Sunday, September 14, 2014

WARNING !!!

The signs are all around us: on road signs, on our appliances, on our beauty products, our cleaning products and much more.

My mind is going back several years ago when we had a plumbing product, that you can buy at any hardware store, that had a big skull and X that said DANGER.  I'm thinking we didn't take that as serious as what it was trying to tell us on the bottle because it ended up putting my husband in the burn center for 10 days with a skin graph.

God's word is full of warnings to protect us from what is DANGER.  How can this happen?  There are several reasons:
1. We get relaxed....in our routine if you will.
2. We get careless...leave the door cracked.
3. We get distracted.....with our daily responsibilities.
4. We are inconsistent....our personal time with Christ is all over the place.
5. We let pride settle in our vessel.....it's in all of us and if you can't admit that You are prideful!

I'm reminded this week how powerful and consistent our enemy's plan is.  But that shouldn't surprise me and it shouldn't surprise me that he can use us....YES CHRISTIANS to be a part of his plan.  That is the hardest thing to write in words and even confess out loud but it's true.  It doesn't mean you are not a Christian it just means you probably were #1-5 above.

Let me give you some of our enemy's attributes and if you find yourself clinging to these....rebuke it quickly and run to God's word!
Doubt: makes you question God's Word and his goodness
Discouragement: makes you look at your problem rather than at God
Diversion: Makes the wrong things seem attractive (this could be an action or attitude) so that you want them more than the right thing.
Defeat: makes you feel like a failure so that you don't even try.
Delay: makes you put off doing something so that it never gets done.

Let me challenge you with some questions.  Have you let any of these attributes in your life?  Did you leave the door cracked where the enemy could stick his foot in and welcome himself in your vessel?  Can't we all see that when this is going on in our lives it is holding back what GOD wants to do in us personally and collectively?  There is abundance right now in God's hand waiting for you, your family, your church, your job, your purpose....but can we be trusted with it?  Can we accept the challenge to heed the warning signs and take care of business quickly before any of these attributes find a residing place within us?

I think we can!
The Mrs. Pastor

* just so you'll know, as I write this I hear screaming teenage girls at the back of the house....I had to set this down, give them this message and remind them who we are and that we are allowing the enemy to use us to bring himself in our home.

James 3: 16
For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice (and yes, this applies to Christians!)