The Devil Hates Women!

Did you know just how much the enemy hates women? Did you ever think to wonder just exactly why that is?

Have you ever thought about how much persecution women have to endure in some countries?

But have you really thought about the reasons why?

Let's go back in History to the beginning, back in the cool, refreshing garden of Eden. The time when things were perfect, back to before the snake in the garden was going to tempt Eve. Actually if we really want to, we need to go back even further than that. Back to the time of the creations of angels.

There really isn't much in the Bible about when they were created but we know, that they must have been before the creation of the earth and man, because it is Satan that tempts Eve in the garden.

So we need to look at Satan's former self, Lucifer or in the passage of Isaiah 14:12-15, he is referred to as the morning star.

¹²How have you fallen from heaven, O ^a]">[a]light-bringer and daystar, son of the morning! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who weakened and laid low the nations [O blasphemous, satanic king of Babylon!]

¹³And you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost north.

¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.

¹⁵Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol (Hades), to the innermost recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

The Hebrew for this expression--"light-bringer" or "shining one"--is translated "Lucifer" in The Latin Vulgate, and is thus translated in the King James Version. But because of the association of that name with Satan, it is not now used in this and other translations.

From what I've read and learned is that Lucifer was one of the most high angels in all of heaven before his pride got in the way. However, like all of God's creatures he was given a choice whom to serve, and subsequently thought he could do a better job on earth than in heaven and thus was removed from heaven by God and 1/3 of all the angels went with him. Revelation 12:4 ~ "His tail swept [across the sky] and dragged down a third of the stars and flung them to the earth."

So from the very beginning of creation, Lucifer has always been in competition with God and the things He has created.

So when God began with the creation of the world, you notice that each day adds something better than what was there before. On the 6th day, God created man and once he was finished He stated, "It's not good for man to be alone, so I will make a helper suitable for him."

So God created woman and said, "It's is good!" With woman being the final product of beauty and creation of God. Now here is where it gets interesting.

Lucifer now sees something that is more beautiful than him and sets out to destroy it. This is why the serpent set its heart on trapping Eve and not Adam. He only speaks to the Eve even though Adam is clearly with her in the garden. " She also gave some of it to her husband, who was with her and he ate it." ~ Genesis 3:6

Lucifer has always been jealous of God and His creations so now he will begin his steal, kill and destroy mission with woman first.

It is also interesting that even though the fall of man into sin became with a mistake made by a woman, God also uses a woman, named Mary to bring about the restoration of man once more in bearing a son that will be the new Adam and thus the Savior of the world.

So the next time you wonder why you, as a woman, are under such spiritual attack, remember these very reasons why, and stand firm. God has given us the gift of intuition to know when something isn't right in our homes. It's that God-given gift we must all use more and continue to watch out and pray for our homes, marriages and families.

Is Your Marriage On The Rocks or On a Rock?

Interesting play on words isn't it? Kinda catchy huh? The question is which place are you and your spouse in? I have to admit for the first 8 years or so of our marriage I wouldn't have admitted it but our marriage wasn't built on the rock that is God, but now for the last year and a half, not only is our marriage stronger but we honestly have grown in our relationship with God both together and individually.

It's not to say that we have had a carefree 8 years of marriage, but let's say the word divorce came up more often than it should, both of us would have been willing to give this up in a heart beat if God hadn't had different plans for us. He was always working on us to bring us to Him. In fact the guilt if any should be on me since I was a believer longer than Steve, but my walk hadn't always included God. Sure I called out to him when I needed Him, but not when things were going well. I had that part of my life mastered.

It wasn't until Steve started so say that we should go to church, that we agreed to at least give it a try for our kids sake. I mean I couldn't expect to wind up in heaven and explain to myself why I didn't bother to mention Jesus to my 10 year old daughter. I knew it was a personal decision for both girls and it really has helped to keep my oldest more grounded in her life in high school. She never feel into the clicks, the drugs, or sex issues, and she is insisting that she stay pure up to marriage.

The point I am trying to make is that God designed marriage to be a life long commitment, not a trial period and if it doesn't work out then we part and go our separate ways. No, it was meant that wedlock should include a padlock. It was designed to stand the test of time and endure but only if our house (our marriage) is built on a strong foundation. Have you ever seen houses built that look incredible but fail because of the foundations? Look at the recent mudslide homes in Orange County and Laguna Hills. Beautiful multi million dollar homes that fall away in the midst of a mild rain that last over several days. Sin is like that subtle rain. It's not enough to appear to pose any real danger to your home, but over time, erosion eats away at the ground bit by bit til your home slides away. Sin within a marriage has the same result.

Without God as our foundation in which sin can not eat away at, we are almost assured at some point that our home will come sliding down. The great thing is that God can repair that home and make it better than it was before it was built. We just need to commit to spending time together in prayer, praying daily for our marriage and families because the rains will come, eventually, and we will all be tested. Isn't it time to build your home on something that will last instead of trying to fill it full of things that won't?

Dear Lord,

May you bless the readers of this post. May they find comfort and peace in their marriages and families by putting your first. In trusting you Lord, may you bless their families and marriages, keeping them strong, and keep them walking in your light when dark clouds come. Remind them that even though the skies maybe sunny now, we never know when the subtle rains of sin can come along to try and erode our foundation in you, and keep our eyes focused on you always.

In Jesus Name,

AMEN!

If God Loves Us, Why Does He Allow Bad Things To Happen?

“Dear God….”
Why do you allow people to die before they should?

Someone died before his or her time. Don’t we assume that we have a timetable slated when we are supposed to live a full life, like into our older years like 70’s or 80’s? When does the Bible say that? It doesn’t. It states that there is “a time to be born and a time to die”. (Ecclesiastes 3:2) God is in charge of that. We don’t have a say about when we get to be born or when we get to die, but we have everything to do with the time in between and how we choose to live it. Psalm 90:12. “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” means to make the most of our time. Don’t take any of your loved ones for granted. Don’t put off telling someone in your life just how much they mean to you, because no one knows how much time you have left. You don’t have a guarantee on how much time you have left.

There is a book that tells you about “The Things You Must Do Before You Die”, with some of the examples such as going to the academy awards, or running with the Bulls? Running with the bulls? Isn’t that a way to die? Did you know that the author of this book died at the age of 47 after hitting his head after a fall in his home, and he only completed half of the things in his book. The goal isn’t to do all these things but to glorify God. Sure it’s ok to do some of things but they shouldn’t be our life’s focus.
God will give you a peace that passes all understand not give you an understanding.

Don’t worry about it, pray about it and he will give you enough strength to get you through it day by day.

Psalms 61: Here my cry of God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

No one ever said that you would live a trouble-free life in this world.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Bad things happen to Christians as well, problems with our families, dying in unexpected accidents, getting cancer. No one is guaranteed a problem-free life.

Why is it that the words trial and problems occur in the same sentence. Why doesn’t God remove my problems if He loves me? Because God loves you, it’s your definition of how He should show that love that is our mistake and what we think good means in our life. No pain, no suffering, no death, a problem free life with the sun shining and birds singing. Doesn’t that sound appealing?

John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Our definition of good is what benefits us in the here and now and not in the by and by. We are interested in what will benefit us temporarily while God is interested in our eternal benefit.

We are interested in what will make us happy, while God is interested in what will make us holy.

He doesn’t always remove suffering because it makes us stronger and keeps us closer to Him. We can also be used in our situations to glorify Him and bring others to Him through our problems.

Why does God allow it?

1. Adversity levels us and keeps us humble. Prosperity has a tendency to make us proud. We don’t need God when things are going smoothly, the bills are paid, we have a great job, family life is incredible and there is money in the bank. Hopefully however, when adversity comes, we turn to God and see what really matters. It is during times of prosperity we will forget God. When tragedy and adversity hits, we pray and pray a lot.

2. Adversity teaches us eternal truths we would not learn on our own. Our basic objective is to avoid pain at all costs. We want to be comfortable. We want to look good, but we don’t want to sweat, we don’t want the muscle aches and pain, but pain reminds us of a deeper need. Hunger pains, birth pains, back pains, you get it.

God teaches us lessons in those pain filled valleys we wouldn’t have learned on the mountaintops of our life. Things we need to know, things we need to share while we are passing through this life into our eternal one.

3. God allows us to go through these adversities so we will have compassion for others in pain. Never minimalize someone’s pain, but reach out for him or her.
Success builds walls but failures build bridges. When things are going well for you, you got that promotion, you kids got all A’s again, you just bought a new house, paid off all your debt, and you’re sharing that with someone whose life isn’t going well. They are losing their home, they don’t have enough money to put groceries in their home, and their kids are failing in school, it puts up a wall between you and them.

But what happens when a friend comes to you and tells you that they need prayer, that they were just diagnosed with cancer. You care and you want to help them. You should. When we go through adversity, we can help others.

2 Corinthians 1: 4-5 “ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

It was only through the death of Stephen that the worst Christian killer, Saul of Tarsus, was brought to God and became Paul. So sometimes good comes from adversity and tragedy. We just need to look for it and seek God every minute of every day.

The Principles of Prayer

Today happens to be like most except it's not. It's unique in it's own right. A day that God put thought and effort in throughout every minute. Today I found myself receiving lots of great advice by my friends in Christ. Sometimes, I find myself wondering if my prayers ever get answered and I can rest assured that they are, I just might not like the answers I get.

I am the person who for the longest time was your typical pessimist. I always planned for the worst case scenario. Forget the game, I was the maker of those ideas. I never wanted to be caught off guard without knowing what to do. I hate panic and anxiety. Don’t we always want to have a back up plan, or a back up plan for our back up plan. Sometimes God allows us to have no options and no back up plan. There is no safety nets and if God doesn’t get you through it, 'party’s over'. God likes to do that from time to time. Where only God can turn it around.

Read Acts 12: 1-5. It is when James has just be killed and since Herod is receiving so much great pleasure and praise from the people because of it, he decides to arrest Peter and plans to do the same for him. While Peter is sitting in prison an amazing thing happens. The people begin to pray for him. Despite all the odds against Peter, 4 guards watching over him, a heavily walled prison cell, chains on his hands, and virtually no way of getting out, an angel awakens Peter. He tells Peter to get up and get dressed. It's time to go. The guards are not disturbed, the chains fall off of Peter and the prison doors open on their own. Think God can't do the impossible in our lives?

We are going to pay attention to the last part of verse 5 in Acts 12:, “but the church was earnestly praying to God for him”. Constant prayer was offered even though all other doors were closed except for the door to heaven.

Here are the 4 Principles of Prayer.

1. The prayer that has power is prayer that is offered to God.

Constant prayer was offered to God, back to verse 5, isn’t all prayer offered to God? Not always, did you know that it is entirely possible to pray with no thought of God? You can go through the motions, sometimes in prayer we are thinking more of how we sound or look when we pray to God. This is better than any prayer I ever have prayed, God is never a part of it. Have you ever looked around when people are praying? You don’t have to close your eyes or fold your hands, sometimes we focus too much on the look rather than keeping our will in alignment with God’s! How do you discover God’s will? Read His word. You will know the heart and mind of God! You need to bend yourself God’s way not try to bend God your way.


2. They prayed with passion and perseverance.

Constant prayer or earnest prayer, is the same prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane when he sweated blood. This wasn’t a casual flippant prayer, like God please like pray for Peter or whatever, like a teenager would. Do we pray this way because it doesn’t concern us especially when praying for others, and then now it’s back to you? If you don’t put any heart in your prayer than you shouldn’t expect God to put much heart into answering your prayer. God promises to answer the prayer of the person that searches for Him with all their heart. Persistent prayer, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. God isn’t getting bugged by your prayer, so we pray once or twice and if we don’t get an answer, we move on. This didn’t happen in Acts 12:1-5. They were praying persistently! They were praying that Peter wouldn’t get killed like James.

We also have to remember that God will answer a prayer in one of three ways. (1) Yes, which we love to hear; (2) No, we don't like it, but at least it is an answer; and (3) Wait, which is the most frustrating for us.

When we don't like how long it takes God to answer a prayer, we feel the need to help Him out. The result is that sometimes we can mess things up. Remember that slow means to grow.

3. They prayed together.

There is power in prayer when people come together united to pray for God's will. Together we are stronger than one person praying alone. As long as our prayers are in accordance with God's will. Sometimes people wonder why they don't get what they want, like the winning lotto numbers, well because what you are asking for isn't God's will for your life.

4. They prayed without doubt.

God can still intervene with a weak prayer. Sometimes there are only things God can do and sometimes our part in it, is to be disciplined and obey.

Man has his will but God will always have His way.

Here are my daily things for today that I am grateful for:

I am grateful for the fact that today we have clouds in the piercing blue sky and the hope that rain might be on the way. I am thankful that my husband, even though he is home upstairs sleeping, due to working graveyards, is home. I think home is way better than a hotel any day. If I can just keep our noise level way down. I am thankful for warm clothes out of a dryer and the fact that we have a working dryer! I am thankful that my brother has worked out the details of Steven's hotel stay for the next two days since snow may keep him from coming home tomorrow.

Most of all I am thankful that God continues not to give up on me, a work in progress!

Second Chances

Ever wonder how we can continue to fail every day in so many ways, yet we get back up again the next morning with a renewed sense of hope to try again? Or perhaps tomorrow you don't get out of bed. Maybe you just stay in bed all day, covers pulled up by your shoulders, your head all snug in your super soft down pillow and you leave the curtains closed.

The fact remains most of us don't just sit in that bed after a horrible, terrible day. Sure some of us may lay there for a couple of days, perhaps a week, but we all have to get up some time. The sad thing is what is going on in our heads while we lay there. It's usually something like, "Poor me, my life sucks, I am worthless, no one cares if I am here today, my life doesn't matter, so why even bother getting up?"

Do you honestly believe that stuff in your head? Why is it, as women, that we believe the lies we tell ourselves in our head? Why is it that we give ourselves the lowest self esteem possible? Is it because we don't feel like our efforts matter? That if we choose to stay at home, we don't contribute to our families financial matters? Is that we are successful because we don't hold down a job and a family? Where do the lies come from? Our past failures? People in our past and present lives? Perhaps a word spoken in anger that finds its way back into our heads like some sick recording that is stuck in a loop?

Nope, it's the enemy, trying to tie that weight around our neck once more, to keep up in bondage to ourselves. To convince us that the lies in our head our true. Do you know how to make them stop? Talk to God! Oh, I can hear you now, God can't hear me, my needs are that great, what can He do for me anyhow? Truth is, do you even bother to try? Do you honestly have a heart to heart conversation with God like you would with a close friend and really pour out what is going on in your life? You matter to God all the time. Your seemingly small matters, matter to God.

Do you know that when you pray to God, that all of heaven stops, and listens? Everything going on at that particular time is being quieted by God. He stops what is doing, makes sure he can hear every word you are speaking, no matter if it's just a whisper or your voice in your head, but He listens. Really listens! Your voice matters in heaven! God isn't even judging the quality of your prayers. He isn't sitting there talking to some of the angels saying, "Oh what is that person asking me for help with that again, can't they just do something for themselves?"

God is a God of second chances. He is willing to overlook every failure we make. Every single one. Nothing is beyond God's forgiveness. He is like a parents that watches a child make a mistake. His heart breaks to just rush out and fix it or to prevent it from happening. Like most parents however, we see the need in letting go a bit. We wait because we know what comes from learning from our mistakes. We learn valuable lessons that will help us to become better people. He is just like us in the fact, that He is never far from us. He is just waiting for us to ask for help. Like any parent would, He races and reaches out to us and helps us. No request is too small, or too big, or not worth His time.

So whether you just lost your job, lost a family member, lost your home in the recent financial mess of this year, lost your marriage, lost hope...remember this, God is waiting for you. He has the hope you don't anymore. He has the courage, the love, the forgiveness, the belief in you that you can pick yourself up and go on. You can even make this next chance, better than the one you had.

Here is something from an email post I got from Max Lucado, one of my most inspiring authors whose works I love and can't seem to get enough of. One call and heaven's fleet appears. Your prayer on earth activates God's power in heaven. You are the someone of God's kingdom. Your prayers move God to change the world. You may not understand the mystery of prayer. You don't need to. But this much is clear: Actions in heaven begin when someone prays on earth. What an amazing thought! When you speak, Jesus hears. And when Jesus hears, the world is changed.

All because someone prayed. May you realize that God gives us second chances on a daily basis, and you matter to Him!

Sitting on the Fence!

Have you ever found yourself stuck in the middle of a difficult decision, not knowing quite what to do? How do you figure out what to do? How do you know that your decision will be the right path to take? Whom do you ask for help?

Hopefully your answer would be to pray first before tackling anything that you have doubts about. You never know the path that God would like for you to take. Even though you may think that the choice would be easy however, God may have something even better in store for you.

Too often we find ourselves sitting on the fence between the world of black and white. We call sitting on the fence, those areas of shades of grey. Nothing could be that simple, shouldn't we compromise? The question we should ask ourselves is do we know what is right from wrong?

In today's world, people are accepting things that they know are wrong, and calling it acceptable, and the things that should be good such as things based on Biblical teachings are now be tossed out as wrong. In Micah 3: 1-2 it states, "Should you know justice, you who hate good and love evil."It is wrong to eliminate God in government buildings, schools and churches. Sorry but it is what our country was founded on but has seemed to slide lately in favor of what the majority wants. Since when has the majority ever been right? Aren't we compromising things that we seriously shouldn't? We were once a nation that feared God, now this country wants God removed from everything except the church. Even that now is being called into question because people don't want to hear what is wrong in their lives. Are those that make the laws above the laws? But be careful, when you look in the mirror, look out for the double standard in your own life as well.

I will never apologize for my beliefs and if asked I will be prepared to share those with anyone who asks. Do you find yourself feeling less shocked when you see things on the news or in the movies because it is the new norm for you? Do you find yourself becoming more and more tolerant of that which is evil and less interested in that which is spiritual? Do you find that your words seem to have no effect on the nonbelievers you share them with?

If we don't pick a side and in this case it should be the white side of our fence, then when we try to correct someone in the error of his ways, we won't have any affect. There won't be any power in our witness because we lived a compromised life.

Our current government has done what is right in their own eyes. They need to do what is right in God's eyes instead of their own, otherwise we will continue to have problems in our country. It's like when 9/11 happened, we had people everywhere asking this country to pray, people were praying everywhere. In schools, government buildings, office buildings you name it, people that day and days that followed begged God for his help. Did you ever notice that God didn't really do anything to help this country following that tragic event? He could have exposed the terrorists responsible and had them eliminated but amazing enough, we still can't find them. It's because we never repented in our evil, greedy ways and yet still asked God for help. We were still sitting on the fence, not wanting to pick a side one way or another. We wanted our cake and eat it too! Micah 4:4, states "Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done."

Even today in the ministry, there are people that are in the ministry using it primarily to make money. They tell people what they want to hear, so that people will send in their money. But it doesn't last. Leaders and authority figures love money and they love themselves. They believe everything that they are doing is justified, but God will allow judgement to occur because of their continuing to sin. Nothing this president and his cabinet attempt to do on their own will work to restore our country. We need to change our ways.They need to change their ways and turn their hearts back to God. We can't accept things we know are wrong and accept them as right. We need to help people out and stop turning our backs when people are hurting. We need to genuinely care about people again.

You can't experience peace until you make peace with God. So as a person who claims to be a Christian shouldn't be afraid of anything. Our lives should be a reflection of what lies beneath. We shouldn't worry about offending anyone, otherwise we shouldn't be a Christian. We are the light and salt of this world and the world that is currently dwelling within the darkness it has brought upon itself, hates the light. It hates to be shown the error of it's ways because it would be forced to change, and it feels too good right now to change. Even in church there are people who will say, "I don't want to hear that!" I just want a pep talk. I want someone to to tell me what I want to hear.

Peace in our lives fails when we put our eyes on our circumstances instead of on God. Stop sitting on the fence. Stop trying to justify your actions! Stop living the lies you keep feeding yourself. Time to pick a side, there are no areas of grey in God's eyes! Time is running out for you to make that choice, do you really want to be left behind, thinking that you can always do it tomorrow?