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It’s hard sometimes

17 Jun

It’s hard sometimes

1 Peter 5:8 -9  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

This summer has seemed to bring much more stress and problems than usual. Everything that can go wrong has; odd problems, problems rarely seen, things that just don’t happen, seem to happen anyhow. I have gotten to the breaking point over and over again, ready to lash out at the world and just scream. The flesh inside of me screams “why me?” I have even found myself curse; which by God’s hand he delivered me from that sin early in the sanctification process of my life. By God’s mercy and grace, I have not snapped yet; only through his provision and my hearts desire to stay abiding as his disciple have I not. It has been very hard…….

I read this passage above in my daily devotional this morning. I do understand and see much of my life through a spiritual lens; a lens of discernment from which many of my problems arise. My adversary knows my heart for God and his goal is to keep my heart from God; to cause me to lash out at God; to return to my old sinful self that he was proud of. When you turn your life over to Christ, you do not get to press the “Easy Button”. Satan has a real reason to pursue you with increased diligence, for you have “switched sides”. It is a lie from hell being preached in the world today of a life of ease as a Christian. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. We are taught to live for eternity.

2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. All that our outward man, that is all that we battle in the flesh, is the result of sin. Satan is in control of this world; the outward world, the one that is flesh and perishing. God has him on a leash, he can only go as far as God allows, but all his work is perishing. Only those that are in Christ are living for the world to come; a world perfect without Satan & sin, with renewed heavenly bodies, a world with Christ alone in his kingdom. Keeping our eyes on the eternal goal gives us the strength to understand all these problems are from a defeated enemy. Know that you are not alone in your struggles, but seek the brotherhood of faith to assist you in them.

 
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Posted by on June 17, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Take a stand

18 Jul

Take a stand

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I had a conversation with an elderly customer last night that is still fresh in my mind about the state of affairs here in America. She told me of how her father could not believe how the world was changing in his lifetime. She said of her own, “The things we used to shun, have now become the norm, and what we used to uphold, is now shunned.” There is abundant truth in that statement. Our world is sliding away into depravity in every area of political and moral decline. Our means of acceptance of every lifestyle is leading our decay. Ruth Graham has been quoted many times about her note to Billy from 1965; “If God doesn’t soon bring judgment upon America, He’ll have to go back and apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!”

When you truly step out in your faith, you go against the tide of the world. You will become an outsider; you will be ostracized for your beliefs. Satan wants us all to get along because under that ruse is his hidden agenda; to keep you from Christ. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  He is at work in big ways in our society under this agenda, and has people in power working for him. But see it for what it is, a trojan horse. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Dare to be different in a world that will not. Stand up for your faith and deny what you know is wrong. These stand and persecutions will only be temporal, and the rewards for them eternal.

 
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Posted by on July 18, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Are you the feeble one in the herd?

16 Jun

Are you the feeble one in the herd?

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

You are the prey. You are the one hunted by the devil as a roaring lion seeking to destroy your soul. How does a lion typically hunt? By seeking out the weakest in a herd and pouncing on them by taking advantages of their weakness. Satan’s entire focus is on destroying your faith and your soul, and he will go to great lengths to accomplish it. Matthew Henry said, “It was the faith of these people that Satan aimed at; if he could overturn their faith, and draw them into apostasy, then he knew he should gain his point, and ruin their souls; therefore, to destroy their faith, he raises bitter persecutions, and sets the grand potentates of the world against them.” It can cast a different light on your life if you reflect on the strength of your faith in the herd, and the lion stalking you daily to take advantage of that weakness. “To this end he is unwearied and restless in his malicious endeavours; for he always, night and day, goes about studying and contriving whom he may ensnare to their eternal ruin.”

In 1 Peter 5:5-7,  Peter was speaking of how to clothe ourselves in humility, and of how God grants grace to that. Satan’s fall was greatly related to pride and that sin is a strong weapon is his arsenal against us. 1 Timothy 3:6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. We are not told to flee the devil, but to resist him. We resist him by strengthening our faith in prayer and time in God’s Word. God’s Word becomes our only offensive weapon to guard ourselves when Satan attacks. These attacks will come when you are at your weakest point; after being beat down he whispers in your ear thoughts of pity, doubt, inadequacies,  fear, and the list could go on. The power of God through the strength of your faith measured by your humility and submission to God and His Word, will cause the devil to flee from you. James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Do not find yourself the weakest in the herd, but feed yourself and strengthen yourself on God and His Word daily.

 
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Posted by on June 16, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Bracket buster or Victory?

27 Mar

If I could only let you in. This is a deeply personal devo to myself, but one that we all at some time can benefit from the trials that are game changers as we are enduring and many of you are too. I have been on a “high” recently emotionally, and with that comes the understanding of the attacks and trials that will come. Satan knows when to come after us, and God allows him to test our faith. I was with the Godliest man I know yesterday discussing these things, and even the book of James. I was counseling with a friend in the middle of their large trial later, while about to face my own. I was humbled beyond words with the prayers and concerns of my two best friends. Pslam 37 was given to me, and a great place to rest as a child of God. I choose God and allow Him to work in and through me however He pleases. I draw near to Him in prayer, Godly counsel, and His Word for the strength to endure. He has got this….and me and my family…..I KNOW.

 

Bracket buster or Victory?

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

The phone calls that change everything, stopping you in your tracks. You see life as you know and plan for it change in an instant. You hang up in disbelief, and wonder what is your next move. Mine for many a year would have been to a substance to numb myself, now it is to my knees in prayer for wisdom, comfort, and guidance. The large trials of life will come, and many times they come on the heels of happiness. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Satan will ask God for permission to test your faith when you are full as a fattened calf; as in the story of Job 1:6-7 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

Satan is an already defeated adversary if you claim victory in Christ. There is strength and peace in the assurances of being a child of God, the Creator and overseer of all things. God can and will allow these trials to strengthen you, and to use you to encourage others. James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. God does not take the easy route in anything He desires. He will always take the right way however, many times beyond our comprehension, for He operates outside of our understanding and constraints of time. Isaiah 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. He can turn what you feel is the worst thing to ever happen to you, into what He has designed as a blessing. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. Rest in Romans 8:28 that He is in control all along the pathway of your life. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

 
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Posted by on March 27, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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