I've been involved in athletics my entire life - as a participant, coach, or avid observer. In all my years of athletics I've never been a big trash talker. I just did my thing and let the my performance speak for itself. However, I do marvel at those who have raised trash talking to an art form. While I don't condone it, I do understand the strategy behind it. Trash talk is all about one thing, distraction. The trash talker is trying to get inside the opponents head and get them focused on anything other than the game and game plan. If they can cause them to become so angry that they lose sight of the overall objective of their team, then the trash talker has won the battle within the war, and made their target less effective.
In our spiritual warfare we are engaged with an enemy who is the ultimate trash talker. He desires to get inside our head (mind) and distract us from our mission and our Maker. If he does that he will rob us of our peace and make us ineffective in carrying out the mission of God here on the earth.
What is our mission?
It is to make the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ known throughout the entire world. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation whereby we are to make God's plan for salvation known to those who are far from God. The devil wants to inhibit this work. He can't change our eternal destiny once we've received Jesus as Savior, but he can derail our spiritual walk and make us ineffective in carrying out God's mission here on earth.
Who is our Maker?
God is our maker and needs to be our focus. When our eyes drift from God to our circumstances we are instantly robbed of peace and our life becomes less impactful. Isaiah 26:3 tells us that perfect (complete) peace comes from keeping God as our focus. When God is BIG in our life, our problems seem small. When our problems look big, it's because our God is small. Keep your mind focused on God and you will have the peace of God that passes understanding.
Don't allow the spiritual trash talker to get in your head and distract you from your Maker and from your mission. Diligently pursue God as you make His gospel known in all the earth. Remember, we've already won the game - your adversary is desperate and is trying all his tricks to distract you and make you ineffective.
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