I’m on a dark, muddy battlefield and I’m surrounded by soldiers in full, shining armor. They are fighting with swords and shields that gleam brightly despite the darkness. The enemy army we are facing is the strongest it has ever been. Pure evil drips from their shrouded shapes, its dark stain tainting the ground beneath us.

When I turn around, I am completely fenced in by the strange forms. They want to destroy me.  The battle around me seems to disappear as I focus on the creatures, preparing to strike. I can see them identifying my weaknesses, as if they knew them already.  Reaching behind me for my sword, I find air. Nothing is there. I look down at my clothing and it’s just that, clothing. I am not wearing any armor like the rest of the soldiers on my side. I am not prepared for this fight.

I watch as a smile slowly creeps across one of my opponent’s faces as he lunges for an attack…

This is how I imagine myself, as a warrior princess, fighting against spirits and principalities that come against me (Ephesians 6:12 KJV). When I am prepared, I have my armor on and the Sword of the Spirit is readily available for me to wield. When I am not, it’s like grasping at air when I most need a weapon.

I mentioned in another blog post that I have a routine that I like to do every morning to get my mind focused on God. One of the most important parts of this routine is reading his word! I can’t stress its importance enough!

Below are some extra things that I do to drive that word home and bring it with me on the wards, in my car, to my meetings, basically everywhere I go.

Notecards/Post It Notes I have been in love with notecards since high school. I don’t know what it is about them, possibly their portability? The fact that they come in different sizes? I don’t know, but I love writing bible verses on these to keep my mind focused on scripture. A very real example of a challenge that I face is my anxiety. I can worry about 365 things before 9 am if I let it run rampant.

However, God knew that anxious Analise would walk this earth and made sure that there were scriptures in his word for that, namely Proverbs 3:5 and Philippians 4:6. I simply write the entire verse and what I want to remind myself about the verse on the notecard and put it somewhere as a reminder. I am constantly finding these notecards everywhere in my life because there are no limits on where I can put these bad boys. When I had my white coats, I had at least 2 notecards in there about anxiety and about doing my best in everything for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). I would pull them out when I had downtime and read over them to encourage and uplift myself. I currently have them in my planner, in my purses, in my car, in Rome’s car, in his coats, etc. I’m exaggerating, but not by much.

Post It Notes- I like putting these on my mirror to remind myself that God sees me as beautiful and that I am wonderfully and fearfully made in his image (Psalm 139:14, Genesis 1:27). This prevents me from saying mean things to myself in the mirror. I know I’m not the only one who does that, so yeah. I might put one in my laundry room to remind myself that Jesus took serving others in love very seriously (Matthew 23:11, Philippians 2:5-7). When I want to grumble about laundry, I can instead think about Jesus and embrace his attitude.

 

Meditation– We have been hearing a lot about meditation and mindfulness in the media lately. The way I have adopted this probably a little bit different than what is being promoted.

I don’t sit and clear my mind of everything and focus on my breathing. I try to have extreme focus on something else, scripture.

If I have a verse that really spoke to me in my reading (or googling) that day, I write it on a notecard (shout out to #1) and then I sit, clear my mind, and think about the verse. I think about what it means, what wording is used in the verse, and what God intended to communicate. I also sit and think about how I can apply that verse to my life.

For verses about love or sin, I try and internalize and memorize the verse and think about what God is saying about his love for me or how I should flee from sin. I have found that from practicing this, the verses come to my mind more readily when I need them because Holy Spirit brings them to my remembrance (John 14:26). I love this and I try and do this as often as possible (Psalm 1:2).

Both this and #1 work together to reinforce scripture when memorizing it too.

 

Accountability– This is a tough one because it means allowing someone to be in my business. It means authorizing someone to be intimate with my struggles, my fears, and my joys. My husband is my primary accountability partner, but I have friends who play this role as well. I have a friend who checks on me to make sure that I am in my word daily and I have a lot of friends who are in my business.  They speak the word to me and genuinely make me want to grow in my relationship with Him. I prefer friends who are tough with me and aren’t going to feed me nice things because they are afraid of hurting my feelings. This is so beneficial because it allows me to be surrounded by a cloud of witnesses that can push me toward the goal (Hebrews 12:1-2).

This mutual accountability I have with my friends and my husband also allows me to have people that I can pray with and struggle with throughout the day. Since I do my prayer time in the morning, when most people aren’t even awake, my friends will text me or call me later on in the day and ask me what I read that morning. We then get a chance to talk about what we learned in our quiet times.

I’ll admit that it’s uncomfortable to let multiple people into my life, but it is so good for me to have this reminder of what I read/ learned about later on in the day. Every time I am about to let my discomfort get in the way of gaining accountability, I remember that God did not intend for us to walk this walk alone. Instead, He wanted us to be part of fellowship with other believers. It is in this community that maturation and progress occur.

 

These simple things have assisted me in making sure that I am not just leaving that time spent in the morning and forgetting about God for the rest of the day.

 

Let me know if any of these things help you guys out as you endeavor to incorporate his word in your life!

 

Love you guys!

Lise

 

 

Scriptural References (and notecard ammunition, if you will) 

Ephesians 6:10-17 NIV Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

 

Psalm 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

 

Genesis 1:27

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

 

Matthew 23:11

The greatest among you will be your servant.

 

Philippians 2:5-7

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

 

Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 

 

John 14:26

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,