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God Alone is Enough!

Feb16

   Fiery darts can be defeated. If you have followed my blog, you know this to be True. Yet, some attacks take longer to defeat than others. And if you’ve noticed, the fiery darts that attack us within the realm of personal relationships, are the deadliest–especially if you have struggled with these attacks for years on end.

   Fiery dart attacks that we are still wrestling with after years of seeming defeat, push us to the brink of despair, frustration, and hopelessness. During such an ongoing battle we are tempted to loose our focus and like Peter we can feel ourselves sinking beneath the waves of the storm. But even as we feel ourselves sinking, like Peter, we must remember to cry out, “Lord, save me!”

And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”… Matthew 14:29-30

   These ongoing attacks require a strong & singular faith. A faith that is based on God and God alone; even when our prayers have proven fruitless. In these situations, when things don’t turn out  as we had planned and don’t look like they ever will, God has to be enough. Even in the midst of seeming defeat, God assures us that we can know victory!

Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! Yahweh my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights! Habakkuk 3:17-19

   Just remember, the enemy’s plan is to control our focus and lock it onto the things we think we lack instead of the all consuming presence of God where we discover we lack nothing! For in this state we wake up to the Truth that when we have God in Christ we have everything we need! 

 

 

Fiery dart: If you are unhappy in your marriage, bail out!

Nov14

broken marriage

   My heart is breaking as I hear of young couples, so dear to me and at one time so close to God, giving up on their marriage. I can understand and even relate to the temptation to bail out of a marriage that is slowly becoming depleted of the happiness and contentment with which it began.  But succumbing to this temptation only sets in play Satan’s plan to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10a) the very happiness and contentment they are seeking. 

   We live in a world that defines happiness from a self-centered perspective. But according to God’s definition, genuine happiness is found by delighting ourselves in Him. (Psalm 37:4)   When we reject this Truth, Satan stands ready to fire at us a volley of fiery darts designed to convince us that the only solution to unhappiness or discontentment in our marriage is to bail out of it. Then slowly we become blind and deaf to God’s plan that He has come to give us life in abundance (John 10:10b) even in our marriage. 

   When we become more focused on what we desire than on what God desires,then happiness and contentment in our marriages (and life) will always elude us. Satan’s fiery darts make sure of that. My prayer is that their sight will be restored and their enemy will be exposed. And in every situation they will take up their shield of faith in God’s Word and extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16)

Then the Truth below will become their new reality!

   If our marriage is built upon the foundation of God’s design, we will understand that there will be times when we will be unhappy in our marriage and/or with our spouse. This is a reality that will be dealt with in a godly manner so that it does not become an excuse to bail out but an instrument of God’s will in conforming us into His image. This is what centering your marriage on Christ means……“Frustration, hardship, loss is rooted in the gospel. In that context (centering your marriage on Christ) your faith may be shaken but your marriage will remain rooted.” (words in quote from a dear friend who is a mighty teacher of God’s Truth)

         You see, the type of suffering or problems that we encounter in our marriages will often reflect something that is lacking therein. It stands to reason then, that if we cooperate with the sanctification process in order to provide what is lacking in the marriage, then we aren’t likely to see breaking up the marriage as the solution.

James 1:2-4 makes this quite clear: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (NIV)

Excerpt taken from p. 71-72, Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice

Questions for Parents!

Oct25

   It troubles my heart as I observe Christian single individuals choosing a path (a path influenced by a world that has rejected Christ) but one they hope will led them to happiness, only to find disappointment and heartache, instead. I wonder, what were the fiery darts Satan used to manipulate these individuals? Perhaps this excerpt from my book, exposes some of Satan’s deception:

Reconsider the effect of the Adamic Curse. Society tells us that we need to search, that means by dating, for someone who will complete us, someone that will make us happy. If we buy into this thought, then Satan has no trouble fashioning a most deceptive fiery dart that will convince us that as individuals we are incomplete and we need the love of another person to make us whole. This fiery dart assumes we do not realize that it is the love of God that completes us and makes us whole, not a romantic relationship with someone of the opposite sex. FD, p. 55-56

   In my book I expose Satan’s intent when it come to planting thoughts into our mind that eventually leads to the heartache and disappointment to which many fall victim!

Scriptures are obvious in describing Satan’s plan in John 10:10a, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;…” (NIV) So what is it that the Enemy desires to steal, kill, and destroy? The answer is obvious – anything God has planned for us!

  I have observed a dramatic difference in the lives of Christian single individuals who have discovered that a relationship with Christ goes beyond salvation! They have discovered that a deep relationship with Christ is what makes them whole and complete (even if, and especially if, they come from homes that failed to teach them this Truth). For these individuals Christ has become the deepest desire of their hearts. I have noticed that when they experience disappointment, that disappointment doesn’t rule them or ruin them. Instead, they trust Christ with all their heart and resist the temptation to try and figure out what went wrong on their own. Because the deepest desire of their heart is Christ, they trust Him to direct their path and lead them forward in His strength. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Therefore, Parents, here are a couple of questions I want to pose to you.

Are you raising your children to desire Jesus above all else?

Is Jesus the deepest desire of your heart?

Parent’s Alert: “The Stirring”

Dec9

In my previous post, we determined that the key to happiness (the kind that we parents would desire to pass along to our children) was to have a relationship with Christ and being obedient to God’s word.

Okay, now that we have established this basic Truth of Parenting, what next?

   First, we must examine our own lives. Do we have a solid relationship with Christ? Does obedience describe that relationship? Parents, if we don’t have that nailed down then we are putting our children’s future at risk. Here’s why:

   During the time of adolescence there is a stirring that becomes keenly apparent to girls early on and typically to the guys a bit later. It has been assumed by our society that this stirring heralds the beginning of “the search” for a future spouse and as a result girls and guys begin counting the days when they will become old enough to date. And, as our society relaxes its standards, the age to begin this search becomes younger and younger. When you add to that the ease of communication between our young people, guy/girl relationships develop in their intensity long before the individuals have reached a level of maturity to be able to handle such intensity.
   The senses of young people are quickened to anything that speaks of romance. Our culture is quick to expose our adolescents to all sorts of romantic encounters on television, in movies, books and depending on the ability of the adolescent to access it, it can be pretty graphic. During these encounters our children are taught all about love and romance from society’s perspective; a society that pretty much rejects anything God may have to say about this subject. Then they file this misinformation away into their memory banks and draw upon it as they become more and more consumed with the search. FD p. 51

   Parents, our children depend upon us to help them make sense out of this ‘stirring’! And I am alarmed that the common assumption of many parents (even Christian parents) is that “this stirring heralds the beginning of the ‘search’ for a future spouse”. (FD p.51)

   The fiery dart here is subtle, dangerously so! Because if we misinterpret what this stirring is all about, then our children, by our own erroneous definition, will set them on a course that can in no way promise the happiness that we would have hoped for them. 

Next time, we will delve into the fiery darts of ‘the stirring’.

 

 

 

Parent’s Alert: Defining Happiness

Dec1

Question–What do parents want most for their children?

Answer–HAPPINESS!

Most parents greatest desire for their children is that they be happy, and I agree with this for the most part. However, as parents (especially Christian parents) it is imperative that we have a firm understanding of how to define happiness. Why? Because if we don’t have this understanding then we will easily be sidetracked by fiery darts as to how this happiness should be achieved and what sources would provide it.
In Chapter Five of my book, Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice, I examine Matthew 4:1-4, concerning Christ’s temptations. You see, after Jesus had been baptized by John, He entered into the desert and fasted for 40 days.  So you KNOW he was plenty hungry! Think about it, if you had just fasted for 40 days what would be the most important thing to you?
When Satan tempted Jesus to turn the stones into bread, I bet he thought he had Him. Knowing how hungry Jesus must have been, Satan might have been pretty confident that the most important thing to Jesus at that moment would be to eat.

Yet, here is how Jesus responded:

‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (KJV) p. 35 FD

In the following from my book, I explain the significance of examining fiery darts in the light of God’s Word:

Getting bread is not the most important thing in life! Obedience to every word of God is! Since Jesus had received no instructions from the Father to turn stones into bread, He would not act on His own and thus obey Satan, no matter how intense His hunger. FD, p. 36
You see, Satan would attempt to confuse us as to what we need in order to live. In examining this fiery dart perhaps we should ask ourselves the question, “How do we define living?” Just staying alive is not necessarily living! Jesus knew that to really live, is to be obedient to every word from God…FD p. 36

How does the above apply to our desire as parents to help our children achieve a happy life?

Christ defined living as being obedient to every word from God. Christ’ response was based on His familiarity with God and His Word. Therefore, one of the ways we can become savvy to the execution of Satan’s plan of attack in using fiery darts as we parent is to be able to clearly define happiness. As parents we must depend on God’s Word to define for us what happiness truly is. And we must understand that having a relationship with Christ and being obedient to God’s Word is the KEY TO such HAPPINESS.