Prepare Yourself For The Enemy’s Attacks!

Prepare yourself for the enemy’s attacks! It is not a matter of if you will be attacked. It’s only a matter of when you will be attacked! Somedays I can see it coming…somedays I get blindsided from out of the blue! The devil has been hard at work lately. Attack after attack after attack!! It never seems to end. Have you ever felt that way? Like it will never end and like maybe it would be easier just to give up? I’ve felt that way more times than I care to admit. Somedays I have been hit from so many directions at once it feels as though I am in the middle of a tornado or a hurricane. No matter what I do I just can’t seem to get away from all this turmoil. I wanted to give up the other day. I said to someone, “I don’t know how much God thinks I can handle but I feel like I’m past my limit.” I felt like the earth would simply open up and swallow me whole! I felt exactly the way the enemy wanted me to feel.

Then just when I felt like I had no more strength, no more stamina, no more energy to continue forward against the bad winds blowing through my life I cried out to God in anguish and desperation because I felt myself slipping away. Then from nowhere the Lord swoopes in and rescues me from another bad situation! He makes things happen that can only be explained by divine intervention! There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord is strong enough to handle any situation that comes my way. There is no doubt that He is in control of things going on around me. My doubts and weaknesses lie in me alone.

God is a gracious Father, a loving Father, a solid rock for me to land upon when I collapse from the weight of these attacks. When this world becomes too difficult to bare anymore I can find no peace or joy or rest anywhere but in the arms of my Father in Heaven. When I feel Him wrapping Himself around me I feel renewed. I feel His strength flowing through me. I feel Him rescuing me from that grave that I dug for myself over the last thirty years. Below is a poem I wrote three years ago when I had first gotten back into church……

Out Of My Grave

Darkness surrounded me as I lay deep in the earth.

The coldness of the ground chilled me to my bones.

I was alone, lost to the love of my family and friends.

Though I could hear their cries in my quiet grave,

The voice was silent in me and I could not reply

 

My thoughts swirled and circled in the darkness.

My eyes could not see the way up from there.

I flailed about with my arms and legs to no avail.

The weight of the earth held me tight in my coffin,

I was unable to lift the lid, all my strength had gone

 

I knew I was finished, I had no fight left within,

And as I lay there defeated and alone I wept.

I wept for myself and I wept for my family.

I wept for the pain I had felt and that I had caused.

My breath slowly faded as my thoughts began to numb.

 

As the last breath of life began to leave my soul,

I gasped one last time for I knew the end was near.

I cried out from the dark pit I had dug for myself.

I cried out one last time as though a drowning man.

“Father help me, Jesus forgive me, I want to live!”

 

Suddenly the ground rumbled from all about me,

And the lid of my coffin burst open above me.

A rush of warm air engulfed my withering soul,

As bright light washed over me from above.

I wept again as I breathed deep the fresh air.

 

Then I felt the touch of a gentle, loving hand.

I felt the warm rush of my blood through me,

As it chased the chill from my weary bones.

Still weak and unable to lift myself out,

I felt strong arms craddle me as I began to rise.

 

Soon my feet felt the earth beneath them,

And those arms steadied me as I tried to stand.

As my thoughts settled and my mind cleared,

I heard a soft voice whispering loving words,

And I knew Jesus had lifted me out of my grave!

 

I refuse to allow the enemy to put me back into that coffin! I refuse to allow the enemy to take away everything the Lord has done for me and my family! I refuse to allow the negative events of my life to over shadow the blessings that God keeps pouring into my life! I WILL NOT GIVE UP!

Will I have another weak moment when I allow the enemy to poison my thoughts with doubt and despair? I hope not, I pray not, but in all actuallity it is very possible… but if it happens again it will not be because the Lord is weak! It will not be because He is unable to help me through the hard times… it will only be my weakness that allows it to happen! The good news is this… all I have to do is hang on to the Lord during those times. I have to continue to pray and to cry out for the Lord’s strength when I have none left in me! I have to remember that God works ALL things to the GOOD of those who love Him. He will save me, He will strengthen me, He will protect me! Praise God for His Son who died for me! Praise God for His Holy Spirit who comforts me! Praise God for all that He is doing in these horrible situations because without Him I would have already perished in the midst of the storm!

No matter what is happening in your life Jesus can save you. No matter how far down you think you have sunk He can lift you up again. Jesus can wash you clean and renew your heart, mind, and soul! Don’t give up! Don’t give in! Hang on to Jesus, cry out to God, and be receptive to the Holy Spirit when you hear that voice whispering loving words in your ear!!!

Praise God ya’ll…. praise Him no matter what and He will not let you down!

Tests, Trials and Tribulations!

Tests, Trials and Tribulations seem to be the norm in my life these days! It amazes me sometimes how many times a day, a week or a month I face these three things. Somedays it feels as though the world has painted a bullseye on my forehead. When I do anything for the Lord it is a sure bet that I will be attacked!

Well, it happened again tonight. The devil worked through people who claim to be Christians. People who go to church and proclaim Jesus as their Savior and Master! There are so many people running around claiming to be Christians who actually do more harm to the title “Christian” than they do good. They are on a fast track to hell and have no clue that they are more lost than anyone who has never known Christ, never attended church, and never read the Bible! 

I praised God this morning in Sunday School Class and again in the a.m. service and then tonight I sang and testified again and what do ya know… boom!!! The details are unimportant. The thing that really matters is that it is obvious that the devil is at work and people who are supposed to shine their light before the world are doing more good for the enemy than for the body of Christ. I am a firm believer that God can take any situation and bring good from it.

The enemy thinks he can detour me, depress me, distract me, and discourage me! Think again! I am not discouraged by what happened tonight. I will not be detoured from the path God has laid out before me! There will be no depression over these events because I have seen what God can do in horrible situations and I will not be distracted by the storms that keep exploding in my life!

I PRAISE GOD  for all He has done, all He is doing right this minute and all He has planned for the future!

Life would be so easy if the attacks would stop. However, no matter the intensity of the attacks I will not give up!! I have a RISEN Savior who loves me like no other in this world!  His love has the power to defeat all the things the enemy throws at me. His love for me gives me the strength and desire to get back up each time I am knocked down. The tenacity within me to continue forward in the work the Lord has laid out before me will not be deminished by these feeble attempts to destroy the things God has planned. I will struggle forward with the Lord at my side! He is my strength! He is my solid rock and the foundation of my faith! He is the reason I will survive this and any future attacks! The devil is powerless to stop God from accomplishing what He has planned! Powerless! He is a defeated enemy who is sitting in a sinking ship! He is desperately trying to take as many of us down with him as possible! I will not be taken down because I have Jesus Christ to rescue me from anything that could possibly happen!

No matter the situation, give it to God! Pray without ceasing and have Faith in God that He will handle everything for you! Never give up! NEVER GIVE UP! God is faithful to those who love Him and serve Him! I will pray for those imposters who claim to be Christians! I will not give up no matter the cost! God has great things in store for me and my children and my church family! Praise God ya’ll! Praise God!

Does Jesus Really Answer Prayers?

Does Jesus Really Answer Prayers? 

 

The Answer to that question would be a resounding YES!  He answers prayers! He answers so many prayers it is unbelievable (definition : beyond belief or understanding)!!! The Lord is so good it is amazing!

Let me quickly give you some examples:

1) My son has been struggling with alcohol and drug addictions since he was twelve years old. I got custody of him at age thirteen and have been trying to reach him for more than six years. God has worked so hard to open my son’s eyes and praise the Lord He did it this year. My son is praying and trusting in God to help him straighten out all the legal problems he has gotten himself into. He is making efforts to get into a Christian Rehab and has a baby on the way. He told me the other day that all he wants is to have a “normal” life and to be married and take care of his family. He said he was tired of the life he has been living for so long! Praise God! It is amazing what He can do with someone’s life if they will let Him!!

2) My daughter who was also addicted to drugs was released from prison seven months early. She and her six month old baby girl, who was born in prison addicted to methadone, are staying with me and doing very well. The baby is over any withdrawal she was having and is a healthy, beautiful, smiling bundle of joy! Praise God for His grace and mercy and love!!! My daughter also will be starting a new job soon!

3) My ex-wife signed over custody of my eight year old son yesterday! I don’t have to worry about him getting to school anymore! I don’t have to worry about what is going on in the house around him. I don’t have to worry anymore about him missing school each month because of lice. Her power is disconnected every month and as a matter of fact has been disconnected for more than a week now. He will now be able to attend church every time the doors are open and I will not have to worry about him going to school in dirty underwear or no underwear at all! Praise Jesus!!!

4) God sent me to an attorney who is a Christian man and was raised by his grandparents because his mother died and his father could not care for him. He was very simpathetic and did all the work on the custody papers and is filing them in court this morning and has not received one single dime from me as of yet! What lawyer do you know who would even lift his pen without being paid in advance! Most of them will not even talk to you for less than fifty bucks! Praise God Again!

5) God also spoke to a judge’s heart recently and the man did something that left my son’s lawyer’s jaw hanging open! My son had a court date to appear and show his driver’s license and have his case dismissed. He had a warrant because they are trying to revoke his bond and was afraid to appear in court before the hearing about his bond revocation. So, I went in and waited to talk to the judge. While waiting I prayed continually and right before I got to talk to him some woman was back talking the judge and made him very angry. Soon she was charged with contempt of court and two officers escorted her from the courtroom to the jail. I was finally called up to talk to him and I told him the truth. I handed him my son’s driver’s license and said “Your Honor my son asked me to apologize for him not being here, but he has a warrant due to his bond being revoked and is scaired to death to sit in jail until his hearing May 1st. He has a lawyer and will be at that hearing and then he will either be free or he will be in jail but either way he will appear in court afterwards. If you could please just reschedule his hearing until after May 1st I would really appreciate it. I hate to even be here asking you this but he has been trying so hard to get things straightened out” The judge said he didn’t want to mess my son up further by issuing a failure to appear warrant also so he rescheduled the court date for May 22nd!! What Judge does that!!!

6) My daughter got a good report from the doctor yesterday. It looks like the lump on her back is a fatty tumor or a cist and will only require minor surgery to remove it! She will go in for outpatient surgery at the hospital, be put to sleep and then go home by the end of the day! AMEN! God is Good!

7) It also looks like God has revealed my wife to me. I have been praying for three years for a Christian wife and I have not been on a date in almost four! I believe she is there in my church already. Time will tell!

There are so many more things, little things, in my everyday life that show me that God is watching over me and those I pray for continually! He is amazing! His love for us is unbelievable!! I have done nothng to deserve Him or His love! The things I do at my church. This blog, raising my hands to worship Him, singing in front of the church, doing the website, and all the other things I do are only an attempt to pay back a debt! Those things do not “earn” my salvation… there is nothing I can do to earn the gift He has given me freely! I owe Jesus everything and I deserve nothing! Praise His name!

I could go on and on about how great God has been to me and my children and my church family but I have to take my son to school now!!!!!  Praise God!!! <huge smile>

Pray, wait, and believe! Never doubt the Lord for a second! Nothing is to big for Him to handle if you will only have faith in the Lord and pray, pray, pray!!

Praise God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit!!!!!

See Ya’ll!

Truck loads of rubble!

We had another great night at the mission Tuesday night! I have no doubt the Holy Spirit was in the building! We had prayer for each other, praised God through worship songs and heard a great sermon from my pastor, Hal Daigre! That man is a great tool in the hand of the Lord!!!

Tuesday evening as I was getting ready to go to the mission I started thinking about a show I had seen on Discovery or A&E or the like. The show was about what would happen if New York City were hit by a huge earthquake. They showed graphics depicting the massive damage created by this earthquake and talked about how many millions of tons of debris there would be in the city.

They estimated it would take more than 300,000 truckloads to remove all the debris. The show predicted that for many months the city would be imobilized and that it would take years to return the city to normal operation. These pictures and thoughts were twirling around in my mind as I prepared to leave. Buildings toppled, bridges fallen, subways flooded, streets torn open or piled high with debris were the images that twirled about in my head!

Then suddenly the Lord revealed a truth to me.

We are very much like the inner city of New York would be if it were hit by a disaster. Our inner selves are filled with rubble, debris, and fragments of those shattered moments in our lives that scar our hearts, our minds and our souls. Ruins and rubble that the calamity of devastating events has deposited within us as we have journeyed through this lost and dying world. Over time the rubbble will build to massive proportions and begin to clog our spiritual. emotional. and mental arteries. Soon disease and even death may occur if we do not begin to remove some of the rubble and refuse. I do not know what your life has been like. Mine has been filled with major earthquakes and tornadoes and lightning strikes and flash floods and droughts and wildfires and every other imaginable metaphor that can depict the ravaging of my heart, mind and soul through the sudden and tragic events of my life.

Now think about this for a moment. Jesus Christ is trying to remove truckloads of junk that have built up inside of us over the years. Depending on how old you are and how tragic your life has been it may take Him sometime to get it all out. This is not due to the fact that He lacks the ability to remove it at whatever rate of disposal He chooses. The problem is that this world is constantly trying to dump more trash in on top of the already mounting destruction within us. The other problem is more likely the larger and more difficult problem to solve.

We are the real problem. When life throws those unexpected disasters in our paths we make things worse by panicking and losing faith in God. Otherwise, no matter what happened we would still have joy in our hearts. During those truly horrific times though we may be sad we can have a peace inside of us that surpasses all understanding. Let’s help Jesus remove the rubble from within us and restore our spiritual city to full operation. Let’s read the Holy Word of God everyday and dispell any illusions that the enemy may have any true power over us. He does not! That old saying “The devil made me do it!” is the most false statement that can be made.

The enemy puts things before us that we think we desire. He gives us ample opportunity to stumble and fall and he attacks as frequently as possible. The enemy is always on the attack. Never relenting! We have to work harder to help Jesus remove all these things from within us. How you ask?

1. Prayer – Constantly, Earnestly, and with Faith in their reception and answering by God.  
2. Study – Reading His Holy Word everyday and truly desiring to know Him more.
3. Attendance – Steady church attendance is a very important part of maintaining reconstruction and new growth throughout your “Inner City”.
4. Giving – Of yourself to any and all who need your help in any shape, form or fashion!
5. Perseverance – Hold strong through the rough times and stay focused on Jesus!
6. Faith - that God has control of everything in our lives and He will work all things to the good of those who love Him!!!
7. Love – for all that comes through us from God Himself, His Son and The Holy Spirit!

Let’s not make Jesus work so hard to keep our heads above water. Let’s not drown ourselves in the midst of the storms that we could easily survive with Jesus as our lifeboat! Praise God for His Son! Praise Him for His Holy Spirit and for the unending and ever powerful true love He gives us without cause from us. We are so fortunate to have such a loving and gracious Father watching over our every need!

Whatever it is commit it to prayer and release it to the Lord’s control. Follow His guidance and the truths that He reveals to you through His Word, His Spirit, and all the things of this world and He will never fail you!

Praise God Ya’ll!

All I can do is pray!

Father we thank you for all that you are doing in our lives. Thank you for bringing us through so many trials and tribulations Lord God. Thank you for the love that you show us everyday Lord. You began showing your love to us simply by creating us Lord. Then you provided a way for us to make ourselves right with you when you sent your Son to die for us. You sent Him not only to die for our sins Lord God but  to be a living example of how we should walk through this lost and dying world. How could we ever repay you for the undeserved mercy and unlimited love you have given us?

I thank you Lord God for everything that you are doing in the lives of my children, grandchildren, and my family Father! You extend grace that is not deserved. Your word says that we have “all” sinned and fallen short of your Glory Lord God! Please forgive us of our weaknesses in the face of the enemy Lord. We fail you over and over Lord God and yet you still find ways to show your love to us. You find ways to lift us up when we can see nothing in us worth praising. You place in us a desire to love others Lord when we are having a hard time loving ourselves! Praise Your name for all that you give us Father! Praise Your name for all you are Father! There is nothing in this world worth having without you in the middle of it Lord God!

I ask you to be with all of us today Lord God. Guide us, shine your light before us to lead us where we should go. The path to your salvation is straight and narrow Lord God. Help us not to detour from the plan you have laid out for our lives Father! Help us to stay focused on Your Son Jesus Christ who is the Author and Finisher of our faith Lord God! Thank you for your Holy Spirit who you have sent to be our comforter! Praise God! Praise Jesus! Praise the Holy Spirit!!!!!

Amen

 

A Word To The Wise…

A word to the wise ladies and gentlemen….

Never under estimate the seriousness of spiritual warfare. Never think you are so strong that you can not be brought to your knees. Never forget that The Lord Jesus Christ has won the war, the enemy is defeated, the crown has been placed on the King’s head and Jesus will reign forever! Praise God!

Although Jesus has His foot on the head of the enemy and has won the war we still have our own battles that must be fought. We have our own demons that must be exercised and our own desires to conquer. We are at war everyday my friends. We are under attack from the moment we are born until the moment we die. The enemy is always on the offensive. Always looking for a new way to breach our defenses.

However, God our Father in heaven always has His eye on us and our situations and He has a way of escape prepared for us during those attacks. To each of us He will give what we need for our situation.  To each of us He will give the strength to make it through. To each of us He will give the Hope of a new day. To each of us He will give a desire to continue onward, forward toward that day when we can truly know the love and peace that can only come from God. I want to experinece it now and forever! Praise God for His love and His mercy! Praise God for His Son, Jeus Christ!

The true enemy is not the devil, satan, lucifer, or any other powerless name! The true enemy is our own selves. We are the real enemy. The other is only a nuisance, an instigator, an accusser, an annoyance! We are our own worst enemy! If we could control self then we could truly be set free! God can set us free through Jesus Christ and His blood. Blood that He sprinkles on the altar for our sins so that we can be made right with God! Praise Jesus! Praise God! And Praise His Holy Spirit!

I fell under great attack these past couple weeks, I cried out, I begged for mercy and just when I thought I couldn’t stand another single thing to happen, it happened. This last time I was already so numb from the other attacks that I reacted differently. I did not get angry. I did not want to give up. I prayed and relented this last situation and all those before it to the power of God! God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit are the only way. I saw clearly that God was letting me know I control nothing and I am not as strong as I thought or acted. I have been corrected and shall strive to do better for the Lord in the future! I love Jesus! I am nothing without Him in me and I am so greatful and in such awe of the sacrifice that He made on the cross at Calvary for myself and every other human ever to come! Praise God!