Striving To Be "Christ-Like"!

Read Ephesians 6:10-18 The armor of God is vital to Christian belivers when it comes to our prayer life, overcoming spiritual warfare, and overcoming a lukewarm lifestyle. We can learn to become crucified in Christ so that the flesh part of us can resist the enemy's lies and temptations to sin. We can become transformed into a new person in Christ and no longer be enslaved to our old habits and sinful nature and attitude. We have daily choices to live accordingly to God's righteous standards and deny sin. We we choose God's desires for our life instead of sins, we crucify our flesh. Sin is only pleasurable for a season, and then it will turn on you like an unknown allergic reaction to a favorite food you ate. We prepare for battle when we suit up daily with the armor of God.  ---------- ARMOR of God and its PURPOSE: Belt of Truth - backbone of the word  Breastplate of Righteousness - protects is from satan's fiery darts, lies, temptation Feet Preparation of the Gospel o...

I captured our pink rose bushes in bloom in mid April. In the bottom picture, you will see that there are not many bloomed out roses remaining... the season has shifted from summer to spring... they are meant to only bloom for a season. When I took the picture today versus the ones in April, I was reminded of the beautiful hymn "Where the Roses Never Fade". "I am going to that city. Where, where the streets with gold are laid. Where the tree of life is blooming. And, the roses never fade. ---Here they bloom, but for a season. Soon their beauty is decayed. I am going to a city. Where the roses never fade." 🩷 Change is inevitable, while living on this earth, and sometimes it sure is not pleasant, but one day when I am at the feet of Jesus, everything will be beauty... no difficult changes, no death, no pain, no sickness, no hurt, no darkness, no hate, no bitterness... just peace! That day is soon coming, so let us be found ready for His return! ...

Discouragement is a temptation “common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13). And in dealing with it sometimes we need tenderness and other times we need toughness. But either way discouragement is not to be tolerated or wallowed in. It’s to be fought. If we linger in discouragement it can be costly; I've been there more than once. It is a sense of defeat and hopelessness that steals our hope and faith in Jesus. It can consume a lot of time. It can keep us from doing what we need to do, because we don’t want to face it. And it can even be contagious, weakening others’ faith. When we feel discouraged we want comfort, which is right to feel. But sometimes the comforts we turn to are ways to avoid our discouragements rather than ways to muster our courage to face and overcome them. When this happens discouragement can become sinful indulgence in unbelief, leading to other sins. Jesus does not want us to be discouraged. Listen to what Jesus says to his disciples just before what probably was ...

"God Will Fight Your Battles" Sometimes God will put a protective shield around you where nothing will be able to get through to attack you. Other times something will start to slip through the armor cracks to come directly against you, and then God will move ahead of you to take it out. This is where God will literally take your enemy head on and do battle on your behalf. Sometimes God will fight the actual battle through you, other times He will simply tell you to hold your position and do absolutely nothing, and then He will move Himself to completely take out the attack coming against you. This is where God shows you how powerful and how awesome He really is when He moves into battle to personally protect you; He just needs you to be still and trust Him.

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." - Matthew 7:15 --- the devil can give someone words to say that may sound like it's coming from God, so just be careful what you take in... and you better take EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE! And ask yourself, is this really from God? That’s why the devil is so dangerous. Paul tells us this about our adversary, “…for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)  The devil will always try to deceive us, but there is a secret for uncovering any false voice. It is to know the voice of the Savior intimately. This is similar to those who examine money for counterfeits; they say that when you truly know the feel of genuine bills, the bogus ones are easier to detect. Of course the way to know the Savior’s voice intimately is to abide in the vine. “'I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser... abide in Me, and I in you.'” (John 1...

If you are struggling with something just know that I want to be obedient in sharing this word of encouragement with you. So often when we feel defeated, we feel like we have no one to turn to. But really, that’s not the case. In all times, turning to God and leaning on your faith in Him can renew your hope that things will turn out alright. We should turn to God when we are grateful, when we are sad, and especially when we feel defeated or discouraged.  2nd Corinthians 5:7 says that “we live (walk) by faith, not by sight.” This is so true. Faith is not something we see, it is something we feel and something we believe in. It is blind faith... having faith that God has a plan for you when nothing is going right is never easy, but knowing that there is a plan is enough to help you get through anything, especially if you are feeling defeated. This may sound simple, but the Lord says to remind His discouraged ones that He has a plan and to lean on that promise!