Don’t Fall for the Enemy’s Tactics!!

                                                  Don’t Fall for the Enemy’s Tactics!! 

 Hi Saints,
              
Have you been getting bad news, discouraging news or just getting frustrated with so many things not going the way you expected them to?  Has your attitude been, “Oh, no, what am I going to do? I wish I could just get away from all this?” Then you have fallen victim to the trap. Remember…God warned us to be aware of Satan’s devices.  If we talk to one another, we should recognize the pattern.  Not one individual or family here has been untouched by bad news, or news concerning you or a family member or good friend who has been stricken with an acute or life-threatening illness, or finances that have plummeted even lower than before, or a job that looked like it was yours but fell through, or arguments and misunderstandings within your own personal family circle; the list goes on and on..  Well, whether it makes you feel any better or not, you are not alone.
        It’s funny, I began writing this over two weeks ago and just last Wednesday, our Pastor told us that it’s time for us to “grow up” in the Lord.  He said it is time to stop letting ourselves be tossed about with every wind and stop getting discouraged so easily.  That’s the message.  Some of us are allowing ourselves to be taken down (if not out) by events that are occurring and we are not making the connection with the messages being given. It’s called, “not mixing the word with faith” in those who hear it!  How can you allow yourself to throw in the towel without even a good fight?  I mean a fight with your own flesh and your own mind. You have had your feelings hurt by someone and have decided to stop speaking to them in direct contradiction to the current messages on forgiveness!  You have looked right past compassion and mercy in spite of the message about the unmerciful servant in Matthew 22.  How can you afford to risk the mercy of the Lord toward you?  It goes right back to covetousness, saints.  I, me and my feelings are so important that I will take a chance on God overlooking my lack of mercy and forgiving me anyway.  After all, “I am me and God knows my heart!” I just don’t want to forgive them.” Sounds like you just made a U turn on the last street that we just left.
            Trust me, I know that it’s hard to do, I know that it’s the last thing you want to do.  However, God does not give us anything that we can’t do, only things that we have to deny ourselves to do…just like he did on his journey to the cross.  Take my advice, take up your cross, deny yourself, and continue your journey to the end. We are almost there.