Have you ever been goaded into fighting dirty?

About a year ago I almost posted something to my social media feeds that would have been in direct opposition to the Biblical verse I consider to be my “life verse.” I mean, how does someone who endeavors to make a sound for Jesus and His Kingdom daily find themselves with spiritual ears that have been dulled to the point where they would casually consider doing something like that? Yet, there I was, considering it and asking close friends what they thought. I was looking for permission from people because God clearly wasn’t giving me the green light in my spirit. Thankfully, I held back. I never made the post.

Fast forward to just a couple months ago and I thought it might be the right time to post those thoughts from a year ago, so I asked God about it and again, I felt no permission. Then he asked me a question that ultimately woke me up to the potential train wreck I was about to cause if I posted what I’d been considering as a “witty retort.” It was right then that I realized just how strong the temptation is for Christians to pick up the weapons the enemy has left strewn all about this battlefield we’re on to fight back just like him. And it’s a trick. He’s trying to take us out.

So if this is a struggle you’ve been all too familiar with this past year — the struggle to know how to respond in the midst of unrelenting cancel culture and virtue signaling and flat-out demonic schemes — and you’d like to know how to respond in a way that’s both powerful and God-honoring, then grab your Bible, your journal and a pen, and let’s get into this episode!

What you will learn in this episode:

• I’m telling the story of how I sat on a provocative (and carnal) response to a “hot topic” in culture for nearly a year as God (by his grace!) walked me away from fighting the way the world was fighting;
• I’m sharing the reasons for why we need to be fighting differently in this season of virtue signaling, cancel culture and radical “tolerance” as the enemy turns up the volume on his evil strategies for this world;
• And I’m giving you the strategies you need to structure godly responses as you make the sound you’re made to make without playing the comparison game or worrying that “our side” isn’t winning.

Scripture References mentioned in this episode:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 —
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Samuel 17:50-51 —
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

John 12:49 —
For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.

John 6:60-66 —
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Links to Resources Mentioned in This Episode

If you’d like more conversations like this in your life with an opportunity to go deeper and be more intentional about growing to breakthrough, join us inside the REVIVE Online Campus Community (“the ROCC”). Hop into our community group and we’ll see you there as we continue the discussion.

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Erica co-leads a local church alongside her husband, Doug, in Tampa, Florida called REVIVE Church of Tampa. You can visit the church’s website for more information about who we are, what we believe and how we show up as the Church in the heart of West Tampa and beyond.

REVIVE Church of Tampa

REVIVE Church of Tampa streams services live on Friday nights at 7pm ET and Sunday mornings at 11am ET. You can find those livestreams on our church Facebook page:

Live Services – Fridays at 7pm ET and Sundays at 11am ET

If you’re interested in joining the online campus of REVIVE Church of Tampa, you are welcome to join our community group on Facebook where we offer weekly discussion around the Friday and Sunday messages as well as discipleship Zoom groups and the opportunity to host others in your home as you stream services. You can find us here:

The ROCC: REVIVE Online Campus Community

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About this podcast:

Positioned to Prosper is a weekly podcast that covers the ins and outs of what it means to live a lifestyle of breakthrough and victory in your relationships, health, finances and beyond. Your host, Erica Pyle, is no stranger to jumping without the proverbial parachute while maintaining a firm grip on godly wisdom. A self-described slayer of pragmatism and a “walk by faith” kind of girl, Erica is an unabashed believer in the power of God to radically transform lives. Front-footed in faith as she offers straight-up truth, strategies, and wisdom for living victoriously, and equipped with her love for the word of God, her certification as a holistic health coach, and years of experience in personal finance and taxation, Erica is ready to help you get positioned to prosper.