Resist the Devil!

⁸ Be sober! Be on the alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your brothers in the world. ¹⁰ Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. ¹¹ To Him be the dominion forever.  Amen.

1 Peter 5:8-11 (HCSB)

 

We are told to flee temptation,  (defensive posture)

 

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body,” but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

1 Cor 6:18 (HCSB)

¹⁴ Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

1 Cor 10:14 (HCSB)

²² Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

2 Tim 2:22 (HCSB)

 

But resist the devil... (offensive posture)

 

Weapons...

This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

Eph 6:13 (HCSB)

 

The result...

⁷ Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you

James 4:7 (HCSB)

 

The result of resistance is that the DEVIL WILL FLEE!

 

 

 

What About Them?

32 They angered [the Lord] at the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them; 33 for they embittered his spirit, and he spoke rashly with his lips. Psalms 106:32-33 (HCSB)

They angered the Lord and they embittered Moses’ spirit, but it was Moses who suffered. It was the children of Israel wanting water in the dessert. God gave a way and Moses was to call forth water from the rock, but instead he struck the rock. I always saw this as anger. Moses got in trouble because he got angry. But this verse seems to indicate otherwise. His anger was a symptom of something bigger. He was embittered by the people and it caused him to mistrust God.

Bitterness can cause great pain. We say… they hurt me… they embittered me toward them… they… and in the end we suffer.

The solution is clear… forgiveness.

Lord, how many times should I forgive? Seven times? Seven is a lot of times, Lord. They hurt me a lot.

²² “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus said to him, “but 70 times seven.” Matt 18:22 (HCSB)

Lord, help us to forgive and not allow the sin of others to cause us to sin by becoming embittered. Amen.

Yesterday

Yesterday we did something completely different in worship. I have to admit I was nervous about what it would look like when all was said and done, but I was excited because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was what God wanted us to do. I also will admit that I was fearful as the service went longer than usual. God was working. I do apologize to those "Volunteers in Preschool" who were not warned that it might go long. God bless you and thanks for serving. I hope that others were as blessed as I was with the service. To God be the glory! I continue to pray that I would put prayer as a priority in my life. I want to "seek first the kingdom."

24/1

24 hours of prayer for 1 day in one place.

Phenomenal! That is how I describe my experience opeing up our 24 hours of prayer at the PBC Prayer Room last night. I was here before 12 midnight and began praying with great anticipation as to what the Lord would do. I was amazed at how quickly the time went and how much there was to pray for. I played music, I shouted to the Lord, I read from the Word, I prayed, praised, repented, and prayed some more. When this National Day of Prayer is over, i hope that i don't put aside time in the prayer room. I hope that I come back - again and again. I hope that others will do the same. May prayer be grafted into the DNA of who we are as a body of believers at Parma Baptist Church and may the prayer room be one avenue of prayer expression that keeps it on the "front burner."

Enjoy His presence today.

Hows Your Prayer Life?

12 During those days He (Jesus) went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12 (HCSB)

HOW'S YOUR PRAYER LIFE?
That's the question I have been asking myself lately, and I am disappointed with the answer. Yes, I have time with God each day, and yes I even have time in prayer with my family and with my wife. I even get up early regularly to meet with others to pray. But really... How is my prayer life?

I don't mean activity. Being involved in prayer activity is a part of it.

Think about it like this. if I said "How's your diet?" You could recount for me all the times you have eaten over the last few days. But what about the content of those meals? have you been eating healthy? etc.

What about the content of your prayer life? Are you going deeper with God? Am I? I feel the need to go deeper, to make my prayer life more than it is .

Our church is providing some opportunities to do that in the coming month. If you are a part of our church - take advantage of it. If not, ask your pastor how your church can go deeper in prayer.

Ideas

What do you do with ideas that you get? Do you ever wonder - was that from God? or just some crazy thought? or both?

How can we in the church tap into God's crazy ideas and do what he wants us to do?

We need to pray!

And we need to have people who are willing to hear you talk about crazy ideas - and not be critical.

let's listen to each other, genuinely pray about it, and talk about it some more.

Lord of the harvest

Matthew 9:37-38
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Jesus told His disciples (and us) to pray -- not for the harvest -- but for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest, which is abundant!

Praying that God would send His workers to the harvest.

Truths:
1) The harvest is abundant.
2) The workers are few.
3) We are to pray for God to send workers.

If Jesus tells us to ask God to send workers, then God must be ready to answer that prayer. Let's spend more time on our knees asking God to send workers and let's never forget the words of Isaiah 6:8
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

God Changing your Mind

I have recently had to admit that God may be changing my mind about a particular idea. Now, this is not a theological concept - I have not been believeing heresy. It is not about a sin issue although God deals with me about those on a regular basis.
This was just a way of doing ministry. I had one idea of what was the best and God has been gently nudging me to another way of doing it.
I guess one of the reasons it is hard is the whole pride issue. I love to be right about things. It is hard for me to admit that I might be wrong. I have even voiced my opinion to others, so I will have to admit that I was wrong as I follow God's direction. But ultimately it will be worth it.
The other part of the process is trying to be 100 % sure. Is it really God? How can I know? The same old questions. The questions send me to my knees and to the Word. God won't violate His Word and He will talk to His children. "My sheep hear my voice."

Ephesians 3:20-21

20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think—according to the power that works in you— 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. • Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Above and beyond what we ask or think! Wow.
I can ask and think a lot!
When I contemplate this I realize that this is not just about amount or size of crowd or things like that. Beyond what we imagine will be Kingdom things. God's Kingdom will advance in ways we have not even thought to ask about.

I look forward to seeing that happen!