You need only to be still


                                         

                                                            Photo credit: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images         
                                                          
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, “We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from family values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ.

“If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ.

“This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day.”

“How shall we do this?” shouted the evil angels.

“Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life, and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered.

“Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work.

“Overstimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to keep the TV, the DVD, and their CD’s going constantly in their homes. Tempt them to spend more time on their computers, especially watching internet pornography.

“Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news twenty-four hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogs, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services and false hopes.

“When they meet for fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength.” 

All set and done........

You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."....If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 8:17,19-20).

These are strong words from God. It demonstrates His utter impatience for any people who think that what they have accomplished has anything to do with their own power. It is God who gives us the skill, the mind, the resources, the energy, the drive, and the opportunities in life to accomplish anything. When we become prideful in heart, He will begin a process of reproof in our life.

The people had to decide whether they would obey the Lord, who had proven his trustworthiness, or obey the local gods, which were only hand-made idols. It's easy to slip into a quiet rebellion--going about life in your own way. But the time comes when you have to choose who or what will control you.

Instead of following your own preferences, choose to live by godly conviction. The Bible has much to say about the most important aspects of your life. See if God’s principles and promises hold true. Through prayer and study, allow Him to firmly root you in solid biblical convictions. If we are grounded in the Word and trust what God has said, we can stand firm in our beliefs. Confidence breeds the courage to remain strong amid conflict.


 Photo credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

No matter what.... I will always follow Him.

There are not many days that go by where I feel very holy. As much as I might like to be a reflection of Jesus Christ, I am afraid that my image is a very dim one at best. For each success I have at walking in the footsteps of Christ, I have a dozen failures where I have strayed from the path. And through it all, God still loves me totally. In my imperfection, God still reveres me and thinks I am good. It boggles the mind to realize that human beings are God's pride and joy. Despite the grief and frustration we must be, God believes in us and helps us to be the best people that we can be. He loves His children and rejoices in their victories. Our Lord created us just lower than the angels; the most perfect of His creations.

Despair not. No matter how inadequate we might feel, we are considered beautiful by our Creator, and in the end it is His opinion, not ours, that makes all the difference in the world.


Blessings,


Raj Kosaraju


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