Tag Archive | Bible

Choose Easter’s Victory

Apr20

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“He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” – Genesis 3:15

It’s important to remember Easter is ultimately a spiritual battle between Christ and Satan

 

   When God created man and Satan tempted Adam and Eve, the great civil war between man’s spirit and flesh began. Then Christ came and as a man and as God, resisted Satan. Easter makes a way for us to resist Satan’s fiery darts. By accepting Christ’s death for ourselves, we can be assured that after our death, just like Christ, we will ascend to heaven. 

   As I grow older and move closer to my life’s end, the thrill of heaven, being with Jesus, becomes more intense. Therefore, I do not fear death. Nor should any believer.

You see that’s the victory we as Christians have over the plan of Satan’s to steal, kill, and destroy. 

   Satan’s plan to remove the influence of God’s Word and spending time with God in prayer, makes possible the fulfillment of his plan. Just look around at all the people in our country that see nothing wrong with abortion, homosexuality, divorce, or lying to gain an advantage, etc. When we remove what the Bible says about either of these, and have no personal relationship with God, Satan easily victimizes us. And you know what, we won’t even realize how we have been deceived and manipulated. 

   When the world accuses Christians for standing firm on these issues, we get accused of all sorts of hateful actions. And Satan will make sure that our accusers don’t open up their Bible. Why? Because he doesn’t want the world to know about God’s love, compassion, forgiveness, redemption of those involved with the sins I mentioned above.

   Remember, if you ignore the Bible and prayer, you are easy prey to the enemy. He will lie to you with such skill, that you can become convinced that right is wrong and wrong is right.

   This Easter, choose Christ. Choose victory. Defeat the enemy. Begin cooperating with God as He gives us the desire and power to do what pleases Him. 

   Refuse to allow ourselves to be manipulated, deceived, and blinded by Satan.

Satan has come to condemn us; Christ has come to restore us.

The Force of God in overcoming downward spirals!

Sep9

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A downward spiral is an concise visual of what can happen to a Christian who becomes more focused on their problems than God!

   Okay, now with that visual in mind let’s examine how a downward spiral can occur. Do you ever experience times in your life when the work you have to do seems overwhelming? There’s too much to do and too little time to do it! The stress builds and builds and you feel ill equipped to do much about it. You want to run away to some place calm and peaceful so you can be free of the stress–but you are stuck where you are and there seems to be no way of escape.

   And on top of all this, there are problems troubling your mind. Some of them have lingered around, unresolved, for quite some time. And always new problems, with no regard for the unresolved problems you already face, weasel their way into your already overburdened mind.

If the above is what you find yourself dealing with, trust me you are either in a downward spiral or on the very edge of it. You are being plummeted with fiery darts (perhaps you didn’t realize that!)

   HOWEVER, there is very good news: you can be rescued from a downward spiral! There is a force powerful enough to prevent you from falling into one or pulling you out of one.

THAT FORCE IS GOD!

   I would like to give you an assignment. I want you to set aside (daily) a time to read your Bible (I am going to suggest some verses) and crawl up in God’s lap to share your heart with Him and to listen to what He wants to say to you. And, by the way, keep a journal of your time with God. (There are journal assignments after chapters 3, 4, 5, & 6 of my book. A good place to start!)
   You MUST make this a priority. And believe me, at this point you have no idea of the pressure and distractions that will come to keep you from doing this.  (Just keep in mind your enemy, Satan, knows that you will break free of the bondage of negative thinking by doing this!)
   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! p. 1, FD
   Even if it is only 2 or 3 minutes to begin with, JUST DO IT! The fiery dart thoughts will tempt you to wait until you have more time to spend with God. But you know and I know that is a cleverly disguised fiery dart. DON’T GIVE IN TO IT!

Now, here are some verses to get you started:

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, NIV
Turn to me and be gracious to me,for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. Psalm 25:16-17 NIV
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10 NIV
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me,for you are God my Savior,and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5

   All right then, now you’ve got a place to start! Again, I recommend the journal assignments as you read my book, Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice.