Make WAR (on sin!)

On Mondays I often need an extra dose of motivation towards what I call "mundane righteousness."  By that I mean the gall to get up and live my ordinary little life like Christ actually rose from the dead, and like He actually cares about my thoughts and actions.  Here's what's helping me today:  a song and a sermon.

Those of you who have known me a while know that rap is not my natural first choice of music. :)  However, when you go to church with a Dove-and-Grammy-nominated-rapper, your horizons tend to be stretched, and even broadened! :)  Last summer FLAME (otherwise known as Marcus Gray) did a free concert in my/our church's neighborhood park, and Ryan & I packed up the baby and went, mostly to show support to our brother and to try and love on any neighbors who might show up. I was surprised (and thrilled!) to actually find myself worshipping, and being tremendously encouraged!  Marcus is a gifted evangelist & teacher, and he just drips Gospel no whatever he says!  Anyway, here is a song of his that is a great one to get in your head when you need to be reminded that the Enemy is real, and that his greatest ally is inside of you... in other words, EVERY DAY!  It's called "Make War," and it opens with a wonderful John Piper clip:

"I MAKE WAR!/Cause sin never sleeps/
It's got me in a trance/you can see it in my dreams/
I MAKE WAR!/Man I beat my flesh/
to the death/every breath/like I beat my chest/
I MAKE WAR/sun up/
I MAKE WAR/sun down/
I MAKE WAR/time in/
I MAKE WAR/time out/
I MAKE WAR/against lust/
against pride/against me/until I die/" -Flame

I particularly like this because of our Sunday sermon last week.  One of our pastors, Ryan Fullerton, preached from 1 Cor 3 on growing up in Christ instead of staying immature and needing bottle-feedings.  To do that, we need to be serious about "making war" on our fleshly desires!  I highly recommend the sermon; download or stream it here.   (The final title doesn't really capture the scope of the message, "Is There a Carnal Christian?," but you've got to call it something!)