I allowed an attack by the enemy to bar me from writing this past month. I faced a struggle between Pride, Humility and Greed. Their names are capitalized because I want to remember that these aren’t merely emotions that we feel but are enemies bent on separating us from Christ. Thankfully as the Bible says in Romans 8:35 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?” This question is answered in Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Look closely at the first word of Romans 8:35. The word is “Who” not What or When or Where or Why or How, but “Who.” The examples that follow are enemies of Christ not just emotions or events or occurrence; enemies. When God first shared this epiphany during my morning prayer time I thought that I must have misunderstood but as I read Romans 8:37 I began to understand what He meant. Romans 8:37 says “…we are more than conquerors…” Strong’s dictionary defines conqueror as; to vanquish beyond, that is, gain a decisive victory: – more than conquer. Who do we conquer? There is that word again, “Who.” God has given us the power through His son Jesus Christ to have power over these enemies, but sometimes we don’t recognize them as enemies. Satan does his best to convince us that they are just our own emotions. He doesn’t want us to recognize that they are his minions trying to ruin our lives. Here is how they managed to worm their way into my life this past month. Continue reading
fear
False Teachings Causing Dissension In The Church
False teachings abound in the world today so why are we so surprised when someone in the church says something that doesn’t sound quite right? This weekend I had the opportunity to talk with a lady who was struggling with exactly this kind of situation in her church. Apparently her church had invited someone to speak before their congregation and during part of his sermon he appears to have spoken about there being multiple paths to God. This statement confused one of the women in the congregation and at a later date she asked a question that she hoped would clarify the point that the speaker had been trying to make. Unfortunately, her simple question for clarification appears to have opened a doorway of dissension within their church whereby a number of people began making negative comments about her! Continue reading
Worthless Idols (Struggling with our desires)
What is an idol? As a youngster idols are usually thought of as objects from the past or things seen in a Hollywood production. Scenes of the hero taking a golden idol out of an old temple, or a view of a group of “ignorant natives” bowing down before their deity are easily found in movies or on TV. Even the Bible teachings guide us toward thoughts of a similar image. Exodus 34:17 says, Do not make any idols. and Leviticus 19:4 tells us, “Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.”
Idols are obviously a very important subject in the Bible. A quick word search using the word “Idol” in the Bible brings up 223 different references regarding Idol, Idols, or Idolaters. Why is it so important that we recognize what Idols are? Continue reading
Build Your Kingdom Here — Rend Collective Experiment
07/23/13 by Sojotales
This song has been running though my brain and pulling at my heart for the past couple of weeks. The first time I heard it I’d turned on the radio a little over halfway through it and only heard the end of the song. Something about the words that I heard that afternoon just seemed to reach inside my chest, grab hold of my soul and pull. When the song finished that longing pulled on me so hard that I ached to hear it again. The thoughts that this song evoked in me were all focused on Christ and his return; how glorious that day shall be. Those feelings welled up in me and everything else that came out of the radio after that just seemed to be white noise. I was focused on Christ, His kingdom, and what His return would mean for mankind. Continue reading
Fear, Depression, and feeling Alone 1 Kings 18:17 – 19:18
07/22/13 by Sojotales
This morning I read a blog post by secretangelps911 entitled Fear no more part 3 of fear Isaiah 41:10 NKJV which started me thinking about fear, depression and feeling alone. One of the Bible stories that I find most inspirational in dealing with my own depression is the story of Elijah being fed by an angel. The events that led up to that moment are pretty amazing. Continue reading