“The angel of the Lord camps around the Lord’s loyal followers and delivers them.” – Psalm 34:7 God is our protector. “He will shelter you with his wings; you will find safety under his wings. His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall.” – Psalm 91:4 “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the …
Author Archives: andrew
32827 Satan’s Schemes
Satan has several different tactics that he uses to prevent Christians from fulfilling their God-given destiny. These are some of the tools of his trade. Satan tries to control your perspective, manipulate your thinking and exploit your foundational desires. (Jesus praying to the Father) “I am not asking you to take them out of the …
32826 Three Avenues of Temptations
1 John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world – the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions …
32825 Temptation is Satan’s Bait
In Matthew 26:41 Jesus warned His disciples— “Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each …
32815 Resisting Temptation
Poof! Wouldn’t it be nice if once we were Christians temptations suddenly lost all their appeal? If Satan simply disappeared? If we didn’t have to struggle? We often pray, “Lord, take this struggle away from me.” But reality is like King David writes in Psalm 18:39, “You give me strength for battle.” David, though he depended on …
32814 Resisting Satanic Condemnation
There is a great scene in the children’s book Ramona the Pest [1] where the kindergarten namesake of the book is reveling in her new red rain boots, invincible against the wetness and mud of the outside world. Superior to anything she might encounter, she stomps through a muddy construction site, brashly ignoring the older (and wiser) kids who …
32813 Resisting Isolation
Westerners are conditioned to love the rugged hero. Whether superhero, Jedi knight, cowboy, soldier, or politician our heroes are individuals who have had courage to single-handedly defeat their foes. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of courage, but we import that mentality into our Christian life. We easily assume that if we are “real Christians,” then …
32812 Resisting False Identity
Inevitable failure. Unavoidable temptation. Life is fated and stacked against us. It is easy to live with a mediocre hope for freedom and a shoulder-shrugging, “whatever” kind of dependence on God. In the choke-hold of temptation we hear the sound of the inevitability of our demise and all-too-often say, “Uh, Ok.” In the clip from …
32821 Living on a Spiritual Battlefield
➢ What are some things people do to protect themselves from viruses, bacteria and radiation? ➢ Why are people so cautious about these things that are not visible to us in our everyday life? ➢ Do you think most Christians are also at least that cautious and alert about the harm the devil and his …
32727 God’s Call to Pursue Justice
Throughout scripture we can see a link between the concepts of love and justice. Justice is the biblical term for the expectations and rights that should govern how we interact with each other, and especially for how we prioritize responding to the diverse needs within our community. Love motivates us to respond to the needs we …