The Devil Made Me Do It

The Apostle Peter reminds us that Satan is not some cartoon character that has no power of persuasion. The truth is that the devil actually roams around on the earth looking for ways to make God's people fall into sin.

Peter also exhorts us to be alert and to take the devil's threat seriously (2 Corinthians 11:14; 1 Peter 5:8). My son was put into a compromising situation during a time when he was very vulnerable and disheartened.

He ended up giving in to Satan's temptation to indulge his flesh. He sinned against God, himself and his family. As a result he lost his home, family, integrity, moral testimony, and standing in his church community.

Thankfully, God's grace is restoring His blessings to my son little by little, but it is a long and frustrating road to travel as he reaps the consequences of falling into Satan's trap.

Another trick of the devil is to dredge up issues from our past - discouraging words spoken to us, negative experiences we survived, etc. - and Satan throws them up into our face time and time again to shame and depress us.

Satan whispers lies that run over and over in our mind until we exorcize them by the power of God's Word and Spirit. Our time of concentrated prayer allows God to reveal these lies to us, as well as God's truth that expels them from our memory and diminishes their effect in our life. (http://www.transformationprayer.org/)

Another ploy that the devil uses is to put ideas into our head that we think are ours. We often blindly follow them, and we reap the dire consequences of disobeying God (1 Chronicles 21:1).

God's forgiveness is immediate when we repent of our wayward ways, but we often end up reaping, for years to come, the price of what we sowed. God's Word is full of encouraging truth for us, and we are only secure in the center of God's Will. 

- Proverbs 14:26

Prayer:

Father God, if we seek You for the root cause of our negative emotions, You always give us the wisdom and discernment to recognize Satan's lies in our life. Help us to walk in the Spirit (Romans 5:15-25), to keep guard over our soul (Mark 8:35-36; 1 Peter 2:24-25; Proverbs 4:23), and to live in the center of Your will for us. If we draw near to You and resist the devil, he has to flee from us (James 4:7).

We believe in You and we surrender our life to You. You are always available to help us during our times of unbelief (Mark 9:24). We want to advance Your Kingdom on this earth and to serve You faithfully, until You return or until You bring us through the portal of death into Your presence. We look forward to receiving our eternal reward in Your eternal Kingdom.

Thought for the Day:

We are overcomers - Romans 8:37

We are good enough - 1 Corinthians 6:11

We have wisdom and intelligence - 

       1 Corinthians 2:16

We are acceptable - 2 Corinthians 3:5

We are chosen - Ephesians 1:42

We are forgiven and have no condemnation -            Romans 8:1-2; 1 John 1:9

We are children of our Father and co-heirs with          King Jesus - John 1:12; 1 John 3:1; 

      Romans 8:17

A Good Marriage - Little Foxes

Small slights, broken promises, forgotten milestones in our relationship, focusing on our own career and interests rather than on our connection with one another, etc., are the little foxes that destroy our marriage.

Over time, they will etch away at the bond of love we used to have. They cause resentment, which often builds in our heart over the years of neglect and being taken for granted.

At times, this resentment grows on the back of our perfectionistic expectations. We forget that we are both human and imperfect at best. We lose patience with each other's foibles and peculiarities. We often get impatient with the small oversights that erode our confidence in one another.

My husband's favorite comment when he hurts my feelings is, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't do it on purpose." That is usually the case. Unless we married a monster, the slights - the little foxes - are usually oversights instead of conscious decisions meant to hurt us.

In a good marriage, we honestly communicate our feelings with one another, using kind words, without using anger or a cold shoulder, which we use in an attempt to protect our self from more hurt (Proverbs 15:15).

We all fall short of perfection, and we should remember this when we are tempted to feel critical or wounded by our mate's offenses. Showing grace and mercy to one another is the better way to live.

This loving attitude prevents resentment and bitterness from growing between us. Of course, there are issues that arise in some marriages that can kill love.

I believe that trust is the foundation of love; therefore, infidelity - physical or emotional - is a major breach of our commitment to one another. We also grow apathetic in our marriage - ungrateful, thoughtless and unappreciative.

Our passion grows cold and we co-exist like roommates rather than as adoring spouses. This is not a death-toll to our relationship, however. With the Holy Spirit's help, we can always rekindle that spark of love and learn to cherish each other all over again.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to bathe one another and our marriage in prayer on a daily basis. Keep us faithful to our love for You and for one another. Remind us to be swift to hear and slow to speak with wrathful words (James 1:19-27). Give us Your wisdom in relating to our mate with Your Agape love that lasts a lifetime, rather than human love that wanes with the tides of life.

Even if we fail to honor our marriage vows, help us to forgive one another and to work out our differences as we allow You to re-spark our passion for one another. Fill us with the fruit of Your Spirit so that we can relate to one another with Godly compassion rather than human carnality.

Thought for the Day:

It is the "little foxes" that spoil the vine; therefore, we need to concentrate on preferring and pleasing one another, and viewing these marital slights through the eyes of God's Spirit - with forgiveness, mercy and grace. - Song of Solomon 2:15

Attempting to Control Life

God’s Spirit and blessings are often blocked from our life, because of our lack of surrender to Him. We miss out on all that God planned for us before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10).

Due to trauma in our past, we make sure to maintain control of our life. We do not want someone else to tell us what to do, or to dictate the circumstances in which we live.

We fear that we will suffer too much pain and loss if we surrender completely to God. However, God loves us. He sanctifies us and He will also perfect us.

The quickest way to accomplish this is to develop an intimate relationship with Him. His plans for our life are for our good (Romans 8:28). All that God needs from us is an enthusiastic heart, and then He will do the rest (Philippians 2:12-13).

Mother Nature gives us a perfect picture of what it means to be totally surrendered to God. The flowers bloom where they are planted. The animals interact in the area of the world where God placed them. Even the bugs dutifully fulfill His destiny for them.

Yet we, as His creation also, ignore and neglect God most of time. Some of us remember to give Him a few moments of time before we fall asleep, and some even rise up early to give Him an hour of time prior to starting our day. Yet, this is not even close to totally surrendering to Him.

If we live in the moment, without regretting the past or fearing the future, God will fill us with His peace, which exceeds all of our expectations. He proves to us how gracious He is and that He plans to give us a future full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

Prayer:

Father God, even though You required that Jesus go to the cross, You shortened the time He normally would have hung there (Mark 15:44). You also shorten the time of our trials on earth, and You give us the grace to experience them with victory rather than defeat.

Thank You for giving us the faith and courage to face the future by granting that Your divine nature, which dwells in Christ, dwells in us through Your Holy Spirit. Jesus is our perfect example of a surrendered life. We completely yield our self to You, as He did, for You to use for Your glory.

Thought for the Day:

Thankfully, God facilitates our surrender to Him by freeing us from sin, calling us to Himself, providing for all of our needs, and helping us to trust in His faithfulness (Mark 9:24); then when we totally surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our life, God uses us for His glory.

Hoping in Reality

Every day on this earth is only a shadow of what is to come, and it provides us with little hope to which to cling (1 Chronicles 29:15). Yet, without hope, life is impossible to live.

A hopeless existence crushes our soul, and affects our body and spirit as well (Job 17:15). The distresses of life are the result of Adam’s sin, passed on to us through our heritage from him.

Life is discouraging at best, unless we put our trust in Jesus Christ. Then, we see the fruition of our hope, and feel totally alive and blessed (Proverbs 13:12).

Even though we grieve in our trials on this earth, we rejoice in the fact that it is only for a little while – a vapor compared to eternity (James 4:13-14).

We can live in strength and courage without fear, because Christ in us fights for us against all of the negative aspects in our life (Joshua 10:25; John 5:6).

Death no longer has any sting for the Believer. Authentic Christians are aliens and pilgrims in this life (1 Peter 2:11), but angels escort us to heaven to receive our reward.

At the time of our death, we immediately pass from this earthly realm into the heaven realm. Jesus swallowed up death by His victory on Calvary’s cross.

Due to His victory, we have the hope of eternity and we can live life with a steadfast and immovable mind-set. This positive attitude enables us to succeed in our work for the Lord. Our labor of love for the Lord is never in vain (1 Corinthians 15:54-58).

Prayer:

Father God, many people say that You are no help to them in their times of trouble; but the truth is: You are our only hope (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Our hope rests in You, because of Your victory over death and Your eternal salvation, which provides us with a living hope regardless of our circumstances in our life on this earth.

We look forward to spending the Millennium serving You, and then to rejoicing in You for eternity with all of Your Saints. Thank you for sending Jesus to suffer the death on the cross in our place, for taking up His life again in Your resurrection (John 10:17-18, 15:13), for coming for His Bride before the day that You pour out Your wrath on the earth, and for sending Him here again to set up Your Kingdom.

Thought for the Day:

In the face of the worse trial life throws at us, we never lose hope, because it is simply light and momentary affliction when compared to the incomparable, unseen weight of glory, which God has prepared for us in eternity. - 1 Corinthians 2:9

Free from Sin's Bondage

Jesus stated in a parable that the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman mixed into a large bowl of flour until it is worked all through the dough. He points out that the leaven permeates every square inch of the dough.

Jesus also reminded the disciples at the Last Supper that He was offering His body as unleavened bread – a sinless offering for the atonement of our sins (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24).

Then, He mentions that we should beware of the leaven in the teachings of false prophets (Matthew 6:11-12; Galatians 5:9). This allows preachers and teachers to take verses out of context, isolate them and make a false doctrine out of them.

Paul exhorts us to get rid of the old "yeast" in our life by removing the deeds of the flesh within us (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). He specifically noted the leaven of malice and wickedness.

Then he contrasted the bread without leaven, as the bread of sincerity and truth. He encourages us to live like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast - unleavened bread – without sin.

Yeast is good for bread when you want it to rise. However, it is a negative aspect when we relate the leaven to sin in our life. We do not want sin to permeate every square inch of our soul (Matthew 13:33-34).

If we live one moment at a time with our focus on Jesus and not on the circumstances and people around us (Isaiah 26:3), we can actually live free of sin's bondage for our entire lifetime.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus the type and shadow in the Old Testament that relates to actual events in the New Testament is amazing. Thank You for giving us confirmation of everything You anointed the authors to write.

Help us to live without the leaven of sin in our life. Remind us to sweep even the corners of our soul and flesh to remove the most infinitesimal sin from our life. We want to give You all of the honor and glory in everything we think, say and do.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus, our Passover Lamb, sacrificed His life for our sins (Romans 3:25; 1 Peter 1:19); therefore, the least we can do for Him is to make a clean sweep of all unrighteousness within our body and soul, in order to give the Holy Spirit a clean Temple, unspotted by the corruption of sin in our life, in which to dwell.

A Place of Grace

 

Human beings find it hard to let go of the anger, bitterness and the desire for revenge, which we harbor against those who hurt us. In actuality, we dream up all sorts of calamities, which we hope our oppressors will fall into, as we grin with delight.

Somehow, withholding forgiveness makes our wounds easier to handle. We think that we are punishing our offender by refusing to forgive them. However, the bitterness that grows out of unforgiveness is a poisonous root that  our body, soul and spirit (Hebrews 12:15).

If we choose to entertain resentment instead of forgiving our offender, bitterness will corrupt our whole life. Paul exhorts us to get rid of all bitterness (Ephesians 4:31). God knows exactly how to serve up vengeance on our tormentors (Deuteronomy 32:35-36).

The truth is that God cannot forgive us if we do not first forgive others (Mark 11:26). If we do not ask forgiveness from those whom we offend or wound, this is equally as serious (Matthew 5:24).

However, when we understand eternity, the concerns of this life lose their intensity and value. We live in a place of grace, realizing that we are as flawed as anyone else. We are not perfect and we wound others as well.

This concept makes it so much easier to forgive those who hurt us. Also, aspects of this life, which used to mean so much to us, have no more attraction for us and our values change from carnal to spiritual.

We lose our need to harbor unforgiveness toward others. We prefer the blessings of forgiveness instead. As we focus on eternal matters, we rejoice without ceasing because of God’s salvation and His multitude of blessings in our life. 

We exchange our plan for our life with God’s plans for us. This change in our mindset provides us with fulfillment, which we would never experience without complete surrender to God’s will. 

Prayer:

Father God, we learn to count our self blessed, because of Your intervention in our life. You save us from so much hardship that people will suffer, if they do not have You in their life. Our slate of sin is wiped clean, because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

We are so happy to get a fresh start each new morning, to find freedom from the tyranny of sin and to walk in walk in Your ways. We want to forgive others, so that You can forgive us. You hold nothing against us, and we hold nothing back from You (Psalm 32:1-2).

Thought for the Day:

Some people die with a bitter soul, having never tasted the goodness of the Lord. – Job 21:25.

Continuing in God's Presence

Today’s society scares most people to death. The evening news is full of terror, civil unrest, opportunists and scam artists attempting to take advantage of us, and sickness that threatens our very existence.

We rush through life, losing sleep to study for tests, or to meet quotas and cut-off dates. We use up every ounce of human exertion, which we can arouse, in order to procure the next raise or promotion.

We pay inflated prices for dessert coffee to wake us up, and then rely on medication to get some sleep, and/or to quell the physical illnesses produced by our frantic pace.

What we do not realize is that God did not abandon us at birth and expect us to make it through our lifetime on our own. He is always here for us. At some point in our life, we recognize our need for complete reliance on the Lord.

His Spirit then engulfs us and leads us through each moment of our day, as He fills the time with divine appointments and successful enterprises. From the moment of our salvation, we are never alone or forsaken (Hebrews 13:5).

The Spirit of God abides in us and changes us from one stage of glory to the next (Psalm 46:10). As we abide in His presence, we receive God's healing for our spirit, soul and body.

We peacefully move through the routine of our daily life by the direction of God's Holy Spirit. He directs us to evangelistic opportunities to share His love with those He brings into our life.  We simply tell them about how God changed our life (Psalm 18:49).

We reside in God's rest, found in our quiet place within our spirit. We revel in the continual presence of God, and we experience a deep sense of enduring unity with the Trinity.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that living in order to find acceptance in this world makes us an abomination to You (Luke 16:14-15). Society's social status may give us esteem and value in their eyes, but not to You (Ephesians 1:6). Your holiness is Your standard for Your Believers.

Thankfully, we are not required to reach or maintain righteousness by our own efforts. Jesus took our sinful penchant and crucified it with Himself on Calvary's cross. In doing this, He reigns victorious over the sin and death that continually dog our steps (Colossians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 2 Corinthians 5:21). He alone is our source of light, power and victory on this earth.

Thought for the Day:

When we walk in God's ways and obey the Holy Spirit's direction for each and every day of our life; we walk in Christ's victory, revel in His love for us, and enjoy His peace that has no earthly source or reason.