From Experiencing God Day by Day: A Devotional and Journal for Oct 30.  Richard Blackaby

Spiritual Enemies

For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.—Ephesians 6:12

In a battle, it is imperative to identify your enemy. If you are not aware of the point of your attack, you are vulnerable. Paul had many enemies. Some resented him, others hate...

As an EMT with Wells Ambulance, we responded to a vehicle rollover south of Wells.  We arrived on scene, it was obvious that the minivan rolled a couple times – it was in bad shape. We got out of the “bus” and found two patients, an older couple; they were relatively uninjured because they had been wearing their seatbelts.  We got them ready to transport to the hospital to get them checked out, and as I was getting in the back, one of the bystanders who helped them told me:  “Take rea...

In John 11, while Jesus was praying, he said: “I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent Me.” John 11:42 (HCSB)

When Jesus prayed, He knew the father heard Him.  You are thinking, “Oh sure, the Father heard Him, - but that’s because He is God too.”  The implication here is that He does not listen to us.  My friend you could not be any more wrong!  In fact, the people hanging around Jesus at that time were not co...

Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive p...

This was shared during Pastor’s Prayer last Thursday morning.  It is from a devotional called Experiencing God Day by Day by Blackaby

PRAYER IS PREPARATION

When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place Acts 2:1

Prayer does not give you spiritual power.  Prayer aligns your life with God so that He chooses to demonstrate His power through you.  The purpose of prayer is not to convince God to change your circumstances but to prepare you to be inv...

I have started reading through the books 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus this week.  I periodically take a close look at these books to remind myself of my call as a pastor.  I have said many times that Christians are not better than anyone else, but that we are better off.  This is true; we have eternity in Heaven to look forward to (better off), but we are still sinners (not better).  Like most pithy sayings it is incomplete.  It leaves out the idea that we are supposed to be better than everyone e...

"And when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him." (Joshua 6:5.)

THE shout of steadfast faith is in direct contrast to the moans of wavering faith, and to the wails of discouraged hearts. Among the many "secrets of the Lord," I do not know of any that is more valuable than the secret of this shout of faith. The Lord said to Joshua, "See, ...

Think about this for a minute:

In John Chapter 14 Jesus tells the disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  In other words, do not fear.

Okay you are thinking, He has said that before – what’s the big deal?  I will tell you what the big deal is.  The big deal is Jesus is saying it at the Last Supper.  He is hours away from being arrested, tried, crucified and killed.  He knows what is going to happen, the disciples do not.  So Jesus tells them, “Do not let your hearts be t...

“It’s all relative.”  “Hey, if it works for you.”  “I would never force my subjective truth on you.”  “There are no absolutes.”

Have you heard these before?  I have heard them a lot lately, and there is some truth to them.  I was talking to a friend this morning (Thursday), and he said, “I can’t understand why anyone would not like coconut!”  Bev does not like coconut, and I can take it or leave it.  I was asked at a car show recently why was I “wasting my time on a...