Knowing our enemy

art Spiritual warfare by Laurie Cooper

I remember when you couldn’t even say “butt” on prime time. The “B” word is commonplace now and I am still surprised and cringe when I hear it. I never want to get to the point that I no longer even hear it. Satan has been using a new tactic lately. I have noticed it more in the past couple of years or so. This is the prime-time “bleep.” TV execs know they can’t use the real word so they fill it in. C’mon, we know the word they’re bleeping! (And so do our kids) The mind, clever thing that it is, will actually jump in and replace the word silently, so it’s really the same thing as hearing it.

Last night I noticed that the usual words in a “certain program” were beeped out (a lot!) but “Jesus Christ” (not used in a praise-worthy manner) was not. I have noticed this disturbing trend in movies rated PG13 as well.

Satan is a very clever and subtle strategist. None of us should be surprised by his tactics…..”in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” 2 Cor. 2:11 He knows that if he can get us to compromise in the seemingly harmless stuff, then the rest will be easier. His aim is to get the church to look more like the rest of the world. How is he doing? When I see people slurping sippy cups of Starbucks in church, I have a problem. One time I was standing in the aisle waiting to take communion and two women behind me were talking the whole time, like they were in a movie line. Do we not know we are standing on Holy ground?

The Apostle Paul never lost sight of his enemy and neither should we. He was keenly aware of who he was fighting, but He also knew he already had the victory in Christ. But satan is real, he is here, and he has only one purpose. Jesus warns us: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” (John 10:10-11)

Satan isn’t talked about much in too many churches today, and that may prove to be a fatal error. We need to know who our enemy is and we need to know what to do to send him back where he belongs like Jesus did when he was tempted.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

Thank you God, for giving us the final victory through Your Son!

Ten Commandments for Families


Family Life Radio is having their Fall Shar-a-thon right now. I would encourage everyone to give whatever gift you can if you have been blessed by it. It has been an encouragement to me and best of all, it is all listener supported, NO ADS! Today Randy Carlson was talking about family principles and shared these ten things. So simple but so powerful. Think how many families would be changed if we just did these 10 things!

Ten Commandments for Our Family
Guiding principles for family life—

We promise to:
1. Protect each other from harm.
2. Be patient with each other
3. Be trustworthy-so we can be trusted
4. Say I’m sorry and really mean it
5. Be self-controlled
6. Be as polite to each other as we are to guests
7. Celebrate each other’s victories
8. Stay close to each other during times of defeat and loss
9. Speak to each other with words of kindness and respect
10. Never, ever give up on each other

Words by Hugh Prather


These leaves made me think of my Dad. He always calls me and lets me know when they start falling in California….(He called last night) He knows I miss the leaves. Pretty soon an envelope will come with assorted leaves from their yard. Looking forward to that!

Jesus life didn’t go well. He didn’t reach his earning potential. He didn’t have the respect of his colleagues. His friend weren’t loyal. His life wasn’t long. He didn’t meet his soul mate. And he wasn’t understood by his mother. Yet I think I deserve all those things because I’m so spiritual.

We are walking in a ticker tape parade. That’s all that’s going on. Some pieces of confetti read, “great calves,” some “chronic sinus,” some “no noticeable hair loss,” some “multiple sclerosis,” and some “third finger amputation.” Don’t judge your neighbor by what pieces of paper fall on his or her shoulders. Don’t think you are cursed or “blessed” by what pieces fall on yours.

The fact is nothing will go right today. And if it does, it will only scare you.

From Spiritual Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather

Our first sanctuary


For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. Psalm 139:13-16

Astonishing images from inside the womb produced by new technology show babies apparently smiling and crying. Traditionally, doctors have assumed infants made facial expressions, such as smiling, only after birth by copying their mother.

Looks as if this one is sharing a joke with Mom.

Thank you God for providing me with a perfect place to spend the first precious months of my life, a Holy Sanctuary specially designed by You. Thank you also for taking an interest in me long before I even knew You.

Continuing the Multitude Monday counting of blessings, today I am counting memories.

41. Sharing prayers with my Mom by the fireside when I was having some very difficult times. Hands held, her voice I still hear.

42. Summer trips to Yosemite

43. Setting up camp together so many times

44. The big red tent

45. The Coleman stove

46. The first cup of coffee, carried to meadow’s edge

47. Coveting the first warm rays of the sun

48. Hot showers after muscle-aching hikes

49. Food that tasted better than it ever did at home

50. Watching deer quietly and them watching us

51. Laying in the sleeping bag hearing the first bird sounds of the day

52. The sound of tent pegs, squeaking restroom door slams

53. The magical echo off vertical granite walls

54. Changing light of late afternoon, the drawing in of evening

55. Warm fronts, cold backs by the campfire

56. So sad to leave

Count your blessings along with Ann at “Holy Experience”
holy experience

You gotta read this book


“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” – Deuteronomy 6:6-9

The Bible is not just another good book. It is God breathed, God inspired, and God’s love letter to His people. But why then is it so easy to pick up a novel, and sometimes so difficult to find time for devotions? Even for a book addict like me, who can always find time to read, I feel a small battle being waged within me when it comes to sit down with the Word. That fact alone tips me off that there is power behind the Word that the enemy wants to keep me from tapping into.

When we read God’s book something very powerful and miraculous happens….We actually breathe in the BREATH OF GOD. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)

It is our sustanance, Jesus referred to it as food, food that we cannot live without, that means we must ingest it, let it fill us up!

And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'” (Matthew 4:3-4)

It is our compass, our guide, our light in the darkness for when all other lights go out. Try going somewhere you’ve never been before without a map or GPS! Every day brings new challenges, new territories and we need God’s word to face these situations in the clear light of Scripture.

Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105)

With all the other voices clamoring for attention in our world today, we need to hear the voice of God to counteract them. We need this reminder again and again, because the other competing voices around us are never silent! We forget it if we don’t hear it often enough. Even more important that “hearing it” is “doing what it says.” That is the challenge!

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” James 1:23

It actually performs a work in us, it works on us from the inside out!

“When you received from us the word of God”s message [literally, “the word of hearing of God”], you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13

And also, it is not the word of man, but the Word of God….This is important, so many times I have heard that the Bible is “open to an individual’s interpretation” It says what it means and it means what it says. What part of “Thou shalt not,” “Flee from,” and “Do this,” do we not understand?

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation (2 Peter 1:20)

Last but not least, God has the last word, always!

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8)

A great idea is buying one on CD.I finally did this a few years ago. Commuting 40 minutes twice a day, I go though whole books in no time at all. So many times I have heard a verse and went back to look it up later. I also don’t get quite as mad at other drivers!

It also comes with a guarantee; (and you won’t find this kind of promise in the self-help section of Barnes and Noble); if you do what it says, you will live forever!

See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. (1 John 2:24,25)

Get a life!


We have all heard these phrases:
“He has no life.”
“She deserves a life.”
“I have no life”
“Get a life”

The worldly mantra of life seems to be: “Do well in school so you can get the right job, so you can have enough money, so that you will never have to go without, so that you will be fullfilled and take wonderful vacations so you will never be bored; repeat cycle with kids, retire comfortably in Florida or Arizona.”

When we are born again into new life in Christ and start reading the Bible, we see that our earlier concept of life rubs up against what Christ teaches.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:25

We try to get the two to blend, but they stubbornly refuse. It’s not so much that the first concept is wrong….school, money, good jobs, success; those are all good things, but as believers we have to be open to change course when God directs. The Holy Spirit prods us to ask different questions, not what do I want, but what does God want for my life?

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1

Sometimes life interrupts life and does this for us. A parent becomes ill and all other siblings disappear, a grandchild needs raising and you are the only one left standing, a child drops out of school, the list goes on and on. Sometimes God gives us an unexpected call to serve, but if we are clinging so tightly to our first life we miss His voice….Sacrifice is hard, it’s not glamorous, you get dirty, sometimes you get no recognition, sometimes you are even ridiculed for your efforts. (Parenting comes to mind here)

You may feel like your life has become as predicable as punching a time-clock. You may feel defeated before the day even begins….But take heart, Jesus had something much bigger than whatever you are facing, and He did it for us! He did it so that we could know that whatever we do in this life has meaning, and an impact for all eternity!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

And here is the miracle part…..the secret!(unlike the popular book of the same name that swept across the new age landscape awhile back) When we yield what we want and exchange it for what He wants, He brings eternity into the moment. Everything we do becomes a prayer because we can’t do it any other way; and somehow we always find the strength we need for each day.

So maybe your life doesn’t look like that “perfect” one over there, be assured, He is using your hands to make brushstrokes in His great masterpiece that will last forever.

We have a life, and it’s His!

Dependance

This song by Jamie Slocum speaks to me so powerfully each time I hear it, here are the lyrics: (to mute my playlist go to bottom right column)

This is the life I’ve always wanted
To know the prince of peace
To feel my faith restored
As your grace surrounds me

This is the day of new beginnings
This is where my freedom starts
And now death has lost its sting
And Jesus how can I thank you?

There is a lightness in my laughter
There is a joy inside my soul
My heart is overwhelmed
And Jesus how can I thank you?

Just to know, just to know that you love me
It gives me hope to carry on
You’re the one thing that I can turn to
Just to know, just to know that you’re with me
On all these roads I traveled on
You’re the one thing that I can turn to
Just to know, just to know that you love me
It gives me hope to carry on
There’s nothing this world can do
I confess my dependence on you
Lord, I confess my dependence on you
Dependence on you

I was seeking that quiet place of peace this morning, but I couldn’t find it. The peace that makes you feel like everything will be okay….that assurance in the heart that makes the soul, spirit and mind quiet down. I thought maybe I could find it if I layed down for a bit….I prayed, He heard. The 23rd Psalm came to my mind in the quiet, the one that always calms….

The Lord is my Shepherd,
How many times He has saved me from my own recklessness and stupidity. Kept me safe from wandering over the cliff in the dark, like a lost scared sheep.
I shall not want,
He has given me everything I could possibly want, all wrapped up in Him.
He maketh me to lay down in green pastures,
So many times I have felt scared, lost, alone, hopeless.
Then that peace that passes all understanding seeps into my soul, the dawn bringing hope again.
He leadeth me beside still waters.
Where I can drink my fill
He restoreth my soul.
So I can get up again and face life, even when I would rather get back in bed.
He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for His names sake.
Somehow I get the strength to do His will even when I want to do my own, sometimes His will is just to keep going
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
Yes I have been there…..sick, deciding it would be better not to eat, how do I get back into the land of the living….Mom and Dad’s anxious prayers, then a miracle healing….And then a few years later new husband suddenly gone; honeymoon not even over yet, gone to Heaven where I couldn’t find him, couldn’t talk to him, my life seemingly over.
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
You were with me then and now.
Thy rod and they staff they comfort me.
Disciplining me when I get out of line, and guiding me back to the safety of the fold, even going out of your way to look for me when I am out of Your sight.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overfloweth.
You have made me royalty, a daughter of the King!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
From my first breath to my last, Your presence will never leave me, until I see You face to face in Heaven, where I will live with you for all eternity.

Keeping the gratitude list going….

31. The prayers of friends and family that keep me going.

32. Little niece has liked school this year and comes out smiling and happy.

33. Unwavering love

34. Eyes to read with

35. Having the money to pay bills

36. Iced tea with a bit of cranberry juice on a warm day

37. Homegrown tomatoes

38. September and relief from the heat is in sight, somewhere….(important in Arizona)

39. Good teachers and aides that care.

40. Always God, who knows me inside and out and still wants to be my Father.

Count your blessing with Ann here:
holy experience

Reflections for a Sunday afternoon…..

Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone (can you imagine the roll call at school?) His family was both worldly and wealthy and young Francis was a product of his environment. Upon his conversion his life changed dramatically. In 1209 he felt a strong desire to “imitate Christ” by living a life of God poverty, chastity, and obedience. He literally took the fancy and expensive clothes off his back and handed them to his father, thereby marking the new life he was about to live. He began a ministry to lepers and those who were ill until his death in 1226.

He had the marvelous talent of seeing all the world–every living thing–as a beautiful gift from God. He called the sun, the moon, and all the creatures of the earth his brothers and sisters.
Taken from “Devotional Classics”, selected readings for individuals and groups.

Reflecting on God’s goodness


Jewish believers all over the world are celebrating Rosh Hashanah today….as defined by the torah.org website:
Rosh Hashanah is the first and second days of the first Jewish month of Tishrei. It marks the beginning of the Jewish new year. The celebration of this holiday is marked with solemnity, as it is the day on which the whole world is judged for the coming year. Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world, as it was on this day that G-d created Man on the 6th day of creation. Every year, on this day, we proclaim G-d as our one and true King.

It is good and right to reflect on these things today and everyday. I needed reflection this morning because ever since I got up I have been battling a bit of anger. It rose up like a flare when I wasn’t expecting it, and it was unwelcome. Upon further introspection I realized that it was directed at God. Maybe anger is not the right word. It’s not a shaking fist at God kind of anger; more like a “what are you thinking/what’s your plan here” kind of anger. Frustration really.

Someone I care about very much is not being taken care of the way I think they should. I guess that’s what it comes down to. “Like, hey God, this is someone that is Your kid!” None of these feelings take God by surprise. He welcomes dialogue, and questions, even challenges. Sometimes an answer comes thundering back, like when He answered Job out of the whirlwind:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

I love the little barb He throws at Job in verse 21: “Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!” Did God’s love for Job diminish because he questioned God? Absolutely not. God wasn’t surprised by Job’s feelings, questions or thoughts any more than He is by mine.

Sometimes He seems to put examples right in our path that validate even further everything we are feeling! “This is a test, this is only a test.”

Even as I voice my prayers through tears, puzzlement, and frustration, a miracle occurs; thoughts start to form. Grace infused thoughts…..I remember all those times He has kept me, kept my friend, sustained me, strengthened me, provided for me, raining down His great mercy, love, forgiveness year in, year out. Always in His perfect timing. Grace comes full circle. I still have questions, but I know the One who knows the answers, and that makes all the difference.

Sometimes we need “trust” lessons. Sometimes we need to know He is right there ready to grab the bicycle seat lest we wobble and fall.

Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.