Giving Satan an Inroad

As I was driving to work yesterday, a thought percolated to the top of my awareness. Perhaps by making the decision to exceed the speed limit, I am giving Satan an inroad into my life.

Maybe....
When I am speeding, I am giving Satan an opportunity to harm me because I am choosing to not follow the Word of God and am therefore taking myself out of the Spirit and into the world. After all, speeding by choice is an act of rebellion. 

After studying my bible, 
I have decided that the thought is correct. I am giving Satan an inroad by being in rebellion to the law of man.

Yes, I am supposed to follow the rules of man. 
Acts 25:8
While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.
Titus 3:1
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Romans 13:1
Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

No, Satan is not going to harm me because I belong to God. Conversely, I also have to sin not. The decision to speed is the sin and I am acting unrighteously. 

1 John 5:17 - 18
All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not to death. We know that whoever is born of God sins not; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not. 
James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Satan isn't going to harm me. Satan is going to flee from me because I love Jesus with all my heart and have submitted myself to God in all areas of my life.

The Holy Spirit resides in me. I am sealed by the Holy Spirit into the new covenant of God through Jesus Christ my Savior and mediator. 

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
2 Timothy 1:14
Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

I am not perfect.I know this. 
However, I am going to have to get my foot off of the gas pedal, or lighten up on the throttle. Clearly, my decision to intentionally exceed the speed limit has given Satan an inroad into my life.

Sin is not an option for me because I have submitted to God. 
I have a new heart that is God-focused. Sin is NOT an option for me because I know I am born of God through Jesus Christ. 
Romans 8:13
For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.
1 John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.
1 John 3:9
Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.

Conclusion
Don't give Satan an inroad into your life because you think you are only sinning a little bit. Speeding is breaking the law of man. I am supposed to follow that law because it is not contrary to the Bible. Speeding is living after the flesh and I want to live through the Spirit. 

Pray at Your Partner

Anger is destructive to a relationship.
My hubby and I deal with anger in completely different ways. If Bill gets angry, he likes to think  about it for a couple of days and then talk about it. If I get angry, I fume and fuss, but am over it within half a day. See? We are very different. Two years ago, I began using a different approach if I get angry with my hubby.

Now, I am practicing a "take it to Jesus" approach.
Every time I find myself feeling negative about my man, I start talking to Jesus about it.  Sometimes, I just talk about how I feel, but then it gets down to praying for Bill so I can quit being angry.

I am going to fight for Bill against the enemy, Satan.
Beth Moore's bible study, A Fight Worth Having gave me the tools I needed to:

• stop fighting with my husband
• start fighting a spiritual battle for my husband

Below are the tools I use.

• Ask God to equip me with scriptures that will reflect the situation. Then, I write or type them up and use my husband's name. Then when I speak it, I am speaking straight to the situation. When I begin to pray scripture, I am about to do battle. This is a tool for battle!
• It is time to get mad. There is nothing wrong with getting mad as long as it is focused at the right enemy.
• Pick up the sword of the spirit (The Bible) and go straight to the enemy we really do have and start calling on the authority of God's word in prayer to your Father about your situation.
• You will feel yourself begin to fill with faith. Fight with faith. 
• We have a God that is a warrior. The LORD is a WARRIOR. Exodus 15:3 says, The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
• Hold up that shield of faith and wield the sword of the spirit and God is with you, fighting for you.

I have prayed for peace between my husband and myself, financial wisdom, healing, health, and a variety of issues. Sometimes I just ask Jesus to help me be the wife my husband needs.

For additional prayer help check out Jennifer O. White's five, powerful prayers for wives to use.
 Click Here to read Jennifer's prayers. 

Verse of the Week - Proverbs 25:23 - June 22

This comparison is meant to show that the consequence of attacking others verbally is as natural as the north wind bringing rain. There will not be a different result. 

The Benson Commentary has this to say about verse twenty-three,

Undoubtedly the north wind brings clouds and rain in some climates, and if, as some assert, it generally does so in Judea, as according to Aristotle it does in those parts of Africa which border on the Mediterranean sea, this interpretation ought certainly to be preferred. Either of them, however, shows the odious disposition and character of backbiters; and that they ought to be discountenanced and frowned upon by all that love their fellow-creatures, and wish peace to be promoted among men.

Backbiting does not promote love, or peace. It brings anger in the same way that the north wind brings rain (or storms).  

Psalm of the Week - 52:2, 4 - June 8, 2015

At the grocery store, I was unloading groceries onto the conveyor belt. There was a couple behind me, but I wasn't paying much attention; until I heard the woman say the following words,

"Stop IT! You KNOW I don't like that! You are such a GIRL!" 

I turned slightly and saw the man lowering his arm and open palm from behind the base of her neck. I didn't really see what caused her to say those razor-edged words, but the tone of her voice was sharp and hurtful. The man continued lowering his arm and hand to his side and his chin dropped toward his chest. I continued putting groceries onto the conveyor belt. After a brief pause, the woman said to the man,

"I bet I couldn't even give you away!" 

Wow, oh wow! I was shocked and stunned by those harmful words, used like a sharpened razor.

I silently began to pray for the man and woman. I continue to pray for them. What would make a person say such words to another human being? I do not know. I do not know the circumstances that led to the anger-filled words, but I do know that the words will cause the destruction of their relationship. 

Self-esteem is fragile and can be broken with razor-edged words. 
Seeking to feel powerful by hurting others is how God's enemy wants you to be. Do not let your words lead you away from God, instead of toward God. 

Extinguishing the Flaming Arrow of Anger

for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
James 1:20 NASB

Anger is an area of my life that occasionally causes me issues. "Hot-tempered and high-strung" is the phrase that described the earthly Sallee Bonham for the first 33 years of my life.

Over the last twenty-three years, my desire to rid myself of anger has sent me to my knees in prayer many times. Slowly, but surely my anger has been removed by writing to find the source of the anger, by immersing myself in scripture about anger, AND by the grace of God at work in my daily life. 

Writing about my anger is a sure way to reveal the cause. Usually, I find I have a resentment and/or fear that is affecting the following:

1. My security - fear
2. My self-esteem - upset with myself/ not being "good enough"  - fear
3. A personal relationship/pride - fear

I have to be very honest with myself when I am looking at the cause of my anger. However, I want to live an anger free life. Did you see a pattern in my list? It is all about me. Yep, I have grabbed onto my life again and am not trusting GOD and Jesus to take care of EVERYTHING! (sigh) Now it is time to give my life back to Jesus because my heart's desire is to be closer and closer to Jesus.  I do not want to be an angry Christian! 
It is time to pray this prayer:

Jesus, I am yours! I am giving all of myself to you, good and bad. I am asking you to now remove from me every single imperfection of character that makes me less useful to you. Give me the strength to stay in your will, to do your will, and to be your servant. Amen!

To stop the flaming arrow of the Enemy, I pick up my sword of the spirit (my study bible) and look up anger. Reading through the list of scriptures, I turn to each chapter and read each verse in context. However, I did not feel that sense of "this is it", until I read what James had written in James 1:19-27. 

 "19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

 Righteousness and anger do not belong together. It is time for me to curl up at Jesus' feet and to look intently into the perfect law (the Bible). I am going to win this spiritual skirmish with the Enemy by relying on the Word of God and trusting Jesus to take care of everything!

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places

Ephesians 6:16

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 

The Anti Fisherman and the Good Fisherman

Today in America, we have seen God's values recede from our media, our government, our schools, and even the churches. Habakkuk saw the same thing happen to Judah and its people. The righteous were under attack from within and without.

Habakkuk Wrote
14You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.15The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
Habakkuk 1: 14-17 NIV

Who is Habakkuk Talking To?

Habakkuk is talking to God.  Habakkuk's people,Judah, are under attack by the Chaldeans, but they are also being attacked from within by members of their own people. The stronger, more powerful Judeans are taking advantage of the weaker Judeans to become wealthy and quite happy about doing so.

As I read and reread verses 14-17, I thought about the difference between Jesus's call to Simon and Andrew in Matthew 4:19,"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Reflecting on these two passages made me think about the difference between the "The Anti Fisherman" and the "Good Fisherman".

The Anti Fisherman is out with his hooks and catches the defenseless in his nets for his own use. He is happy when his plans succeed and has a celebration(rejoices). His achievements, wealth, and power are proof that he is doing well in life. Who cares about the little fish?

The Good Fisherman is fishing for men also, but He has no earthly wealth. He is storing up spiritual treasures that you cannot see while calling the little fish to Him and teaching them how to live a successful life that includes helping each other, taking care of widows, showing hospitality with no expectation of getting something in return, and loving one another.

Habakkuk saw the Anti Fisherman at work among his own people, but he listened to God and in Chapter 3 he accepted the truth of the Good Fisherman. "17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,18yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

In Conclusion
As Christian values continue to erode and be removed from American society, God's people have to focus on rejoicing in the LORD. Put Habakkuk's words into action in your life today, and say," I will be joyful in God my Savior." 


revised 1/1/2015

Resist the Devil and He Shall Flee

James 4:7

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

            In the final battle of "Transformers: The Movie", Optimus Prime and Megatron stand face to face with each other. After a moment, Optimus Prime tells his enemy,"One shall stand, one shall fall." The battle begins and the rock n roll lyrics tell us, "you got the power" as the giant machines crash, smash, and bash each other. Optimus Prime and Megatron hurl each other around until finally, Megatron is lying on the ground and a wounded, weary Optimus Prime is the winner.

            Christians have succumbed to a movie version of Satan that portrays him as being a big, powerful enemy who can easily toss God's people around in a battle. We have to sweat and struggle to win against our towering, formidable enemy just like Optimus Prime struggled against Megatron. However, this is not true! We Christians have been deceived, and who is the biggest deceiver there is? That is right, Satan.

            The word, submit, has a military meaning. A good soldier follows the orders of his commanding officer without questioning him. A good soldier resists, or stands fast in a battle because he is following his orders. Our weapons are not fists, feet, knives, guns, or other weapons. Our weapons are knowledge of the Bible, prayer, and reliance on God.

            When Christians submit to God and resist the devil, the devil will flee. Yes, that's right, Satan will take flight, fly away, scamper off, or run away.  This is not just an assurance from a Biblical writer; it is a promise of God.

             So let us get this television movie version of Satan OUT of our thinking. It is a lie. Again, I ask you, who is the biggest deceiver and liar in the Bible? That is right, it is our foe who rules this world. BUT he cannot defeat us when we have submitted to our heavenly Father and resisted him.

            When a spirit-led, coheir of the heavenly kingdom is wearing the armor of God and stands up against the enemy; he will flee, run away, take flight, or scamper off. Satan cannot make Christians do anything.

            I feel like standing up and cheering aloud. Oh yeah! I am the winner in this fight every time! I can just picture myself standing toe to toe with the Deceiver and claiming God's promise by saying, " I am holding fast against you. You cannot defeat me because I am a child of God!" Then the enemy will turn around and scamper away in full flight from the power of God's promise that I just proclaimed.    

Update 6/4/2013
I want to share another devotional with you from one of the Girlfriends in God - Sharon Jaynes. Sharon knows you have to take a stand against the enemy too. Her scripture is Ephesians 6 and the title is, Lessons from a Dirt Clod Fight