Our Struggle

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Ephesians 6:12-13 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Do you struggle with the natural things of this world? How often do we forget that we, as Christians, are not in a physical war, but a spiritual war? We, as Christians, do not have to struggle with the natural things, the worldly garbage that tries to attack us daily. It is so easy to forget or even not believe that there is a spiritual world, a world that is even more real than our natural physical world around us. Our enemy is deceptively cunning, take away the urgency of a threat and the danger appears to be gone. But he’s there, always, just waiting to stick his foot back in the doorway and wedge his way into your life. But why do we always wait for him to raise his head and make the first strike before we take action? Why don’t we make preemptive strikes of our own before he has a chance to attack, keep him on the run! The Bible says he will flee in terror when he knows we are in Jesus and Jesus is in us. Rather than try to guess his plans and counter all of his moves, Paul reminds us to simply take up the tools God has given us and stand up to the evil one at ALL times. Put the power of prayer in the name of Jesus to work in our lives. Always, always, make sure you have on the full armor of God before you go out into the natural world around us. From the helmet of salvation to the shoes of the Gospel and everything in between. Never go into battle with only part of your armor. Never start your day without putting on your armor first! Spend time in prayer every morning before you do anything else – take the time it’s worth it.

MY PRAYER…
Lord of the Universe, my Great Deliverer, thank you for protecting me from the evil one through Your great power. Give me a sense of urgency as I face the evil one and his schemes on a daily basis, but also increase my knowledge of his plans, his ways, and his schemes, that I may know how to stand. You said in Your Word that You would reveal mysteries unto us. Father, increase my confidence that Jesus has already defeated my foe. Help me to stand against this foe and show myself faithful to You. By Your Holy Spirit You have given me the strength, confidence, and knowledge to stand before any foe. Through Jesus my Lord and Savior I pray.
Amen

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Something to consider when you feel like quitting. Message from the front:

TO: Commander and Chief Spiritual Armed Forces,
Jesus Christ
SUBJECT: Transfer

Dear Lord;
I am writing this to You to request a transfer to a desk job. I herewith present my reasons:
I began my career as a private, but because of the intensity of the battle You have quickly moved me up in the ranks. You have made me an officer and given me a tremendous amount of responsibility. There are many soldiers and recruits under my charge. I am constantly being called upon to dispense wisdom, make judgments, and find solutions to complex problems. You have placed me in a position to function as an officer, when in my heart I know I have only the skills of a private.
I realize that You have promised to supply all I would need for the battle. But Sir, I must present You a realistic picture of my equipment. My uniform, once so crisp and starched, is now stained with the tears and blood of those I have tried to assist. The soles of my boots are cracked and worn from the miles I have walked trying to enlist, encourage, and instruct troops. My weapons are marred, tarnished and chipped from constant battle against the enemy. Even the Book of Regulations I was issued has been torn and tattered from endless use. The words are now smeared and now difficult to read at times. You have promised You would be with me always, but when the noise of the battle is so loud and the confusion is so great, I can neither see nor hear You. I feel so alone. I’m tired. I’m discouraged. I have Battle Fatigue and PTSD. I would never ask You for a discharge. I love being in Your service. But I humbly request a demotion and transfer. I’ll file papers or clean latrines (bathrooms). Just get me out of the battle–please, Sir.

Your Faithful, but very tired, Warrior.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To: Faithful, but very tired, Soldier, Spiritual Armed Forces of The Lord God
Location: The Battlefield
SUBJECT: Transfer

Dear Soldier:
Your request for transfer has been denied.
I herewith present My reasons:
You are needed in this battle. I have selected you, and I will keep My Word to supply your every need. You do not need a demotion and transfer. I have equipped you and anointed you. (You’d never cut it on latrine duty anyway.) You need a period of “R&R” –Renewal and Rekindling. I am setting aside a place on the battlefield that is insulated from all sound and fully protected from the enemy. (Psalm 91) I will prepare a table for you in the presence of your enemies. I will anoint your head with oil. (Psalm 23:5)
I will meet you there and I will give you rest.(Matt 11:28) I will remove your old equipment and “make all things new.” (II Cor. 5:17)
You have been wounded in the battle, My soldier. Your wounds are not visible, but you have received grave internal injuries. You need to be healed. I will heal you.(Matt 12:15) You have been weakened in the battle. You need to be strengthened. I will strengthen you and be your strength.(IICor. 12:9) I will instill in you confidence and ability.(1John 5:14) My Words will rekindle within you renewed love, zeal and enthusiasm.(Prov 4:20-22)

Wait for me and I shall renew your strength and you will rise up and soar like an eagle. (Isa 40:31)
Report to Me tattered and empty. I will refill you and refresh you.(Eph 5:18)

Compassionately,
Your Commander-in-Chief,
Jesus Christ

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True Christianity!

The fruit of the righteous [is
a] tree of life, And he who wins souls [is] wise.
Proverbs 11:30 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Being a Christian is a way of life not just a Sunday morning thing!
Being a Christian is more than just a Sunday morning thing! Being Christian is a a way of life, everyday living. Are you producing Christian fruit? Are you the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ? If you are born again you are. If you are born again truly you should be putting forth a tree of life loaded with fresh fruit abounding and waiting to be picked! You should be putting fourth everlasting life through Jesus Christ. Your lifestyle should show forth the fruits of Christian living. Being a Christian is not just a Sunday morning thing, it’s a way of life every day. It’s Jesus inside you shining forth His light through you! You should be walking the walk like Jesus did and not just talking the talk. You should be Christ-like in ALL you do and say! You should be winning souls for His Kingdom with the way you live your live on a day to day basis. That’s what He told us to do. That’s what being about the Father’s business is all about.

MY PRAYER…

Father, I thank You for making me the righteousness of Yourself by sending Jesus, Your Son, to cleanse me and make my pure before You. Thank You for sending me forth to bear much fruit and to teach the Gospel to all nations and kindred. Father, I thank You that You have sent Your servants to this county to reap a harvest of souls, to snatch them forth from the very hands of the wicked one. You have given us Your Word, and You have given us Your Holy Spirit, who is our Guide, our Comforter, our Teacher, and the Power in our lives that we need to go forth and be Your witness on the earth. In Jesus’ holy name I pray and thank You Lord.
Amen

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Proclaimed Before The Father

If, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life.
Romans 5:10 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Is Jesus proclaiming you before the Father?
Jesus didn’t just die for my sins, He lives for me. In fact, He is at God’s right hand right now, claiming me as His own before the Father (see 1 John 2:1-2). In fact I am seated at the right hand of the Father with Jesus. Jesus is telling the Father, “That one, Pastor Duane, he’s mine Dad, I bought him with my Blood! He has made me his Lord!” Jesus is defending me as my lawyer from the accusations of the evil one before God! He is delivering me daily from sin’s dominion through His resurrection. If He was willing to die to save me, what will He withhold from me now that He lives, victorious over death and lives in me? Nothing, all that He had and has He has given freely unto me. Everything Jesus was and is today is also mine in & through Him! I am an heir to the Kingdom of God! You can be also, if you will just make Jesus your Lord and Savior.

MY PRAYER…
Holy and Righteous Father, I thank You for Jesus, who is at Your side and who knows my heart, my struggles, and the world that I am in. I thank You for Your constant care and protection through all of my difficulties and struggles. I thank You for all of the triumphs I have through Jesus and Your Holy Spirit. Please make Your presence known even more clearly today than ever before as I strive to serve You with wholehearted devotion. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

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Don’t Settle For Less!

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalms 27:1 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Don’t settle for just some of what God has for you!
If the Lord is your light and your salvation:
(salvation in the Hebrew 3444. yeshuw’ah, yesh-oo’-aw; fem. pass. part. of H3467; something saved, i.e. (abstr.) deliverance; hence aid, victory, prosperity:–deliverance, health, help (-ing), salvation, save, saving (health), welfare) … etc. In other words the whole shabang, everything in the gift box!
If the Lord is your light and your salvation you will have no one to fear. He is your strength, your buckler, and your shield. No attack by the enemy, no onslaught of a so-called natural disaster and certainly no act of terrorism shall bring fear to one who truly has made the Lord their salvation. For Psalm 91:4 says ” He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” No sickness or disease, not even poverty shall come upon you for He is your Healer and your Provider. The word salvation includes it ALL people, deliverance, aid and victory, prosperity, health and healing, your welfare or well being, not just going to heaven when you die! My Bible says “On earth as it is in Heaven!” There is NO sickness and disease, lack or poverty in Heaven! Take the entire box of gifts, not just one thing out of it. It is time Christians are taught the truth about salvation and not just something a man (a religious doctrine of most churches) wants them to hear. Get to know God’s Word yourself. And it is ALL ALREADY DONE for us – DO NOT ask God to heal or prosper you! He already has, just thank Him for it and receive it!

MY PRAYER…
Loving Father, I commit myself to You and to Your care. I will abide in Your shadow and You shall be my refuge and my fortress. I shall not be afraid for Your perfect love casts out all fear. I know that You shall never leave me nor forsake me, so I put all my cares and trust in Your hands. In Jesus’ name, I pray.
Amen

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Know God’s Plan For Your Life!

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Before we were formed in our mother’s womb, God had already planned our life with Him. He had already ordained that we would be priests and kings in His Kingdom. But because He is a just and a loving God He has allowed us to have our own way. We can choose to follow His Word, which is His will for us or we can choose to do our own thing and have own way. If we choose His way and His will He will prosper us and give us a future with Him, but if we choose our own thing then His hand is not in it and we will not receive what He has for us nor will we be blessed coming in and going out. Instead we leave ourselves open for what is referred to in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, as the “CURSE”. The ‘Curse’ is not from God, comes because we have removed God from our lives through our choices. But God tells us to choose life or death…and then even tells us which one to choose …”life”. The question is: “Which are you choosing? ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO HIM?”

MY PRAYER…
In my struggles, O Lord, help me find the grace You have already given me. Lord help me to fulfill the plan and purpose that You wrote in the book of my life before I was born. Lord help me to see, through Your Holy Spirit and Your Word what You have planned for me. Father, by Your Spirit reveal the mysteries of Your plan for me to me. By your grace and through my Lord and Savior, Jesus, I pray.
Amen

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Possess ALL that God has already given to you!

Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess,
Deuteronomy 11:8 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
God is telling His people here to go in and possess the land that He has given to them. But there were conditions. How would they remain strong? They must keep His commandments so that they would be strong. Even though this was said to His people before they crossed the Jordan into the land He had given them it still applies to us today. So many people in the World today, especially many Christians, have forgotten God’s Commandments, not just the Ten Commandments (there are actually 613 commandments in His Word), but all of His Word. His whole Word is His Commandments to us. Morals are in rampant decay everywhere and lifestyles that not only appall men, but are abhorred by God abound everywhere and people think it should be okay. States are changing their laws to allow men to marry men & women to marry women and God is outraged by this! There is even denominations that are allowing homosexuals and lesbians to be ministers in their churches! This is WRONG! It goes against God’s Word! Read Romans chapter 1 very carefully!
These so-called Christians are NO more Christ-like than the world of heathens around us are. Christians must keep God’s Word in their hearts, so that we can be strong also. We must walk with integrity in our heart before both God and man, that we can go in and take possession of what God has already given us. Search out His Word and find out ALL that He has already given you. Ensure that you are circumspect and with integrity before man and God, then using the Word of God that you have hidden in your heart go in and take possession of what is yours! It belongs to Christians, not the worldly.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

It’s God’s Word not mine!

MY PRAYER…
Most Holy God, thank You for Your Word and the many promises You have given us through Your Word. Help us to see those promises. Help us Father to remove the veil that has hidden them from Your church through the years. Help us Lord to be strong through Your Word and by Your Holy Spirit, lead and guide us in integrity before You, to do all that You have commanded us to do. Let You Holy Spirit lead us to all that You have already given us through Your word. In Jesus name, I pray.
Amen

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Speak The Truth

Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 4:15 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Speaking the truth is hard enough. But do you mean I have to do it in love also? Yes, according to God’s Word, if I am to be Christ’s man or woman, I must speak to others as He did. I must have compassion and love (AGAPE) for those to whom I speak with, but they must be told the truth, God’s truth. As we mature in the things of God we become more Christ inside minded. We begin to live and feel, and think and act as Christ did even when He came against what they were doing in the natural, He did it in love. He loved the people, but not necessarily what they were doing. It’s okay to hate evil, but we must love people.

MY PRAYER…
Father, forgive me for the bitterness in my heart and the unfairness on my lips. Through Your Holy Spirit, help me better use my speech to bless others and to glorify You. Remove from me any bitterness of heart. May I speak Your truth with Your love and compassion today and everyday in all my conversations. Through Jesus, who is Truth and Love, I pray.
Amen

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You Are Able

This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.
Philippians 1:9-10 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
You are able (through God’s knowledge) to make the best decisions!
I don’t know about you, but my most difficult decisions are not about choosing between good and bad. I usually know what is good and what is bad, especially when bad involves evil. My toughest choices are when I have to choose between good, better, and best. My love for God usually overcomes my weakness and I choose good over bad. But unless I’ve placed myself before God and meditated His Word and surrendered my heart to Him in prayer, I have a very tough time choosing between good, better, and best. Yet, I’m convinced that much of what God would love to do through us today does not happen because we’ve settled for good when He longs to lead us in His best! Paul’s prayer for the Philippians was that their love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that they would be able to discern what is best for them (according to God’s will). Pray, ask God to show you what His Best is for you, then decide based on His knowledge not yours.

MY PRAYER…
Gracious Father and Almighty God, Teach me to do You will; for You are my God: Your Spirit is good; lead me into the land of righteousness. Quicken me, LORD, for Your name’s sake: for Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. Teach me Your ways and give me Your heart as I strive to love You more, know Your will, and have insight into Your ways. For Your ways are not my ways. Help me to know the best things to do today and how to use my time in the best way in my work, my family, among my friends, and especially before those who do not know Christ as their Savior. Through Jesus I pray.
Amen

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Orphans

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:15-18 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
God will not leave you orphans!
God promises we will not be left as orphans!
Oh, how Jesus loves to do good things for us. For those who believe in Him. Notice that He was talking to believers and not the unsaved. He said He would send another Helper. A helper, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, the Counselor, The Guide, the Teacher, The Holy Spirit. Jesus made sure we would not be alone. He had the Father send us back not just a good gift, but the best gift! A gift that the world, those who have not made Jesus their Lord, can not receive, know, or see. But we have Him, He dwells in us so that we are not alone (orphans). He is the promise that Jesus will return for us in that “Great Day”! Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? There is another gift of the Holy Spirit subsequent to the new birth. Many have not received this, because they either do not know about Him or they have been taught wrong. You must believe in Him to receive Him, the Holy Spirit! Many do not believe and therefore do not receive.

MY PRAYER…
Precious Lord Jesus, Thank You for sending us the Holy Spirit. Thank You for not leaving us alone, but instead giving us a Helper, a Comforter, a guide, and a Counselor. Thank You Lord for sending the Spirit of Truth to lead and to guide us until You return for us. Thank You Father that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given for all those who would believe and those who receive will be baptized in fire and with power.
In the name of Jesus, Lord I give You all glory and honor.
Amen

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