Verse of the day...

~ “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” ~ Isaiah 41:10



Thursday, February 7, 2013

Time to Pray....................

Times of crisis are, perhaps, the most important times to turn to God.  Sometime we cry, "Help me!" or "Please!" or "Save me!"  God wants to be there for us.  God wants us to turn and ask for intimacy, comfort and help.  Pray!

Satan is a cunning adversary and knows just what it takes to destroy our hopes, happiness and our need for God. He uses knowledge that spans time and eternity to use against us while we only have a limited amount of years on this earth to learn about him. Our short life span put up against Satan's amassed knowledge makes us ill equipped against this mighty enemy. But dont be afraid, because God's Scriptures are the weapons we  use against this ardent foe, whose only goal is to defeat your life.

Deception: Satan's most effective tool.  Could you be deceived?  How would you know?  
Have you ever been setting in a chair only to find that you've drifted off to sleep?  It's upon awakening that you become aware that you fell asleep.  Until you awoke, you didn't know you were asleep.  That is how it is with deception, you do not know you are deceived until you awake from your deception.  A deceived person will not even check to see if they are deceived.  Why would they, they do not know they are deceived.  Deception is a powerful tool that Satan uses on the human race for it's destruction and Satan's deception is very subtle and mixed with some truth to make it palatable.

Doubt: Makes you question God's word and his goodness. 
One of Satan's tools is Doubt. If he can get us to doubt God he knows that our doubt will drive us away from God. God desires us to trust and believe in His promises and the one trait that pleases God is Faith... Faith in His promises and of who He is...
If Satan can get us to doubt God, then our current life and our life hereafter is in peril. Satan wants nothing more than to frustrate God's plan of redemption of Mankind and to destroy His creation, you and I.

Discouragement: Makes you look at your problems rather than God  
We've all felt this tactic in our life. Discouragement is the playground that Satan loves to frolic in. We are most vulnerable when we are in a state of discouragement. This is the time when we question everything and this is the door that ushers in Satan's plans where he revels in his attacks and accusations against God. "Why did God allow this to happen?", "If God really loved you...", "God doesn't exist, so why pray to him?", "God has abandoned you, and you just don't know it yet!"...
 Discouragement is a stepping stone to despair... and despair is the catalyst to hopelessness. It is in these realms of deep emotions that Satan can influence feelings and actions that can cause us to react in ways that sometimes have no remedy. Suicide is one false remedy that Satan loves to offer the confused, defeated and discouraged and for many he has been successful... But God will not allow despair into our lives if we Trust Him and trust in His promises. Again, this is something that Satan doesn't want for us to do, to Trust God...

Diversion: Makes the wrong things seem attractive so you want them more than the right things
Satan also likes to divert us away from things that are important to God. He is always trying to make us think that what God wants for us is not as rewarding or enjoyable as things that displease God.
 God desires Man and Woman as the normal idea of what a couple is,God wants marriage between a Man and Woman and Satan offers a version of marriage between the same sex, civil unions or men and women just living together without the bond of marriage.
God wants man to perform honest work for honest wages and Satan offers thievery, and crime as his way of getting what you want. God wants to instill patience in His creation, Satan wants to install impatience in Mankind by wanting everything now. Patience is an asset that is earned over time, while Satan teaches "another way" contrary to God's will..

Defeat: Makes you feel like a failure so you don't even try.
Another emotion many have felt is defeat. Through defeat, Satan limits and robs us of a future inheritance. Defeat has a cousin called disappointment. We've all been disappointed at some time in our lives. If Satan plays his cards right, he can overcome our future successes when he uses defeat to frustrate and stop our moves forward towards a goal we've set. All Satan wants is that we give up if we are met with defeat and Satan wants to place us in a state of despondency.
 Through defeat, Satan can again bring question and doubt towards God. As mentioned in the section above, Discouragement, Satan has a powerful tool when used with defeat.

Delay: Makes you put off something so it never gets started or completed.
As you can see, this is a very powerful tool for Satan to use against you and I. So how does Satan use delay to his benefit. One way and his most favorite is to delay the acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He always comes to those who are contemplating accepting Christ and temps them to delay their decision. i.e. "Wait till you clean up your act", "You're not ready to make a drastic change in your life", "What will your friends think of you" ... and other delaying tactics that will cause you to slip closer to death without Christ.
 With delay, Satan knows that time is in his favor and a lot of those contemplating a decision for Christ will die before their acceptance, solidifying their doom after this life is finished.
 With delay, comes laziness which can in some instances cause feelings of defeat and discouragement.

When is a good time to pray?  NOW!  Everyday....Always! 
When you carry a bible... the devil gets a headache
When you open it .... he collapses
When he sees you reading it.... he faints
When he sees you praying and living it... he flees

Lord God.........Thank you so much for loving me more than I deserve! ~ Amen
God Bless
.::Tam::.