Stop struggling and know God

Psalm 46 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Psalm 46

God Our Refuge

For the choir director. A song of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth 

 1 God is our refuge and strength,
    a helper who is always found
    in times of trouble. 

    2 Therefore we will not be afraid,
    though the earth trembles
    and the mountains topple
    into the depths of the seas, 

    3 though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with its turmoil.  

          Selah

    4 [There is] a river—
    its streams delight the city of God,
    the holy dwelling place of the Most High. 

    5 God is within her; she will not be toppled.
    God will help her when the morning dawns. 

    6 Nations rage, kingdoms topple;
    the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

    7 The LORD of Hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our stronghold. 

         Selah

    8 Come, see the works of the LORD,
    who brings devastation on the earth. 

    9 He makes wars cease throughout the earth.
    He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces;
    He burns up the chariots. 

    10 "Stop [your fighting]—and know that I am God,
    exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth."

    11 The LORD of Hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah 

So much of life is absorbed and wasted by the struggles we put ourselves through everyday. I heard a message from Charles Stanley yesterday and the part that really hit home for me was the verse of Psalms 46. I realized that another key had just been added to my keychain. I will master this. Stop struggling and know God. I have focused on just one day of behaving this way and it was freeing. I ran across many problems but they did not ruin my day. I just stopped struggling and asked God for direction each time. Each incident resolved itself better than usual. All my life I persisted in being bothered and stressed, making a big deal out of the smallest things. Be still and know that I am God. He is the mighty Lord of creation; why am I flailing about like a fish on dry land? Be still, stop struggling and know God. It makes sense because if we truly know God we would know that our struggling is a failing in our own personal faith. I am notoriously stubborn, however I have decided to pursue this simple mantra of faith. Stop struggling and know God. 

Killing The Old Man

Colossians 3:1-11 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

1 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore, put to death whatever in you is worldly: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God's wrath comes on the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off  the old man  with his practices 10 and have put on  the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of his Creator.  11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

I have made great strides in my spiritual life of just over a decade, however I never finished off the old me. I left him for dead and he is greatly weakened. Yet you can still find dark corners in my soul and there he hides. He hangs on and tries to renew his strength while not alerting me to his presence. When I approach him he growls very sinisterly and a voice says wait if you get rid of him how will you defend yourself. Because, somehow at some point I have become convinced that in order to fight and defend I needed that beast inside me. So he stayed secured behind that simple fallacy. Recently I was very sharply reminded of my mortality. This keen awareness of death caused a self inspection that shined a light on the old man. I am shamed at my inability to kill him and the impact he still had on my Christian life. Be vigilant my fellow Christians and make sure that you kill the old you. Our life is with Jesus Christ and we cannot mature past a certain point while the old man still hangs on to life. Trust me when I say it is easier to kill the old self when it is strong and facing you than when it's hiding.