Bridget A. Thomas
Every day is a gift!
Relentless
In my last post I talked about clearing the clutter in our minds in order to aid us on our path to more grateful hearts. And this is also key when we are fighting a battle.
Today I want to stress that we have to be relentless on this path. The enemy is ruthless when it comes to pushing our buttons and bringing attacks our way. Therefore, we have to be relentless when it comes to our armor and our walk.
It is imperative to continually choose thoughts and words that align with the Word of God and ultimately His heart.
A couple of months ago I was in the kitchen making dinner. Everything was going well … until I dropped the meatloaf. Thankfully the meat itself was spared from hitting the floor, and stayed in the tray. But there was a lot of gravy to clean up. Thankfully, my husband came in the kitchen to help with the mess. 😅 We talked as we worked and we both agreed that the devil would have liked to see us get upset in these types of situations.
Sometimes it’s minor things like this that can trip us up. We feel frustrated and our gratitude flies out the window. Moments like these are a good test. Will we allow them to steal our joy? Or will we press forward with perseverance?
Romans 12:2 (NIV) says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
If we allow Him to, Jesus helps us renew our minds as we walk with Him. Spending time with Him, reading the Bible, and prayer aid in the renewal of our minds.
This is good news! This means that when we are consistent with spending time with the Lord, He will guide us. All the pressure isn’t on us.
However, we will have times when we will feel blindsided. And our old negativity will try to creep in. The evil one will attack and try to fill our minds with discouraging thoughts.
Therefore, it’s important to keep an eye out for these attacks. This will help us to handle them in the best possible way.
I love the words in Psalm 86:11 (NIV): “Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” (Emphasis added.)
We cannot have a divided heart when it comes to choosing our mindsets. If we choose gratitude and positivity one moment, then choose grumbling and negativity the next, we will not make much progress.
Joyce Meyer wrote, “A lifestyle of gratitude requires a sacrifice of praise or thanksgiving. I would rather offer a sacrifice of my thanksgiving to God than sacrifice my joy to the enemy. Many doors are opened to the devil through complaining. When we get upset and refuse to give thanks, we end up giving up our joy. In other words, we will lose our joy to the spirit of complaining. Being thankful will help you keep your joy.”
Every day we will face opportunities to choose gratitude and victory, or complaining and defeat. I pray we choose wisely. I know it’s not always easy. But thankfully we have Jesus with us at all times. When we turn to Him, He will help us on this path.
Dear Jesus, this road can be a challenging one to navigate. We have an enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But we know that You have come so that we may have life and have it abundantly. We are so thankful for this truth. We know this means we have to choose You, every moment of every day. We will have hurdles that try to block our path. But as we keep our focus on You, this helps our hearts to also stay aligned with You and Your ways. Please help us to remain relentless and to persevere. We choose gratitude and praise. We choose faith and hope. We choose You. Thank You for guiding the way. It is in Your name, we pray. Amen.
© 2018-2024 Bridget A. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Bridget A. Thomas 
Thanks Bridget, for the encouragement. We do have to remain relentless in our pursuit of God and maintaining our joy. Complaining comes easily but choosing to be thankful and joyful is an intentional choice we have to make, even in difficult times. Your post reminded me that years ago I attended a Joyce Meyer women’s conference and the theme was “relentless.” I’m glad you were able to salvage the meatloaf! And the roses are beautiful. Enjoy your weekend my friend 🌹
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Ooh I bet the Joyce Meyer conference was wonderful. You’re right, complaining does come easily. But I’m so glad we have the Holy Spirit with us always to remind us to choose joy… Lol. Thank you on the meatloaf. And about the roses – that is one nice thing about living in Florida. The roses bloom practically all year! 🥰 I hope you enjoy your weekend! 💕
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Amen Bridget! A wonderful reminder that He has our backs while we are in this world.
Have a blessed weekend.
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Yes! So true! He does have our backs. When we are under attack, it can be difficult to see that sometimes. But we have to remind ourselves of truth. Thank you! And I hope you have a blessed weekend too!
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thank you for always providing us with a message that continues to help us relate with in our everyday trying times. It truley show us how being thankful for the Lords presence is a blessing.
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Hi Sarah! I hope you’re doing well. I’m glad this post was encouraging. Life brings us so many worries. But thankfully we can still have peace and joy because we know that the Lord is with us, and fighting for us. He is a gift! I hope you have an amazing weekend! 🍁🍂
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Be alert and focused on Jesus renewing our minds each day
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Yes and amen! You summed that up well. 😁 Thanks for stopping by, big brother 😉
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I needed this message this morning!! 🙌🏻 Sometimes I lack that relentless pursuit of spending time in His Word and choose to abandon that time, letting the devil win. I’m making time today.
“However, we will have times when we will feel blindsided. And our old negativity will try to creep in. The evil one will attack and try to fill our minds with discouraging thoughts.”
“Every day we will face opportunities to choose gratitude and victory, or complaining and defeat.”
Thank you for this encouraging message! ❤️
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I know what you mean. I needed this reminder myself as well. It can be so easy to allow life to distract us. Let’s keep reminding ourselves to be relentless! We can do it, as we rely on Jesus and His strength! 🙌 Thank you, Summer. I’m glad this was inspiring. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! ♥️
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This reminded me of the tale of a boy and his Grandpa. The boy liked to copy his Grandpa, and tried to read the Bible; but he told Grandpa that, although he tried to read it, he couldn’t remember it – what good was it to read? So Grandpa handed the boy a dirty wicker coal basket and told him to fetch water with it. The boy ran to the river and back, but the coal basket had leaked all the water out. Grandpa sent him back several times, and each time the basket came back empty. The boy asked what good was it to try? Grandpa brought his attention to the basket. It had started out filthy, but was now clean. Reading the Bible is like that: you may not remember everything you read, and you may wonder what good does it do to read it at all;, but God’s Word will wash you clean. (The tale can be more fully read here: https://www.soulsupply.com/topics/the-coal-basket-the-bible-160202/ )
Our lives are like that coal basket. Daily living mucks up our baskets, lies from Satan clogs us up. But reading God’s Word clears out the lies and the muck that we often pick up just from day-to-day living. We need God every day, because we are not able to clean up our own acts.
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Oh I love that, Kathy. And so very true. The Lord gives us the manna we need for each day. He is our daily bread. Thank you for sharing that. ♥️
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I was guilty of the complaining/grateful duality. I thought I could be both. It doesn’t work. I finally accepted that if I’m grumbling my gratitude is tainted. I accept I have bad days, but I’m working to focus on the finding something good in even the bad days. It truly makes a difference. Thanks for the reminder and encouragement to choose gratitude.
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You bring up a good point though, Judy! We do have bad days. And therefore this shouldn’t lead to beating ourselves up when we stumble. Jesus understands the worries we face. And He offers us grace. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NLT). But you’re right, even on the bad days, we can still find something to be grateful for. And I’m glad Jesus doesn’t give up on us, but continues to lovingly guide us. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You always have a way of giving me more to ponder. 😁
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Amen to Jesus not giving up on us. ❤
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♥️
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An absolutely necessary reminder to be relentless in choosing our pursuit of God so that our minds are renewed and stayed in Him rather than being a playing field for the enemy. Complaining and annoyance can come so easily. Being aware I think helps not give into each time it atleast course correct sooner rather than later.
Glad that the entire meatloaf did not go to waste. Have a blessed weekend 💙
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Two things you wrote jumped out at me – “choosing our pursuit.” I love the way you put that because it shows how we have to be intentional in our walk. And also “being aware” is key because that really does help us to acknowledge and then proceed in the best way. Yes, I’m glad the meatloaf wasn’t lost also. I have cooked meatloaf on another occasion after that, and I was very careful, repeating to myself “I will not drop it.” LOL 😂 I hope you have a blessed weekend too, my friend! I see you are up early. I hope you are still trying to get some rest 😉♥️
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Great thoughts as always, Bridget. My grandmother was a perpetually positive person who felt like complaining only opened the door the devil to sow seeds of despair. She was right, and so are you!
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Your grandmother sounds like she was a wonderful person. And very smart! Such words of wisdom. It makes sense. And if we can keep that in mind, it will help us to choose joy and gratitude. Thank you for sharing that, David. I really like that and I’m going to try to hold onto that! 😊
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Oh my the Psalm scripture believe it or not I have been praying EVERY morning! Love how GOD works, love that we are not left to the end of ourselves. But we also must let HIS word breathe life into us. We are HIS kingdom people, learning and growing. But the learning and growing has to be like you said here……..relentless!!
Praying for your perseverance and mine too Bridget! Blessings friend.
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Oh wow! I love that you have been praying that Psalm! And I love what you said here – “we also must let HIS word breathe life into us.” That is such a great point because it is possible to breeze through our Bible reading and not be impacted. Thank you for your prayers! I’m praying along side you! 🙌♥️🙏
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Wonderful to know. Don’t you just love this community here? You all say so much in your comments that confirm and convict me!
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I agree. I love our community on WordPress. And often times it’s when we chat in the comments that we are really inspired and encouraged. Such a gift! 🎁
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Amen and so very thankful to have connected with everyone here. Warms my heart with each and every comment. You all preach to me!!!
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And me too! 💟
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Bridget—what a beautiful post. Yes, every day we get to choose our heart posture. Will it be one of gratitude? While I am grateful, I find myself struggling not to be downcast. I’m constantly reminding myself to focus on what I control versus what I don’t. Your post offers me great encouragement.
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I definitely understand. Life’s worries sure do have a way of bringing us down. And that makes it even harder to choose gratitude. But I love your point to focus on what we can control vs what we can’t. I have to remember to hand my worries to the Lord. And sometimes that has to happen over and over again. Thank you for stopping by, Rainer. …. And I’m encouraged that your comment didn’t go to the spam folder this time! 😂 Maybe WordPress finally got their act together!
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