At least this way I’m putting something good into me. In Phil.4:8 it says “Finally, brothers, Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.” This says it all. Fill yourself with that which is good.

There are other areas of concern. Like TV, social media, reading, movies etc. and the subjects of sex, violence, porn and more. We have access to so much stuff it can be mind boggling. Another area is our careers. Putting in so much time into work by choice. Doing overtime because it means more money. This is something that can drive a person away from God.

All these areas and more can be barriers. Its whatever we put in between God and ourselves. If God wanted to He could destroy all the barriers Himself. But He doesn’t. For He has given us free choice of how to live our lives. That is why we need to choose to have Him in our lives. We need to choose not to have these barriers. If we ask God to help us get rid of these barriers He will. We just have to ask. Then we need to find an alternative to those things. Find something that goes with Phil. 4:8 and get closer to God. Let Him have all of your life not just a part of it. Not what we are willing to give up. Give Him all of it.

Oh and by the way some synonyms for defiance are: confrontation, contempt, opposition, provocation, rebellion, spite, affront and audacity. These I found at Thesaurus.com by googling the word itself. How does rebellion sound to you? Not exactly a word I want to use to describe my relationship with God. Think about it. Changing one area of our lives will go a long way toward a better relationship with God. Spend time in prayer to seek out help from Him. He will give you what you need to be an over comer.

Be blessed, Ken