What Happened on Easter? Part 2

The Great Climax

If  you want to talk about a climax (in the theatrical way ---or in any way) the climax to Easter was the resurrection, when Jesus came bursting like a flash of light out of his earthly body, scorching his grave-cloth and breaking every cord that held Him captive! And, by cords, I mean Satan's spiritual bondage.

Jesus Christ our Savior overcame sickness, disease, hunger, death, fear, oppression, doubt, and every wile of the devil! That's what the Bible says. And, in case you're wondering, "But, but, but, ...we still suffer, get sick, fear, have doubts and die, don't we?"

Yes we do. And, why is that? In three words, "lack of faith" is why. (I'm not pointing fingers because my faith isn't 100% either.) But, I believe that if we had enough faith, we would not suffer any disease, accident, lack, fear, or even pain. I believe that we can claim the Word of God to absolutely hold true, according to our faith in it.

That means the dead CAN be raised, the sick CAN be healed, God's will CAN be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Because the Bible says so! Because of EASTER --the Great Climax, the Resurrection. Amen? Do you believe it?

Because, if one person can receive healing, anyone can. God is not a respecter of persons. If one person can be raised from the dead, anyone can. (I know a couple of people who died and came back to life. There are books on the subject and testimonies galore.) If one person can be saved, anyone can. Then righteousness would cover the earth as the waters cover the seas! Hallelujah! Are you saved? Are you born again?

The Joy of Easter

You don't need colored eggs or chocolate bunnies to experience the true joy of Easter. In fact, the joy of Easter is a year-long, eternity-long joy that nobody can ever take away from you. And, when we share the joy, it multiplies.

You might think that everyone knows about Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection. But, the knowledge of the Most High God has to reach the heart of humankind. It's not just a piece of knowledge, "Yeah, I've heard all about Jesus. He was this guy who walked around in a long robe and held up His two fingers to bless people..."

But, to really know Jesus Christ as your own private, personal, intimate Savior takes being born again in your spirit. You are saved by grace through no effort of your own. All you have to do is receive and this act of receiving is called "believing". It's by faith because you cannot see God.

What God is asking you to believe is that Jesus Christ, His Son, rose from the dead. That may seem like a lot to ask, but if you struggle to believe that, you can also ask God for faith to believe it. There was one man in the Bible who said, "I believe, Lord help my unbelief." because he knew that his faith wasn't 100%. But, his lack of faith didn't prevent God from doing the miracle.

Just the simple act of opening your mouth and telling God, "I believe that Jesus rose from the dead" is the key to eternal life and perfect joy! And, believing that in your heart means you are saved.

Here's the proof right out of God's Word: Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

That's right, folks, that's all it takes. Only believe. I hear more buts. "But, but, but, what about baptism? and communion? and church attendance? and Bible study?" Yes, these are all good things but none of these things of and by themselves will save you. You are saved by faith and faith alone. And even that faith comes from God. And, yes, your faith can grow after you have been saved. That's the plan. You don't want to stay a newborn babe in Christ for the rest of your life. You want to grow up and mature.

So that's the true joy, God's joy that comes through believing the story of Easter.

What's the Story?

Maybe you don't have a Bible nearby or maybe you've never been able to read and understand the Bible. (I've had people tell me that they can't read the Bible because it's too difficult to understand. I've even had people tell me that it puts them to sleep when they try to read it. So, I told one person, "If it puts you to sleep, that's a sweet sleep. Just continue reading when you wake up.")

So, here's the story of Easter ---my version. It's the story of a man who was taken by his enemies and tortured in the worst way. Any onlooker would have seen a human being crushed, ripped apart with a whip that was a torture device of 9 strands of leather embedded with glass and sharp stones. After this beating, there was so little flesh left on the body of our Lord that He could see His own bones!

But, His enemies weren't through with Him yet. He was forced to carry His own cross all the way up the hill to Golgotha. (He fell under the weight and someone else had to help Him carry it.) And there, He was crucified. His body hung on a cross up high so everyone could see His mutilated body. But, Jesus shared his concern for His earthly mother with John, asking him to take care of her for Him. Then, the sky went dark in the middle of the afternoon.

Jesus called out, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!" This means, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Now, it just so happens that in the book of Psalms, chapter 22, King David said the same words. With His final words, Jesus fulfilled prophecy. His entire life was a fulfillment of prophecy one after the other. In fact, the entire chapter 22 is a prophecy of Jesus's death as well as a prophecy of the future when,

"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." (Psalm 22:27)

Can you imagine what it was like in Jerusalem that day? Night had fallen for three full hours right in the middle of the day. Imagine the feeling in the atmosphere. People must have been wondering, possibly fearful or amazed. Anyone in the temple would have heard a loud rip as the veil of the holy place was ripped in half.

Then there was an earthquake! Thunderous noise of explosions filled the air as many rocks broke up! And just like a sci-fi horror movie, all the graves of the saints opened up! Moreover, bodies of the saints came out of those graves. (Remember, it's dark and there's an earthquake shaking things up at the same time.)

When all this started happening, even the Roman guards believed Jesus was the Son of God.

The body of Jesus was laid out on a flat shelf inside of a tomb in a rock and a huge rock was rolled in front of the entrance. But, when Mary came a few days later to put balm on His body, she found that not only was the stone moved but the body of Jesus was gone missing. Of course, this was upsetting. "Who on earth would want to steal this mangled body?" She saw a man nearby and went to ask him about this puzzling situation.

A New Body of Bone and Flesh

As it turns out, this man was Jesus. No more blood. His body was made out of some kind of flesh and bone. And, He could walk through walls no problem. He could appear and disappear at will. Still, He told Mary not to touch Him. (Imagine the shock it would have sent through her if she had.) And, He gave her instructions to tell the disciples that He was risen.

Of course, the disciples didn't believe her. After all, she was just a woman grieving for her Lord. But, it turned out, they should have believed her story. Because Jesus showed up unexpectedly while they were eating dinner. He had a physical body. He even ate fish with them. He even taught many followers for 40 days! What a crash course that must have been! If only we'd been there!

Nevertheless, Jesus told Thomas, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

That's us, folks!

What Happened on Easter?

Easter, like Christmas, has been shrouded in  traditions. We've got the Easter bunny --of all things, colored eggs, the Easter bonnet, and --more recently, Easter trees. Orthodox and Catholic churches make a big deal out of "Lent" and fasting and showing everyone how pious they are. (Or are they simply pusillanimous?) Anything to distract us from the real meaning of Easter.

Okay, so what is Easter? The word "Easter" comes from a pagan tradition. (Ah, tradition. How we love our traditions. Why is that? Traditions are just so human. And, in most cases, ungodly.)

The month of the crucifixion was called Eosturmonath after a pagan goddess named Eostre. Catholics therefore referred to the resurrection as Eostre. Go figure. It had to be the Catholic church that designated this name for the most important day of human existence. And, there we have it.

So, what about the Easter bunny? He was just another symbol of fertility. Yet, apparently he also brought pretty colored eggs to children who were good --- much like Santa Claus. And, although I sound very critical of these imposters, traditions and distractions, at least there is one good thing you could say about it all --- it helps people all over the world to remember this day called Easter. --So that, if they dig deeply enough, they may even discover the real meaning behind the celebration.

Humanity's Most Important Day

Without the slightest bit of exaggeration, we can say that Easter (The Resurrection) is the most important day of all of human history. You might say, "What about the day of the creation of human beings?" But, the resurrection is what saved humanity after the fall, so, without it, there would be no creation.

Think about this: God was going to wipe out His entire creation with the flood. The Bible says that God "repented" at having even created us! But, thankfully, Noah stood between God and the destruction of the entire earth. One man, Noah was used by God to save us all, just as one man, Jesus was used by God (and was and is God) to save our souls from destruction.

It's Intense

Yes, it's intense. It's intense because most of us don't realize just how bad our lives and deaths would be without Jesus. In a way, it's like being born into a world of electricity and trying to imagine what life would be without it. You get to experience life without electricity when it temporarily gets cut off, but that's only a taste of electricity-less living, isn't it? The point is, we just don't realize.

We're so shaped by the society we're born into that we do tend to take a lot for granted. If your parents were Catholic and sent you to a Catholic church, you became aware at an early age that you are a sinner. The Catholic church wants you to think that they have everything to do with your eternal salvation and that without them, you are going to hell. (We won't get into slamming the Catholic church at this point. They do have a few grains of truth and lots of sincere, dedicated people. Albeit, most of them are deceived.)

But, if you weren't Catholic, you weren't quite as painfully aware of your sins. And, since human beings are for the most part, self-righteous, you may have figured that "whatever will be will be" concerning death and the afterlife. If you believed in the afterlife at all. As a child, you may have never concerned yourself with eternity, concentrating mostly on getting ahead at school or making lots of friends or whatever.

Until, one day, maybe after a particularly dark nightmare or a really bad movie, the thought awakened in your mind that you didn't really know for sure what was going to happen to you when you died. That fear of death is a gift of Satan, by the way. But, on the bright side, it does cause us to call out to our Creator.

Death and Hell was Nailed to the Cross

What the Catholic church doesn't seem to know is that the fear of hell and death was nailed to the cross on Good Friday. That means we don't need a church (any church at all really) or a priest, or pope, or confession, or even mass. Nobody controls our eternal salvation except for Jesus Christ. Nobody makes the decision of whether you go to heaven or hell except for God. Not Mary, not your local priest or pastor or the entire "Holy" Roman Vatican.

If you could do it by going to church faithfully, confessing your sins to a man of the cloth, taking mass or communion, praying, worshiping, obeying, giving to the poor, or whatever else you can imagine, then Jesus didn't need to die on the cross.

If there was anything at all that you could possibly do to save  yourself from going to hell, the death of our perfect, pure, unspotted Lamb was a waste of time. If that's true, Jesus died in vain. It meant nothing. It served no purpose. --Because you could have saved yourself! So, no need for all that suffering, all that blood and pain and misery.

And, just as you know in your heart that you could never have saved yourself or been good enough for God, you also know that there is no way to keep yourself saved. The entire thing is by grace through faith. Grace and faith alone. Those are two powerful words. We don't even understand them.

We Underestimate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

God knew that pigs can't fly. He created them. He didn't enable pigs to fly. So, they can't. And, He knew what humans were and what we aren't. He didn't expect the miraculous from us. He knew our weaknesses, our humanity, our frailties, our finite minds, our ridiculous approach to life. He also knew that, without a touch of God, we would come to destruction. And that very fast.

God knew that there was only one solution to this entire mess down here. He was the Only One Who could fix it. That's probably where that saying came from, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Because, in all seriousness, God is the Only One Who can do it right.

Imagine This!

Okay, now here's something that will blow your mind. It's just not even possible to comprehend this in our tiny, human brains. But, here's the thing --God came down to earth inside of a human body (it was the perfect disguise) so human-like that it even fooled his biological half-brothers, then he lived on the earth (eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping, working, walking, talking) just like a human being, then He went around doing good to show everyone a sample of godliness and godly living. But, that wasn't enough.

He gave Himself (his flesh) to the smiters, people who hated Him so that they could kill Him in the most painful way imaginable. Just so that whoever believes in Him can be saved!

We're Saved From Ourselves

Some people may ask, "What do we need to be saved from?" But, if we're honest, we know deep down that we need to be saved. We are not strong. We are not smart. We are not God. That's right. You are not strong, you are not smart, and you are not God.

You may be clever but you're not smart in the true sense of the word. You're certainly not smart like God. He is omniscient. That means He knows everything. And, that word, "everything"  means everything now, everything in the past, and everything in the future. Everything.

The first step in getting really smart is to finally come to the realization that you don't know anything except what God shows you. If you know something that's true and right, it came from God. God taught us how to speak, how to wash, how to cook, how to procreate, everything. Then, it was passed on.

How insane is it to think that anyone on this earth is smart? Everything we learn is taught to us. Everything we know is second-hand information. Either humans taught us, or God. Or, in some cases, Satan. But, really Satan is not omniscient. He's weak, dumb and he's definitely not God. Satan is the great imitator. He's a liar and the father of lies.

We're Saved from Satan

Don't you know Satan hates the fact that we are saved by grace. He's constantly lying to us to try to deceive us into thinking that we have to work for our salvation, pay some exorbitant fees to the church, fast or punish ourselves for our sins. How ridiculous. The price of salvation was too high for any of us to afford. All the tea in China can't buy your salvation.

The most valuable thing you own is your salvation. That means you have Jesus living inside of you. The smartest thing you can know on this earth is that you are saved. And the most powerful name in human history is: Jesus Christ/ Yeshua Hamashiach.

To be continued . . .

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Universal Reconciliation

In these days of widespread earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, forest fires, car crashes, wars, and murders, it's difficult to even imagine that this world we live in could ever be reconciled to what it was intended to be. There seems to be no end to man's/woman's inhumanity to man/woman. And, there definitely seems to be no explanation for all of this horror.

Rose Colored Glasses

So, what do we do in the face of reality? Do we put on our rose-colored glasses, try to stay positive, and look on the bright side? (First you have to find the bright side.) Where the HECK is the bright side anyway? Even for those of us living in relative "peace", there's the never-ending bills, bills, bills. And those awful people we have to work with every day. And, sickness, pain, pollution and, finally ---death. Where's the bright side?

Many of us try to avoid the News because, no news is good news. Who's killing who today? Who's blowing up what? Where was the mega-quake today? And, on and on it goes. We figure it's only a matter of  time before our worst nightmare shows up on our doorstep. We worry for our children, our finances, our spouses, and ourselves, ...

Coffee! More coffee! God help me to get through one more day. Help me to focus on surviving this one day. Help me put the endless bill payments, low salary, long hours, and failing economy out of my head.

As born-again believers, we have more hope than those who are not believers. Let's face it. We know who we are, Who our God is, and where we're going when we die. (Or, we should know!) Our hope is in Jesus, in His resurrection, eternal life, God's mercy, and --eventually, ALL THE ANSWERS. Right? So, it's encouraging when the Lord gives you a word that cracks everything wide open --in a good way that is.

On February 20, 2018, I received this prophecy.

See Through God's Eyes

"The bigger your vacuum, the more Spirit I can pour into your heart. The more you desire Me, the closer I come to you. We become one. You become a part of God and see the universe through God's eyes ---the good, the potential, the reason for everything, My design, My desires, and the plans I have for it all.

My creation has a plan. Nothing will go to waste and there's a reason for everything ---every word spoken or written, every thought, every breath, every idea, every pain, every move made on this planet. 

Everything can be rectified, sanctified, reclaimed, reborn, re-purposed, refurbished, reunited with its maker. Every piece of coal can become a diamond. Every disaster can be swallowed up in love and recreated into something good, something wonderful. 

Love is creative, empowering, enriching, fulfilling, uniting, building, blessing, thrilling, enlightening, forgiving, cleansing, bonding, calming, soothing, healing, mending, blending, refreshing, uplifting, inspiring, recreating, understanding, sympathizing, enduring, communicating, possible, prophetic, penetrating, visionary.  It sees the possibilities in every circumstance. 

God is in Control

Although our senses may tell us that the world is on fire in the basement and we're all going to hell in a hand-basket, we just need to remind ourselves that GOD IS ON CONTROL.

What? How can you say God is in control? Children are starving, people are poverty stricken, diseases are out of control, the earth is rocking and reeling! We're on the verge!

I can say that God is in control of MY LIFE and God is in control of every life that He holds in His hands. God and His angels are the Super Powers on this earth today. Not Satan.

Yes, God gave Satan this world to live in and try to control as much as people would allow him to. And, it sure seems that many human beings have let him step in, step up and take over. But, we haven't! You and I, fellow believers in the Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, we have NOT surrendered!

So, no matter how bad it looks and sounds, no matter how terrible things get or seem to get, the true believers and followers of Jesus Christ will HOLD. There is a red ribbon of the Blood of Jesus tied securely around our souls, pulling us out of harm's way and guiding us closer to Him until one of these days it will raise us up out of these mortal earthbound bodies to rise into the sky at the last trump! Then EVERYTHING but EVERYTHING will be healed, mended, cleansed and purified. Every tear will be wiped away. And a smile will be on every face --of all those who believed!

TRIBULATION THEN RAPTURE THEN WRATH

WHO ARE THE 144,000?
I get a little crazy when people teach the book of Revelation and give out their interpretation as though it's facts but it's not scriptural. Several people on Youtube keep bringing up the question of "Who are the 144,000?" But, the Word clearly tells us exactly who they are.

#1 They are the firstfruits. What's a firstfruit? Wouldn't it be the first fruit of the faith? Wouldn't these be the Old Testament believers who had a relationship with God, people like King David? People like David's mighty men? Men who went several rounds with the devil in hand-to-hand combat? These guys got physical with their enemies and some of these "Mighty Men" would kill 200 men in one battle with swords, spears and axes or whatnot.

#2 They were called out from the tribes of Israel.

#3 They are already in heaven with Jesus and come down with Jesus and on the way down to the earth, an angel of God seals them in their forehead. Jesus also has an identifying mark on his leg.

#4 They descend from Heaven during the Wrath of God. Timing here is all-important. And it's all laid out in Revelation if you just read it. There's no need for long-winded discussions, debates and interpretations. It's all right in the Word. 

The reason why I believe this needs to be addressed is because it's sort of a pet doctrine that people are starting to spread around making believers feel like they're going to get a "special calling" for this period of time and get a special seal of God in their foreheads. But that's NOT going to happen. If  you are a servant of God, you will have departed the earth BEFORE the wrath of God gets poured out on His enemies. YOU WON'T BE HERE FOR THE WRATH OR THE BATTLE OF ARMEGGEDON, BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

For heaven's sake, please, please, please read Revelation and ask God to show you what it says. Don't go blindly believing heresay and false doctrines. Some people are so confused, one minute they'll tell you you're going up in the Rapture BEFORE the tribulation. (The Tribulation happens before the Wrath and yes, some of us will be here for that. You will be here for it if you're still alive then. And, so will I. Which is one good reason for STUDYING THE WORD AND GETTING A STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS !! Amen?)

Then, in the next breath, they're trying to tell you that God is going to select 144,000 followers on the earth to preach the Gospel. What? All of a sudden you're going to get the urge to preach the Gospel? Well, if you're not doing it now, why would you be doing it DURING THE WRATH OF GOD? By VIRTUE of the word "Wrath", doesn't that sort of indicate that there's a whole new ERA opening up?

The Wrath happens when God finally finishes DEALING with humanity and only the most stubborn, rebellious, unrepentent Satan-worshippers are left. These are the Gentiles who attack Jerusalem and burn her with fire. So, God has to come and rescue his backslidden bride from the hands of His enemies. Why? Because He vowed a vow to Israel. And for Jacob's sake, He'll come to rescue her. Then, a remnant will repent. (I'm not talking about the ones who repent before the Wrath. THEY will go UP in the Rapture with all the rest of the believers.)

All that to say, I just hope that you don't get deceived like I once was that believers would be receiving some sort of special mark in their forehead from the angel before going into the Tribulation. It's not going to happen. We have the Holy Spirit and it's up to us to operate in FAITH and in communication with the Lord to be prepared for whatever God has planned out for us.

Some of us will be martyrs. Some of us will be prisoners. Some will be called before leaders and powerful people to give an account of our faith. And we'll love not our lives to the end. We'll give God all the glory. And God will protect us, pour out great grace and provision for us and anoint us to do the job. We'll witness and preach the Gospel and die in faith as a testimony to the love of Jesus Christ. We'll lay down our lives because He laid down His life for us. And, just when it looks totally hopeless, JESUS WILL RETURN IN THE CLOUDS and we will RISE UP TO MEET HIM in the air! And so shall we ever be with the Lord! Hallelujah!

And THEN the 144,000 will join Jesus on their horses to go BACK to the earth and deliver God's wrath. Meanwhile, giant hail stones will be flying around, terrible insects and huge earthquakes but, not to worry because the servants of God on their horses who have some kind of physical bodies will be SEALED in their foreheads so that the angels know where they are at all times.

Does that make sense to you? Not really probably. But, I'm not interpreting AT ALL. I'm relating the events as I have read them in my Bible. It's not confusing. It's not hard to see what's going on scene by scene.

Simply put: The FIRST 5 SEALS concern us on the earth. The 6th SEAL happens AFTER WE ARE GONE. You'll notice it's accompanied by a "GREAT EARTHQUAKE". We won't be here.

The VIALS are the WRATH OF GOD. VIALS=WRATH. Sure, it's interesting reading and all that, but it doesn't concern us except as spectators. We may be allowed to WATCH from our heavenly vantage point. We may have the "best seats in the house" but WE WON'T BE ON THE EARTH. WE ARE NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH.

However, if you have not received Jesus as your personal Savior, NOW is the time for salvation. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and you will be saved from the WRATH to come. We serve a merciful and loving God Who DIED to save you from all your sins and mistakes, sorrows, suffering, and HELL! And you get all that for FREE! Where else can you get a deal like that? I'll tell you where. Nowhere. Everything  Satan has to offer will cost you dearly. Misery now and hell hereafter. That's his bargain basement offer.

Why not let go of all of your preconceived ideas of what you thought God was like and just try Jesus? He's way better than you could possibly imagine. He's HEAVENLY. And, you're going to need Him!

"I Surrender All" Again

As we near the age of retirement, our lives slow down and we have a little more time to think, if we allow ourselves to. In this age of rush and stress, thinking can almost be considered a luxury. Who has time to think? I mean on a large scale timewise.

Ever notice when you go into someone's house that they usually have some kind of sound going on? Either the TV is blaring or music or else they're on the computer. It seems that we instinctively fill the air waves with sound so that we don't have to be alone with our own thoughts.

I have this thing about going into the bathroom. It seems whenever I'm in the bathroom, I get hit with memories from the past. I think it was Bill Johnson that said we should never go into the past without Jesus. We are forgiven and we have to remember that. But, there's that temptation to go into the past to fix all the past mistakes we've made. If only we hadn't done this, then this other thing wouldn't have happened. We have messed up so badly in the past that it's a huge temptation to want to go back and change it all. Only, we can't.

But, today, as I was taking time with my thoughts and thinking about my habits and my relationship with the Lord, it occurred to me that our lives are about "coming to the end of ourselves".

We usually think about that in terms of getting "born again". We think of lost souls that way. When they finally come to the end of themselves, they'll turn to the Lord and find out that He was there all the time. And, it's true, we all have to come to the end of ourselves, our own way, our own solutions and our own ideas and interpretations of God in order to find Jesus.

But, today, I realized, it's something we do many, many times throughout our lives. It doesn't just happen once. Maybe the snake shedding his skin is an illustration of that concept. We have to continually put off the old and shed the dead, dry old habits and fears. Drop them like a torn skin.

We have to come to the end of ourself in order to want Jesus so badly we're willing to carve out some time for Him. We say He's in charge of our life. He's in control. That's what we tell ourselves. But, what do we do with our spare time? Do we really ask the Lord to run our schedule?

Or, do we wait until we're drained, depressed, discouraged and running out of spiritual fuel before we finally come to the end of our own resources and decide it's time to turn to God as a last resort? (Believe me, I'm not pointing fingers here.) I'm just starting to realize after 45 years that it's not until I finally surrender and come to the end of myself that I'm ready to throw myself on the Lord and let Him take over. Only then do I let go and let Him step in for a little while.

Yes, people, we have to get out of the way. That's the only way God's going to get anything done through us. He's a lot smarter than we are. He's the Boss. He knows what needs to get done. He knows what the priorities are.

Did you ever notice that the things you judge other people for are the things you feel "need" to be judged? They're the things in your life that you emphasize or place great importance on. Right? We let a lot of "little" things slip by and don't blink an eye. But, those certain things, we get affected by. They jump out and hit us between the eyes. They rub us the wrong way and we just have to make a judgement call on the person who is guilty of them.

It's because we see ourselves in that person. But, we don't recognize ourselves. We think it's the furthest thing from our minds to do such a thing. When, in reality, it's something we would like to do but have forbidden ourselves from doing. So, we feel all lifted up in self-righteousness, thinking we would never do that.

Yes, it's easier in some ways to avoid interaction with people. That way, you're not tempted to judge anyone. But, on the other hand, it's this interaction that brings things to the surface. It forces us to face our fears, to face our weaknesses. We get to see our own faults in the light of someone else's faults or so-called faults.

But, don't get discouraged when you spot the faults of others. Recognize it for what it is. It's humanity. And YOU and I are human. Our flesh is always causing us to sin. No? Well, mine is. Maybe you have the victory over your flesh. The funny things is that, the things we do have the victory over are the things we don't bother judging others for anymore. We have more compassion in those areas.

So, when you feel discouraged with the world and humanity the way they are, it's time to come to the end of yourself AGAIN and fall on your face to Jesus. Amen?

WE'RE ALWAYS ON THE BATTLE FIELD

The war is raging all around us. From the moment we open our eyes in the morning until we close them again at night, we are in a war zone. Don't think for a moment that the devil is ever idle. He never stops. His attack is continuous.

BUT, he has to follow the rules. When we command him in the name of Jesus, he must obey. He might TRY to sneak around it, drag his feet or bluff you. But, he MUST obey orders from the Lord. He is bound. His power is limited and restricted by OUR PRAYERS. Every word we speak has spiritual power against the attacks of the enemy.

So, wield the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and pierce through the flimsy armour of Satan. Don't let him get away with murder. In fact, you can just ignore everything he has to say. That's what Jesus did. He never gave the Devil a platform to preach. He told him to keep quiet.

Just don't be surprised if the Devil changes his tactics and comes at you from another angle, trying to make you think it's somebody else or something else. He camouflages himself in the bushes.

The Main Message of Satan

 

The underlying message that Satan/the Devil is trying to get across is: "FEAR ME." He wants us to fear him because our fear is a form of worship. If Satan can get us to FEAR, he has achieved his goal. In a sense, it doesn't even matter then if we believe and worship Jesus or not. When we are in fear, we are bowing to the Father of Fear, the Author of Confusion and Panic, the Father of LIES, Satan.

There are very few of us humans on this earth that will actually worship Satan. That takes a whole lot of stupidity which, thank God, most of us just don't have. Most of us are smarter than that. So, knowing that, Satan demands fear. Fear, as he knows, is pretty much the same as worship. Because, when you fear him, you listen and OBEY. Out of fear. That's the Devil's control over you!

Resist Fear!

 

The Bible says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
Now, that doesn't sound like he's going to smirk at you and slowly drag his feet as he reluctantly starts to walk away, does it? No. He's going to RUN! He's going to flee! Like most dogs, the devil is more afraid of you than you are of him. Did you know that? He's afraid of the light! He can't stand the light. He freaks out because he knows that his end is near. His punishment is near! He is going to suffer for all his evil works.

But, not us. Jesus knows we can't possibly suffer enough to "pay" for our sins. So, He took all that payment on His own sinless back. What a gift! What a precious gift He gave to us. We are no longer slaves of fear. We are children of God!

God sent Jesus to suffer and die in our place. How can we possibly pay back such a gift? Well, we can't. It's a gift. That means we can only accept it. And, it's rude not to accept a gift. Didn't your mamma teach you that? It's rude when someone hands you a gift for you to not accept it. That's like slapping the giver on the face. It's like when a sword-fighter slaps his opponent across the face with a white glove. That means he intends to duel to the DEATH with him.

So, don't reject or refuse God's GIFT. It's the most precious Gift in the universe. In fact, if you receive this Gift, it's every gift you will ever need all wrapped up in one miraculous Gift. Did you get your Gift? It's got your name on it! If you didn't get it yet, CLAIM IT NOW.

It's free! Who wouldn't want a free gift? No, we don't deserve it. Most of us didn't even have the common sense to ask for it. We really didn't expect it. In fact, a lot of us thought we might have to spend eternity in hell to try to pay for our sins.

Some people think they have to pay for their sins while they're on this earth so that they won't have to suffer in the world to come. But, it's not possible to suffer in the flesh for our sins. Because, that suffering would be selfish and selfishness is a sin.

Only the pure blood of Jesus Christ can wash our sins away. He died not for Himself, but for us. His was a pure, unselfish sacrifice of Love. And, all we need to do is RECEIVE it. How easy is that? Don't question the Giver. Don't argue that you're not worthy to receive it because you definitely are not worthy. None of us is.

Most of all, don't allow the lies of Satan to rob you of this eternally brilliant Gift. Like your mamma taught you, "Take it! And, say 'Thank You.'" Can you do that? Just accept Jesus and the free gift of eternal life. And have a wonderful new life, born again into freedom. We are no longer slaves of fear or Satan. We are God's kids. And He is the best Father you could ever ask for!

Don't Argue with the Devil

This is a mistake we all have made. We need to be reminded that we should NEVER go into battle with the enemy in our own strength. Our own carnal mind, reasoning and the "wisdom of men" is no match for the devil. Believe me. You can get torn to bits, spiritually.

The enemy (Satan, the devil or who used to be Lucifer) loves to get us off-guard and involved in hand-to-hand combat with him. He knows how weak we are without the Lord's anointing, without the Holy Spirit. That's the only way Satan has a chance to beat us down, get us discouraged, drained and totally useless.

So, he starts off seemingly innocently with a question. You're face-to-face with a relative, a close buddy or a respected member of your society when, before you know it, the conversation escalates. It usually begins with a little question or doubt or remark. Often, it's about YOU.

We're sensitive. Let's face it. Nobody likes to be put down or criticized. We want to believe we are the chosen ones, the ones who have found the Truth and are walking in "the way", bla-bla-blah. But then someone comes along and ribs us or jabs us or (heaven forbid) full-on hits us where it hurts most. (Don't  underestimate Satan's ability to know exactly where your Achilles' heel is.)

So, Satan, or the devil ---usually it's one of his minions-- uses a person that is close to us. Relatives are his first choice because there's an unwritten law concerning our relationship with relatives. We listen to our relatives and try to respect them since they have some of the same genes as us. Forget genes!

What did Jesus say about relatives? Plain and simple He warned us that they are our ENEMIES.

Matthew 10:36, "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."

What did he say about your brother? And even your children?

Matthew 10:21, "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death." 

Some of us have found this out the hard way. And, when I say hard, I mean the way of arguing. The simple truth is that, some people love to argue. They will go out of their way to pick a fight. It doesn't even matter what they argue about or with whom. Their object is to put you down.

Why?

So they can put themselves up. Or, at least, they feel they can put themselves up by beating you down, walking all over you, pointing out all your faults and making you look like an idiot in front of others. So, as I was saying, they start off with a simple little question. From there, it's pick-pick-pick. Usually attacking your personal qualities, pointing out that you have no qualifications, no expertise, no abilities whatsoever, so who do you think you are, anyway, trying to tell me about God?

I am the one who should be telling you about my concept of God and the meaning of the universe. But, I won't. You should ask me whatever you need to know. I know everything. I'm a well-spring of knowledge. You should respect me for the giant of knowledge and experience that I am.

They love to see you get emotionally involved. As soon as the blood rises in your cheeks or your nostrils start to flare, they know they have you! You're a goner. Now you're taking it personally. You are on the hook and going down. And they love to watch you struggle, wiggle, squirm and jerk on the line. You are being played for a sucker. And how the devil's own loves the game.

Being the humans that they are, most relatives will use their so-called "support" or "help" as an advantage over you, making you feel obligated to them in some way. In some cases, even when you owe them nothing, they'll bring up the past or remind you of how they're doing something for you that you are dependent on them for. (And, by the way, it's not God that you're depending on. It's them.)

To the unsaved, unbelieving, and sometimes, reprobate relative, you are the oddball. They somehow believe that being related to you by blood gives them the privilege to disrespect, ignore and belittle you. (I'm talking about relatives who are not born-again and not Spirit-filled, those who do not love Jesus and have obviously chosen a different path.)

What we're doing here is we're exposing one of the enemy's tactics that he has used billions of times down throughout history. And, why does he tend to use this same tactic over and over? Because it works.

Oh, yes, it works. 

The thing is that most of us believers feel it's our "duty" to "deliver our soul" and to get the message out to our relatives and everyone else. So, we feel all righteous and used of the Lord when we're preaching the Gospel, standing up for Jesus and speaking the Word. That makes us feel like we're dutifully obeying the Lord and fully in God's will. ---And sometimes, we are.

But, sometimes we're just not. Sometimes we're going into a battle that was never God's will. He never told us to go into that battle. He never put the words in our mouth. We're simply not anointed, we're not being led of the Lord and therefore we do not have the power or the strength for that battle.

How do you tell the difference?

1. Do you feel like banging your head against the wall and screaming?
2. Is the person you are "talking" to (possibly arguing with) listening at all?
3. Is the conversation going around in circles and making you dizzy?
4. Has anything you said resonated with the person? Any dent?
5. Is the conversation focused on the Word or is it mostly focused on pride, vanity, materialism and nonsense?
6. Finally, does the altercation or conversation leave you feeling hopeless, despondent, discouraged, drained and almost suicidal?

When you come away from a conversation or argument feeling wounded, bruised, angry and fed up, it's exactly Satan's cup of tea. His mission has been accomplished. He hit you below the belt several times, had you gasping for air and pretty much won the attack on your dignity and inspiration.

Hopefully, we'll learn our lesson after one or two of these altercations. Sadly, some of us never learn.

Why not?

I'd call it pride. There's no other reasonable explanation for why we would want to enter into a counter-productive, time-wasting, draining argument with a "goat" or "reprobate". If we're honest, we have to admit our pride makes us do it. We feel we have something to prove.

But, not for the Lord. Oh yes, we tell ourselves it's all for the glory of God. We tell ourselves it's our duty to prove that our God is the One and Only true God. So, we argue.

At first, we pull out a verse or two and brandish the Word, deftly enough. But, as soon as it gets personal, our defenses go up. Then it becomes a battle ---not for the Lord but to defend our pride. True or not?

So, when we are faced with this kind of battle, what should we do?

1. Pray. Ask the Lord what to do.
2. Do what God tells you to do no matter what anybody else says or does.
3. If the Lord tells you to walk away, walk away. If He tells you to stand and do battle, put on the whole armor of God. Don't try to fight the enemy in your own strength.
4. Remember that our God is Love. Speak every word in love. Don't allow yourself to become angry.
5. Don't get drawn into an argument. Be very wary of arguing even if it's for the Lord. God is able to defend Himself. He doesn't need us to defend Him.
6. Your greatest witness may be your silence.
7. Don't be judgmental. Only God knows man's/woman's heart.
8. If there is one appropriate scripture that the Lord gives you for the situation, quote it in love. Quote it several times, if possible, because the Word will sink in and take hold of his/her heart even if at a later date. The Word of God does not return void.
9. Remember that often actions can speak louder than words. Your generosity, kindness and consideration put into action is a great testimony of God's love.
10. If it's obvious that the person is in a bad mood or angry, avoid communication. Excuse yourself.

 

 You'll notice that Jesus didn't waste words with the devil. He would say, "Hold your peace and come out of him." Or, "Get thee hence, Satan." Jesus didn't have long conversations with the devil or let him do all the talking. He certainly never argued with him.

During His greatest temptation, he simply told the devil, "It is written..." then quoted the Word to contradict him. He didn't bother getting into dialogue or refuting his accusations. He didn't try to prove to the devil who He was. He knew Who He was and He knew that God knew. 

We are affected by other people around us. You can be all alone in your room enjoying sweet fellowship with the Lord and come out radiant with the Spirit of God, only to be thrust into a dark cloud that's been hanging over someone else's head all day long. Suddenly, you become involved in their dark cloud. Yuck.

How much easier is it to walk away? But that's when it takes discernment and hearing from the Lord as to what to do because, sometimes that person really needs a boost up. You may be the only one who can give it to them. After all, you're on a higher level, vibrating at heaven's beat, happy and full of faith. So you have the power to encourage them and lift them up to your level. Why not?

Just be ware of deep dark bottomless pits ---people who want to do nothing else but drag you down into the depths of despair with them to wallow in their misery. Avoid them like the plague.