My Stories - Page 3
Heat seeking missile
Our enemy; Satan, is like a heat seeking missile; this type of missile locks on to a heat source and pursues it until it is destroyed. Our enemy's missiles are known as darts or fiery arrows and, because he is not omni-present (everywhere) as God is, his minions are deployed to fire these. They home in on Christians, especially those that are considered a threat. These Christians that are trying to walk in Gods ways and are doing their best to obey His commandments are instant targets, their faith, hope and obedience are an instant heat source because of the fire of the Holy Spirit living in them. If the fire in their hearts is strong and, even if its a growing fire, the enemy can zone in on that source, you.
The aim of the enemy is to seek and destroy all hope of salvation, to seek and destroy all hope of any kind, all peace and all joy so that we turn away from the God who created us and wants to have a relationship with us. Ephesians 6v16 says: “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
Those who turn away from God become cold and so the enemy has quite possibly destroyed their hope, peace and joy so they turn away from God meaning they have no heat source to chase, they have grown cold. Each time we start to doubt, start to fear, lose hope or peace, when we hold on to unforgiveness, each time we give in to temptation of any sort, the fiery arrows are getting through, the missiles are hitting their target.
How do we keep the glow in our spirit? How do we keep the heat source going? Firstly, we need to put on our amour; the protection of a God given, spirit filled suit of armour that covers every aspect of our lives (Ephesians chapter 6), this also tells us that we are not fighting actual people; when someone says something to us that hurts us, when people let us down, lie to us, decieve us etc. they are merely tools of the enemy, they are giving in to temptation and need our prayer. Our fight is against our spiritual enemy, satan and his cohort and not against flesh and blood.
Remember: 1 Peter 5v8 tells us: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Take solice in this; satan is only like a roaring lion, he isn't a lion to be scared of because Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah and His roar is strong and mighty. Satan merely imitates and decieves, he turns truth into lies and hate and he will receive true judgement for his deeds; Revelation 12v9 says: "And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."
Be encouraged when you come under attack, when it seems relentless remember this from Romans 5 v1-5; “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
There is always hope and we can chose to believe in that hope and we can chose to have peace and joy and to “Be anxious for nothing”.
So, are you going to be cold, are you going to turn away from your true shelter, protector, creator and let the things of this world overcome you so that the enemy leaves you alone? Or are you going to keep burning bright with the gospel of Jesus Christ, with the power of His Holy Spirit in you to move you forward because, I believe you can reach a point where you can be so ingrained in the word of God, so unmoved by the things of the world, so solid in your convictions because you have faith and hope and peace that can never be shaken, completely covered in Gods armour, using His word every minute of every day, that the enemy will have no choice but to cease his battle against you because when he looks at you he sees Jesus before him. 1 John 4v4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
Amen.
Who is at the centre of your world?
I want you to picture a number of circles that lie inside one another, getting larger from the inside out. Put the word “ME” in the centre circle and then add in loved ones in the next, and then colleagues and other friends and aquaintances in the next. On the outside of these I want you to write “GOD”. Those who you love and trust the most would be the ones closest to you, those that you are close to but do not trust as much in the next and those you trust the least on the outside. Now most people will have it the way that I have asked you to fill it in.
Now what you see before you is your world and most people in this world and in their world, people interpret life in the sense that the world revolves around them and, this is fine, the way the world is, its hard to trust anybody but, God is always on the periphery, on the outskirts, pushed away, kept at a distance.
If you want to live that way, that is your choice. You have been given free will and can decide how you live and who you trust but, what happens when things don't go the way you planned? Do you blame yourself? Do you blame your loved ones? Do you blame colleagues or aquaintances? Most, in all honesty, would blame God. Where was He when this happened? Why didn't He help me when...? The thing is, when we make decisions, we don't always include God in those decisions, He is excluded from our thought processes, our conversations and, He leaves us alone to our decisions because that's what we decided for ourselves.
Proverbs 3v5-6 says this “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Too many times, I have forgotten God in my decision making and ended up in a bit of a pickle, I haven't trusted Him with things and allowed myself to become overly anxious and the bible clearly tells us in Philippians 4v6: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
We need to put God in the centre of our world, put ourselves on the periphery so that we can see clearly all those we are to look out for but, more importantly, who it is that we all revolve around. Its about trusting in the one that provides all our needs according to His riches in glory because every good and every perfect gift comes from the Father of lights.
It is God who watches over us, who guides us through difficult times, who carries when we are too weak to walk through those difficult times. It is He who comforts us and ministers to us and we need to put Him first in all things and put our trust in Him completely.
Hebrews 12v2 says this: “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” and Matthew 6v33 tells us: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When we give God our full attention, when we include Him in all things, in all seasons of our lives then, wisdom will come, the right choices can be made, we know which direction to take. He cares for you, He wants the best for you; Jeremiah 29v11 states: “For 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.”
Now, write God in the centre circle and write yours in the outer circle, you will then start to see God do more in your life, trust Him, listen to Him, you can never go wrong.
I pray we all will.
Heart Monitor
Have you ever seen or looked at a heart monitor? Its fascinating! The endless line that goes from left to right with highs and lows in a steady rhythm showing the rate in which our heart is pumping and, for the most part it is a steady rhythm. The rhythm of life.
The great thing about that monitor is that it is showing that we are alive. Our hearts are beating and beating well.
In 2024 I suffered a heart attack that damaged my heart and now I am considered to be in Heart failure. Sounds serious doesnt it? I have taken it seriously and I am doing everything within my power to look after my heart; I'm exercising, dieting, taking medication etc but, I am not in fear. Funnily enough, I was not in fear when the heart attack was happening. I trust God and the day I had my heart attack, I felt an assurance, safe that I was going to be ok. While in the hospital, I was wired up to machines to monitor my heart for three days solid to the point where, when the pads were removed from my chest, I looked like I had been attacked by an octopus. The monitors showed this steady up and down line with peaks and troughs that showed my heart was beating steadily, it showed I was alive.
Being a Christian is like being on a heart monitor, even being a human being these days is like that but, lets stick to the life of a Christian. We experience highs and lows in our walk with Christ, lows when we feel under attack from the enemy and highs when we feel blessed by God. Jesus never promised an easy life as a Christian, in fact, Jesus tells us take up our cross and follow Him, in other words, life will throw hardship our way, we will experience troubles and we will struggle; in John 16.33 Jesus tells us: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”. When we listen to Him and obey Him, when we walk in His ways along the path He has set before us, He chooses to bless us even when we suffer hardship and continue through that hardship. Have you ever read the footprints message; it explains how there is one set of footprints in the sand and, while we ask, “Where are you Lord in my time of trouble?”, God's reply is: “I am carrying you”. We have the troughs, the times of hardship, we have the peaks, the times of blessing while, all through those periods, we are learning, we are growing, becoming stronger; we are ALIVE!
If we are not suffering in the troughs and having peak top moments, if our lives are consistently uneventful because we are not under attack and then receiving blessing, we are flatlining, we are spiritually dead.
When we go through times of hardship, dont ask “Why me?!” instead ask; “What is the purpose of this? What is it you want me to learn?”
When you feel under attack from people that would seem to be against you, when there are false accusations against you, lies, hurt caused by others, take refuge in the fact that there is a blessing on the way because God is carrying you and teaching you at the same time. Paul says “When I am weak, then You are strong”.
Ephesians 6 tells us that our fight is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in the unseen realms. Even Jesus, when on the cross said: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
It is important to recognise that, as Christians, we are targets for the enemy so, when you are facing troubles, rejoice in them, have joy because the end of your story is already recorded, the battle is already won, we just have to believe
Romans 8v 31-39 says this: “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. ”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Believe me when I say, if are born again, God is for you, not against you. He allowed His son to be crucified for you, you are chosen by God, called by name and Jesus intercedes for you. You are more than a conqueror through Him who loves you. You are not a conquered person, you are more than a conqueror, a victor, not a victim.
I will leave you with one more scripture; Romans 8v28: “All things work together for the good of those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.
MORE PAGES TO FOLLOW
Create Your Own Website With Webador