Spiritual Battle | Laurie Coombs

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{Answered Questions} Does Pain Lead to Sin?

Posted on: October 3rd, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

At the beginning of September, I wrote asking if readers had questions for Anthony, the man who murdered my dad, or myself. And there was, in fact, one question posed by Mark Alman (for each of us). I sent the question to Anthony, and His response (as well as mine) can be found below. ~ For Anthony: “I have been thinking a lot about pain recently and how pain drives us to do wrong things. I believe in my life my most egregious sins were driven by pain. I wonder if you felt that yours were as well?” – Mark Anthony’s response: Yes, Mark. In my life, as well, my worst sin was driven by pain. Men tend to manifest hurt into anger. I think it’s programmed into us! When the Holy Spirit comes into us, we also receive His blessings, or fruit––love, peace, patience, etc––but when we get hurt and…

Refined by Fire

Posted on: October 1st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

As mentioned in my last post, sometimes God leads us into the fire. The objective, however, is not destruction but refinement. We are refined––or sanctified––by fire. Scripture likens the process of sanctification––becoming more and more like Jesus––to the process of refining gold and silver. These two metals are classified as “precious metals,” or highly valued metals that are well sought after. What an amazing analogy for the way God sees His children––loved, valued, and sought after. Yet, these metals, valued though they are, must be refined by heat to obtain a state of purity, which is certainly the case for us as well. In my understanding of the process, the metal is heated by fire, which allows all impurities to rise to the surface. These impurities are removed. The metal cools. And then the process begins once again. Heat, skim, cool. Heat, skim, cool. And it continues until the metal…

{Lessons Learned} Sometimes God Leads You Into the Fire

Posted on: September 26th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 7 Comments

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Being a Christ follower is hard. And if you’re truly following Jesus (i.e. submitting your life fully to His leading, praying, asking for His continued guidance), He’s going to ask you to do things you don’t want to do. This was certainly the case when I was called to have correspondence with Anthony, the man who murdered my dad. You see sometimes, God leads you into the fire. Sometimes He asks you to trust Him enough to follow Him into your unknown, scary places. But His intent is not harm. Oh no, His intent is to use your time in the furnace for His purposes in your life. To bring you to a better place. A place rich in beauty and blessings. I, personally, don’t know anyone who has been strengthened through the calm, peaceful seasons in their life. Just as a tree cannot stand until it’s properly “hardened off” by…

{Love Your Enemy} Fight Darkness With Light

Posted on: September 17th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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Jesus taught his followers a new way to treat people. Usually when people hurt you, you want to hurt them back. If people don’t like you, you don’t like them either. But Jesus tells us to love our enemies. It’s never easy but Jesus can help you. If you do good to your enemies you could change your life and theirs forever. – Avery (right before her 6th birthday), quoting one of her children’s devotional books. I came across this piece of paper a few weeks back and had to share it. As I busily cleaned the house one day, my daughter, Avery, decided to grab her “devo” and copy down one of its entries. This is what I found. Now, I don’t know if her selection was intentional or not, but out of the 365 entries in her book, she chose this one, and of course, you all know how…

Will God Fail You?

Posted on: July 19th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 8 Comments

Will God fail me? I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all asked this question––either consciously or unconsciously––at one time or another. In fact, it may be this very question that underlies our inability to give ourselves fully to God and His purposes in our lives. We think, perhaps God doesn’t love me. Perhaps God is too busy or too majestic to care about one individual such as myself. Or even if He does love me, even if He cares, He certainly doesn’t care about each intricate detail of my life. Will God pull through? Doubts come. Questions arise. All of which are a part of the normal process of faith. But I think the real question behind all our doubts is: Does God really love me? This is the real doubt behind our unwillingness to surrender. It all comes back to love. We were created to be loved and to love others….

{Lessons Learned} Can a Christian Commit Murder?

Posted on: April 15th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children. – Deuteronomy 4:9 Anthony claimed he was a Christian at the time of the murder, and I had a real problem with this. As a non-Christian and even after coming to Christ, I didn’t understand how someone who professed faith in Jesus could do something like this. Doesn’t a sin of this magnitude disqualify you from being a Christian? You can’t claim to be a Christian and commit murder, I thought. Recently, however, when telling me about a book he was reading by Kyle Idleman called Not a Fan, Anthony said, “I wonder, had I not come to prison would I have stayed a fan of Jesus or become a follower?…

{Lessons Learned} Get Over That Hurdle

Posted on: February 4th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

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But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. – 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 The door shut. I was presented with a significant hurdle. Lord, I thought You wanted me to bring Anthony a Bible, I prayed. How can I bring him a Bible if I can’t visit him? I held the letter from the warden I received that afternoon. He denied my application to visit Anthony, the man who murdered my dad. Still, I knew what I knew. I knew Jesus called me to forgive Anthony. I knew Jesus called me to love Anthony, my enemy. I knew Jesus called me to have contact with Anthony. Of these things, I was sure. What I didn’t know was how it would play out, now that I couldn’t go see him. Every journey Jesus calls us on is coupled with resistance and difficulty. Roadblocks and…

Will You Press Through to Get Into the Presence of God?

Posted on: December 20th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

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There is an account found in three out of the four gospels. It is the story of a woman who endured a discharge of blood for twelve years. One thing we must understand is that a condition such as this rendered the woman “unclean.” She would have been a lonely woman, devoid of touch or much companionship at all. Come with me for a moment and imagine…. You are this woman. You cannot touch others, and others cannot touch you. You’re outcasted. Desperate, you spend all your financial resources going to doctors. One after another. But they’re no help. Instead of seeing improvement, you only worsen. Can you relate to this woman in any way? Quite possibly, in some area of your life, you need help. You seek help––help that promises a solution to your problem––only to find yourself right where you began, or perhaps even behind a step or…

The Battle We Wage

Posted on: December 4th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 10 Comments

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If you’re completely honest with yourself, there is tension between who you want to be and who you currently are. [Tweet that] The whole world currently exists in the already but not yet. Jesus already came. He died for our sins. He resurrected, conquering death, sin, and Satan. We have already been redeemed by our gracious, loving God. But we have yet to see Him make all things new, which He will do upon His second coming. We have already been saved but not yet perfected. We are already saints by identity but not yet by deed. This can be a frustrating place to be. In Romans, Paul, himself, experienced this tension. He says: For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I…

Knowing God is the End Goal

Posted on: November 27th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs

A few weeks ago, the Holy Spirit challenged me with this: Have I been seeking God for what He can do for me or do I simply want Him? Ouch. Well, I think you can imagine what my answer was at the time. But it wasn’t always this way. When I was first saved (and for quite a while after) I was on fire for Jesus. I was seeking Him to know Him better. I was learning much about the character of God. I would pick up my Bible and simply devour every word, much like a novel you just can’t seem to put down. I couldn’t get enough of Him. I was thirsty. Thirsty for His Word. Thirsty for Him. He took me through some rough seasons. Taught me things beyond me. Things that blew my mind. He poured His grace upon my life. Allowed me to forgive the unforgivable…