***Follow up from Security in My Savior

I felt that this was important to tell you this after yesterday’s post. I always know after I write something if the Holy Spirit was woven through it from the responses I get. There are plenty of times, actually most of the time that I will make my weekly post and hear nothing at all. Then every once in a while I will have a response that is huge. I knew yesterday when I sat down that this was going to be one of those posts. It was not at all what I had in mind to say, but since I fully committed this blog to the sole glory of God I knew to completely step back and give Him full reign.

The reason I am telling you all of this is because as soon as I finished posting yesterday I felt attacked. I took on a sadness over different things that were going on and acted out my extreme frustrations on my husband and even my children. I found myself mad and eventually exhausted and had no real reasoning behind it. My point is this. If we are going to claim to be and step out of our comfort zones to live a life fully devoted to God, then we better get ready for war. The enemy takes no time at all to test us. All Satan has to do is throw a few curve balls to see how we react to them. Are we going to do and live the way we talk about in church and in our bible studies or are we going to crack under the pressure and react out of our flesh?

I am not one who talks about Satan much, nor do I give him much credit for the actions or situations in my life, however sometimes it is just necessary to call it what it is and put a stop to it right away. After I realized what was going on with me last night I loaded up my kids, took them for ice cream and went to the church to play basketball and volleyball. I tried to make amends with my husband this morning and opened my bible for a fresh word for today. This morning I had a friend who told me that she was feeling spiritually attacked today, it was then that I jumped on here to make this post. I opened a website and the scripture of the day was this. Ephesians 6:12-13, (I am going to give you the full verse for the Armor of God), ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Be strong in your decisions.

Don’t be fearful and do not fall for the devils schemes. We serve a God that is so much bigger than that. And remember, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7

Security in My Savior

Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. James 4:10 

Man, do I ever need to be lifted up. I have literally sat in my chair and cried my heart out over two families that have lost loved ones in the last 24 hours. One was the young mother I had mentioned before who has left behind her 3 year old little girl and the other was a local 8^th grader who after 9 days of fighting for his life from a brain aneurism has went to be with the Lord. It’s hard to describe how through the body of Christ you can be so connected with others that you don’t even know. Somehow their pain becomes your pain and then we are all left with one thing in common…Jesus.

I thought it would be fitting to share with you the endless, limitless, countless love of Jesus today. I know some of you I may lose here but if you will just hang in here with me it will be so worth it. Some of you reading this may have a long history of knowing Him, others only read this because you are curious of what crazy thing I may write in here week after week. Whoever you are and where ever you have been or currently are at, you are welcome here.

So before we get started I want to pray. Heavenly Father, I ask you to take this time that each of us spends with you today to open our hearts for new things. I ask that you make the confusing parts of all of this clear and that you make the necessity of knowing you and serving you applicable in each of our lives. I pray that you would become so real to us and allow us to experience you in ways that we know that we know, who you are. Give us eyes to see you, hearts to love you and need to serve you. Heal us of our judgment and our hypocrisy. Give us the ability to know you and love you, for some of us even more. I ask this in your sons Holy saving name. Amen

2 Timothy 1:7

For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and sound mind.

I’m sorry, did He just say sound mind? Well count me in. I struggle so much with fear and dealing with anxious thoughts that this passage speaks mountains to me. Before I was saved I assumed that becoming a Christian was hard, and honestly weird. I didn’t want to make changes because I didn’t see the necessity for it. I didn’t even feel the need to worship or love something that was living way up in the sky somewhere and could never grasp a word from the Bible. Wow, I have come a long way. Do you want to know why I needed Jesus? Because he is the only one that could handle me. I put so much on people, high expectations, feelings and emotions, security, and you know what…they always let me down. The fact is it wasn’t their fault. It was just me trying to replace God with something else, trust me as long as you try this, and some will do it until they are put in the grave, it will never work and you will never be satisfied. I don’t want to spend my whole life unsatisfied, do you? I know a few of you are thinking, who do you think you are…I am satisfied, but are you really? Or do you constantly find yourself searching and trying new things to keep you going. Have you ever tried to take a week and just sit still?

This week I want to give you a little homework. Grab something to write on and title it this, “Finding Security in My Savior”. Then underneath it I want you to list 5 things that currently in your life make you feel secure. Then for the next 7 days I want you to pray over these things and ask God to show if these are things worth feeling secure over and if you need to replace anything with Him. Do you know what it means to replace something with Him? It is simple. Give Him authority over it. Stretch your faith, tell Him you trust Him in these areas and ask Him to give you peace over it. Ask Him to know what it means to love Him and to feel the love He has for you. Open up and talk it out with Him. Even in taking the first steps in being saved are so simple. Admit to God that you are a sinner and that without Grace we deserve hell. Ask Him to come into your heart and take authority over your life. Acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross for the salvation of your sins and to tear down the walls (the veil) that separated us from God. Ask God to help you understand that because of this sacrifice we have opportunity for real relationship, a true love romance relationship with Him. Ask forgiveness for your sins and daily seek Him.

If you made this decision today, or any day then talk to me or someone that is a Christian about it. It is the most important decision you could ever make in your life. Then hang on, because you are about to experience life and love in ways that were undesirable before.

It’s not that there is always this huge physical feeling when it comes to God, no doubt I feel Him often, but that isn’t what it is all about. It’s more the yearning to fulfill your gifts and your calling. It’s a separation from wanting what the world says you should want and needing what God created for you. It’s about loving Him and His people, and it is about the God given enjoyment of serving.  

He is a forgiving God, he pours out His mercy and grace on us and redeems the shame from our sins.

He is a loving God, who unconditionally loves us no matter the choice’s we have made or circumstance we choose.

He is also a God who Judges, and He does so in His righteousness and honor and glory for the love of His people and purpose of His Kingdom.

So come to Him. Surrender any thoughts you may have against Him. You can’t question who God is harder than I did or fight any harder against knowing Him than I did for many years. Then one day, after he had reached out to me some many times, He plainly said, “Enough”. I found myself trip lined flat on my face and after spending more time there than I wanted I slowly got the courage to limb by limb raise up into His loving arms. I wore myself out riding the fence, I am so glad I am miles away from it on the right side now.

I pray that God would give you clarity this week and move your heart to know him and for those of you who already know Him to know Him even more.

For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and love and sound mind…the rest is up to you. One of my favorite teachers often says, “Bend the knee or He’ll break them”. I’ve walked on crutches a time or two.

Be Blessed

I know not everyone is comfortable commenting, here is my e-mail if you ever need or want to talk about anything.
kd.watts2007@yahoo.com

Be Still

Be still and know I’m God. Anyone ever read that before? Better yet has anyone ever told you that before? I always tend to think what that person is really trying to say is, “Clearly you aren’t seeing what I am seeing and it is about to be a wreck, maybe you should slow down a little and revaluate things for a bit…and a healthy dose of Jesus would probably do you some good..” Or maybe out of my judgment and concern that is what I mean when I say that…who knows and I’m not fessing up.

This passage has been running a race through my mind lately and to tell you the truth, it has stressed me out a little. Be still, be still, well...that is not an easy task for me. You may as well tell me to be patient or to be content or worse, to be silent. I know that really all goes with the be still part but still, it’s hard.

I want to know what I’m doing, where I’m supposed to be and how I can serve. The opportunities are endless, but yet “Be Still” is all I hear. I tend to rush things or agree to things because they excite me. I am really having to learn how to obey and listen and to be led by faith. Not so easy for this chloric sanguine girl.

I feel like this year has started out with a bang, so many things to be thankful for and feel good about. Then yesterday I was watching the six o-clock morning news and they had mentioned that today was the day that most people give up on their resolutions. I thought to myself well that was short lived. Then I glanced at my bible sitting beside me on the table and thought to myself, didn’t I make a resolution to not turn on the TV until I had my alone time with God? Looks like I fell off the wagon before most of America did. Nice.

 Psalm 90:14 says,

¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

I have always thought that Moses probably wrote this first thing in the morning when he was all alone, just he and God. Took me right back to the importance of following through with our resolutions and commitments.

Since we are going there I guess I will confess that I had planned a fun day with my mom today, knowing that Thursday’s were the day I committed to God to stay home and spend time with Him. I had felt some guilt over it but not enough to cancel my plans. I just didn’t “feel” like staying at home and writing today. I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible sore throat and ear infection, not to mention every muscle in my body shredded from a workout yesterday (another resolution). I guess He is taking this commitment more serious than I was. I literally sat in my chair in tears over how awful I felt. I asked Him to forgive me for not holding up to my end of the deal and promised to get up if He would make me better. I’m not sure if there was some magic in the Tylenol and hot tea or if He just poured out a little grace on me, but here I am. I actually ended up writing a few days for a study that I am working on thinking the whole time it was for the blog. I wanted to cry again when I realized it was separate.  

My point with all of this is this; God truly wants your time and your commitment. He has so many things to show you and guide you to. If we want to experience a real life relationship, it is like any other. It takes time and commitment and heart open to receive it.

I had written something earlier (in something else). I said, "to allow God to bring you true fulfillment it takes you to be willing to completely pour out the clutter." It doesn’t take much of the wrong ingredient to spoil the whole thing. You can't have both. Pour yourself out to Him and allow Him the space to fill you up. Take pride in your commitments and enjoy the seasons when He wants you to Be Still. It’s always calm before the storm, right? At least now I have the security in the One who is steering my vessel.

Psalm 144:1-2

Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliver, my shield, in whom I take refuge…

That never gets old.

   

Letting Go

For the last two weeks I have listened to these two words swirl around in my head. I kept thinking it was part to a song I had heard or something but then three days ago something happened. Will for the first time in our 11 years of marriage said, “I want us to take the next few days and write down our New Year’s resolutions.” A light went off and I could hardly wait to sit down with a pen a paper. Guess what the first thing was… #1. I am going to learn how to let some things go.

For the past few weeks I have allowed something to happen that I am so mad about. I started having these thoughts, and I mean strong emotional hurtful thoughts, over a situation that I have dealt with on and off my whole life. The strange part about this is that I had no real reason to get upset about it again. The sad part of all of this is that the person it involves is currently going through a horrible time and really needs me right now. One day as I was cleaning my house I realized that I had literally played out this situation/scenario in my head at least three times. I then stopped and realized that all this was really just fiery  darts from Satan. Ephesians 6:16, ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. I knew right away that his plan was to keep me from being who I needed to be for this person and have fought back ever since. So selfish, so tricky and man did it work.

The hardest part was that these thoughts had feelings attached and it is hard for me to just walk away and say I’m done. I had to lay them at His feet knowing that He is perfectly capable of handling it. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to just be fixed, I want to be healed.

 Why is it that we assume (or at least I do) that the enemy is so sneaky and hard to figure out when so many times we are the ones that make ourselves such easy targets. Listen, there are enough things going on in this world to make us all crazy. I read tonight off of our churches prayer list about a woman (in her mid-twenties) that is finally losing her battle with cancer and is leaving behind a precious 3 year old little girl. It is enough to send me straight to the bed. I also have sweet loved ones that I am praying for daily who are lost and have no plans of turning back. The sad part is that they feel that this possibly is God’s plan for their life and some even worse, they just stopped caring if it’s not.

There are loved ones who are broke and struggling and what’s even worse is that it has possibly left them with a broken marriage…a broken home. We live life everyday wearing the pain of others and yet forget to look at how Satan messes with our own. I could go on and on and cry my eyes out over it but the only thing I know to do is this. Learn to let go, learn to forgive and by all means find some security in our savior. I just cracked open the book So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore. I have only read the first 6 pages and I can tell you it is going to be great. I told a friend today that I know insecurity is the core of my control, the center of my judgment and the fire of my pride…and I’m sick of it.

Galatians 5:13-26 says,

Life by the Spirit

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^{[b] 15} If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

So here are a few of my resolution’s for 2012 in hopes of walking more freely in the Spirit, feel free to share yours.

1.    To let go of some past hurt and to be willing to let God heal me in the areas of the insecurities that was birthed from them.

2.    Let go of FEAR, ANXIOUS THOUGHTS and Lord help me the relentless feeling of so often being OVEWHELMED!!! I mean I seriously gave up everything that took the edge off and swear that I am one phone call away from getting medication for it. I literally told God the other night to heal me in these areas or allow me permission to take something for it…grin.

3.    To embrace the doors that God is opening for me. In church, in my home and possibly in writing. Feel free to pray for me in this area, I could really use it.

4.    To lower my expectations of myself (I can’t believe I am putting this one out there). Enough said.

 I want to hear from you! Be blessed.

Made for Worship

Ephesians 1:3-14

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love⁵ he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. ¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

 I remember the first time that I read this passage. What struck me the most was that he predestined us to be His children, in other words He created us to worship Him. We then are born, given the freedom of choice and a heart full of desire to worship…how we fulfill that desire is up to us. Some of us figure it out quickly; others find ourselves in a pit of sinking sand continually searching for the next thing to devote ourselves to. Many of us never grasp that the emptiness that dwells inside of us is the absence of Him and that no man or thing will quench it. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” I believe that what God wants is for us to acknowledge Him. I also believe by doing this we give Him the opportunity to reveal to us His endless love and allow us the opportunity to fully experience the type of worship that we were created for. So I ask you this (I ask myself this) is Jesus the center of your life or are we too burdened by the things that we have allowed to become our gods, our focus and ultimately our worship. Are we just flat out missing Him? I am really going to stick my neck out there and say something and only because I have experienced this so many times in my life. If you are not serving God then you are serving something. God is God whether we acknowledge Him or not. I believe that complacency is probably one of the devil’s favorite things. We get complacent, comfortable, or busy. We get the mentality that we are “good” people or we feel justified in not studying or reading our bibles and water down the need for church. Before you know it we find ourselves in a place of not needing Him and wake up one day to feelings of emptiness and sorrow and sometimes just plain loneliness. We eventually try and analyze why we feel this way and then wonder where God went. Have you ever heard the saying, “If you can’t find God? Then turn around.” You and I were made for worship (and I don’t mean just walking around singing hymns all day), we are given the freedom and opportunity to know Him. To experience the true endless, everlasting love. What else could be more important? Actually some of you may have just read that and thought that you could think of many things that are more important. If so, then you my friend haven’t experienced His relationship to the fullest. One thing I love about writing this blog is that it has so far been based solely on life experiences. Everything I talk about in here I have been through, every feeling, doubt and fear I know personally. I’ve said before that if we have to live this life out I don’t want to do it alone. Life many times is hard and unfair and for me down right scary sometimes. I’m so thankful that I accepted Jesus into my life and can honestly say He is more wild and crazy, fun and powerful than anything I have experienced before. As I sit here this Christmas Eve morning pouring more coffee into this caffeine filled body (never slept the two cups off from last night) I want to ask you this. Would you allow Him to be the one that fills your empty places, would you allow Him to reveal His love and compassion and be willing to experience a little worship with Him this Christmas? I always love when I get to experience a few things in life that I know I was just made for. Believe me if you are open and willing He will not disappoint. I can’t think of a better time of year (except everyday of the year) to start this. I hope that your Christmas is filled with the love and hope and message of Jesus Christ and if you are one who loves the thought of a do over you find that with Him. Someone once told me this and it healed a part in me that I still think about today (Lyndy do you remember this conversation?) There is beauty in our flaws. I think we can all be thankful for that. Merry Christmas everyone!

  Ephesians 1:17-23

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

The Story...

I have to tell you that I am so unprepared for this today. I have no excuse other than I have been busy. Anyone else? I had the ladies Christmas party at my house on Tuesday and a husband that has been out of town for a week. I have also spent the last week decorating; Christmas shopping and baking…needless to say I have dropped the ball. I haven’t even cracked open my bible since Sunday. This has all made me think of how we lose focus this time of year. We run like crazy, get caught up in the hustle and bustle and forget what it is all about. Last night I took out my calendar and the list of “things to do” and started simplifying it. Did I mention that my son and my niece (well actually cousin) both have birthday’s this month too? Tonight I plan on sitting by the fire and reading the story of Jesus to my kids. I also found a nativity calendar that I ordered back when I was pregnant with Braydon and plan to set it up so daily we can talk about the arrival a preparation of Jesus and his birthday. I also thought about letting the kids take some of their money that they have saved and go to the store and pick out some candy and small toys to donate. Isn’t this what we should be doing? For me this is my favorite time of the year, I love the fast pace, the crowds and the decorations and let’s not forget the venti Mocha Latte’s. I am one of those that goes overboard on my house and gets a little out of hand in the gift category, I over extend myself and before I know it find myself wiped out before the day has even come. John14:6 says, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And thank you God for that. If it weren’t for this glorious day, where would we be? God loved us enough to do this for us, I love Jesus enough to celebrate his life and the life and freedom that he has given to me through his great sacrifice…this my friend is what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. Enjoy…

Luke 1:26-38

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.” ³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Luke 2:1-20

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Matthew 27:32-44

…³⁴ There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷ Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

³⁸ Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Matthew 27:45-61

⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶ About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,^[a] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).^[b]

⁴⁷ When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹ The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

⁵⁰ And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split ⁵² and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and^[c] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵ Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. ⁵⁶ Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph,^[d] and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

⁵⁷ As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Matthew 28:1-7

¹ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

Luke 24:44-53

⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

⁵⁰ When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵² Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³ And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed

We are healed by Your sacrifice
And the life that You gave
We are healed for You paid the price
By Your grace we are saved
We are saved

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus…

The change of change

Something happened this last week that has flipped my normal routine upside down. Our mom and pop gas station that we have traded fuel at for the last 13 years has closed down. Actually, my mom bought there when I was a kid and Will has been there probably 16 years. I know this sounds a little much but I was devastated. There is never a trip made to Tomball that I don’t stop by, fill up, grab a hand full of honey candy and sign my name to an index card and when I have my kids we wave through the window and they sign for me. It’s small town and makes me happy. Now it’s closed. I fell the exact same way when I look across the street and Klein’s grocery is closed. I always did my Holiday grocery shopping there and loved to see their shiny trees and bells that hung from the light poles. Needless to say, I hate change. As I signed our last check for them yesterday something accrued to me. What if the apostles were the same way? I’m sure that Peter, Andrew, James and John probably set out every day with the same goal in mind. They probably used the same bait or traveled to the same location and spent the day doing what they knew best, they fished. When the day was done I’m sure they took their catch and finished out the day doing the exact thing they did the day before. Then one day a man walks up to them and says, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Maybe they were so tired of doing the same thing over and over that the adventure of the unknown is what lead them to go,  or maybe it was just something about this man that they couldn’t turn down. Either way, they followed. There is a popular Christian song by Chris Tomlin that really speaks to me. The chorus says this, “Where you go I’ll go, where you stay I’ll stay, when you move I’ll move… I will follow you. Who you love I’ll love, how you serve I’ll serve, if this life I lose I will follow you. I love this song, but more than that I love how it motivates me. I know that if I follow Jesus it is going to require change (tired of my talking about change yet?) and as long as He is my leader I want to be willing to follow. After I gave my heart to Jesus I defiantly made changes, good changes…big changes. But what God is showing me now is the importance of change and how it is going to be a part of my every day routine. I spent so much of my life changing for people or things that cared nothing about me. Now I have Jesus who gave His life for me, who was tortured to wear the redemption of my sins, and yet I hesitate. Someone once spoke these harsh words to me, “Why are you so worried about looking like a fool for Jesus when you have acted a fool for Satan time and time again.” I have never forgotten it. I think we get the whole “I’m a good person” mentality and believe that it is enough. I’m sorry to say but the bible doesn’t stop there. Matthew 5:14-16 says, You are the light of the world. A city on the hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. – What if for just one week we prayed this scripture daily and were willing to be open in letting God use us. Would we be willing to follow? If you decide to do this I would love to hear what happens because I promise you if you are willing He will move you, I’ll share too. One last thing that I wanted us to do together is this. Post a comment that simple says what you are thankful for. At Thanksgiving we each had a number on the bottom of our plates. If you had 1.) you were to list 3 things that you were thankful for in 2011, 2.) was share 1 thing God had blessed you with this year, 3.) was tell someone in the room why you were thankful for them and 4.) was tell how you blessed someone else this year. It was so awesome! I think we forget, life gets hard and we sometimes think that there isn’t much to be thankful for. Of course all we have to do is watch the news or listen to missionaries to realize how much we really have. Here is mine.

Kristy Watts

I am thankful for this journey I call life. The good and the bad, the tears and the laughter and the healing hand of God. I am thankful for His grace and His mercy and His faithfulness.

As I type this I am listening to a gospel choir sing this song. Wish you could hear it too.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Now by this I’ll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I’ll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Glory! Glory! This I sing—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
All my praise for this I bring—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Burning Bridges Part 2

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

So…anybody read Proverbs 3 this week? I was asked why I chose this particular chapter of scripture in relation to the post. After reading it every day I realized that for me, it was just what spoke to me during those trying times of change. It showed me the true importance of not leaning on my own understanding in life but to fully lean on God. So many times when we are required to change something we get defensive on how it would be beneficial to us. Many times, maybe I should say most times, it isn’t until after the storm has passed that we realize why God placed so much importance on it. One of my favorite versus in this chapter are vs. 5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. If I ever needed anything at that point in my life it was a straight path. I spent so much time riding the craziness of the winding roads and being so worried about not knowing what was coming next that when I did jump on the straight and narrow it took me forever to adjust to the freedom and consistency that was provided. I read a quote out of a bible study a few weeks ago and it has stuck with me, the writer simply said this, “There is more freedom in boundaries.” In this society do we even know what it means to have freedom or boundaries anymore? Do we really have freedom in the way that we are pressured to look, act, spend and accept things? I have talked with so many that are shocked at how easy it is for us to become so desensitized to plain black and white sin all around us. I ask the question, “What happens as a result of all of this?” My answer, we began to water down what the Word of God says. He will not accept the ways of the world and we are not to conform to them. We cannot package God in our pretty little boxes and expect Him to accept the things in our life that He did not put there.  We can give many names to these “bridges” that we keep crossing in our lives. But the simple truth is, they become masters over us and the end result of not letting them go is bondage, some for the rest of our lives. I know I’ve said this before but honestly it is just time to call it what it is, get some serious healing and redemption over it and move on. I really never like to try and use a passage of scripture and leave parts of it out to make a point but I thought I would share this with you. I remember about two weeks after God had given me “The List” I sat down to go over it again. At that point I wasn’t ready to bust out the torches but I was willing for the first time to fully trust Him over it. It was the strangest feeling but I knew that He was serious. So like many other times I grabbed my bible and prayed for Him to give me an active word…this is what he gave me. Isaiah 30:15b, In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. (vs.18) Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!...(vs19b) you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it. Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered in gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!” Hmm, your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered in gold. That is exactly what I did. The things in my life that were so important to me became my idols even my sin, in some way I worshiped them or I at least placed them higher than anything else and certainly higher than God. – So whatever it is to us, whatever we call it…sin, idols, masters, strongholds, learned behaviors, slavery,  generational curses, poor choices, and hopeless situations, dead in roads with no way out…whatever it is, I will promise you this. ” There is freedom in discernment, freedom in change and freedom in deciding to trust Him and walk in His ways.  I know this one. I also know that letting go of some of these things may seem like death to you. But many burned bridges later I’m still standing and I am stronger and wiser from it. And you know what…I can say this with everything in me...it is for freedom that Christ has set us free! I once struggled over so many things that God was requiring but for some reason I feared not listening more than I feared the change. I guess it was my first dose of godly fear, and I grabbed a hold of it and haven’t looked back. This life is wild, isn’t it? So what about you? I would love to hear from you, of course no personal information about your dealings, but maybe just some things you may be feeling about it.

2 Corinthians  4:7-9 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this

all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. – No matter what the enemy has told you, you are not abandoned, you are not destroyed.

Burning Bridges

Psalm 139:23-24, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 So here is the first part of my testimony. I had no intention of sharing this today but I read this quote on Facebook this morning and knew this was to be the topic. It said, "The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn". Wow, I need a sign that says that for my office. Around 6 or 7 years ago I reached a point in my walk with God where I felt empty. I had spent a huge amount of time and healing on the mountain top with Him when all of a sudden I felt like I fell off a cliff. I was really confused and talked to my mother in law about it. She showed me Psalm 139 and after reading it I decided to start my daily prayer time with those last two versus that I listed above. Can I just say that it is not for the faint of heart! God did not waste a moment before He began to give me what I have called for the last 6 years, “The List”.  What struck me about this quote was that I literally looked at each of my sins and strongholds as individual bridges. As He would give me something (person, place or thing) I would actually picture myself walking up to the bridge. Then I had to make the decision as to walk across or tear it down. If I walked across who would encourage me on, Jesus or the Enemy?  Was Jesus waiting for me on the other side or was I about to step into the dark wilderness all alone? I think the hardest part for me were the things that He required for me to hand over that weren’t so obvious. I mean some bridges just looked scary, broken boards, warning signs and old. Then others seemed safe and new and harmless. I went through a season of hurt and frustration over them and at a time stopped praying for Him to search me, I’m laughing as I type this. The fact was that more than anything else I wanted to be saved from my guilt, my shame and my worries and if I were going to do that then I knew there was no turning back, and how could I…those bridges were gone. Deuteronomy 6:5, The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. I mean how can you do that if your life is filled with things that hurt you heart, empty your soul and make you weak? I accepted the challenge and six years later still fight with burning bridges. Have you ever been across one of those HUGE bridges? Like the one that you have to cross in Louisiana? Well, that is the bridge that I struggle with today. Swap land underneath, no place to pull over and once you enter on there is no end in sight for a really long time. I’m inching my way closer to torching it and when I do the victory that will be won will have the devil fighting mad. The bible holds so many scriptures that helped me, and encouraged me when things were hard. Here are a few. 1Peter 5:8, Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Galatians 5:25-26, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Matthew 18:7, Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! My list could go on and on. One thing I want to make clear is this. Your list probably wouldn’t be the same as mine. God knows our hearts, our struggles and our weaknesses. I wanted to ask as a group if you would be willing to commit to something for the next 7 days. Find a notepad, piece of paper, journal or whatever you have and daily open your bibles to Proverbs 3. Commit to reading it daily and ask God to reveal to you anything that is holding you back. Take the time to journal any feelings or thoughts and at the end of these seven days be willing to do a little bridge burning of your own.

Proverbs 3 ¹ My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, ² for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. ³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. ⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.^{[a] 7} Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. ⁸ This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. ⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. ¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, ¹² because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.¹³ Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, ¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. ¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. ¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. ¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. ¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed. ¹⁹ By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; ²⁰ by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. ²¹ My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; ²² they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. ²³ Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. ²⁵ Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, ²⁶ for the LORD will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared. ²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. ²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you. ²⁹ Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. ³⁰ Do not accuse anyone for no reason— when they have done you no harm. ³¹ Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways. ³² For the LORD detests the perverse but takes the upright into his confidence. ³³ The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. ³⁴ He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. ³⁵ The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame.

I’ll end with this, one of my favorite versus.

Psalm 97:1-6

¹ The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.
² Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. ³ Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. ⁴ His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory.

Fear vs. Faith

Well, here it is the big one for me. Fear. I am crippled by it at times and at least once a week I convince myself that I need medication for it. Why is it that after walking so close with Him that this one still has hold of me? The answer is….I have no idea. I can only believe that it is a lack of trust and faith in Him and a constant struggle in letting go of my control (Ok so I may have some idea.). It makes me sad to even admit this to you but it does no good to keep these thoughts to myself. I told myself from the beginning that if there were anything that I wanted to bring to this blog it was honesty and I am just being uncomfortably honest with you on this one.  I remember hearing Beth Moore ask us this question one time and I wanted to ask it to you today. Do you believe that God is more of a taker then a giver and that your blessings are only to be received in heaven? It was huge for me, and my answer was yes. I wonder how many of you feel that way.  Since then I have made it my focus to be healed in that area and to be able to except the love, plan and blessings that my God has for me. Of course my answer to that question could not have been farther from the truth; but unfortunately inside my fear stricken way of thinking it was the first time I was able to hear my fear put into words. I have asked God to be brutally honest with me in showing me the sin in the lack of my faith and trust and thought you may get a kick out of one of the ways He has chosen to show me. I guess in this situation there was a third option, choose faith, fear or… move. About two and a half years ago our friends were watching our children when I got a phone call that went like this, Hello…Kristy, I’m about to freak you out…silence…is everything ok?...Well, everyone is ok but we just killed a baby copperhead in your son’s bedroom. I’m not sure what my response was from that point on or maybe I’m just not willing to type it but needless to say I was freaking out. Now, I am married to a manly man, a good old Lubbock country boy, but when it comes to snakes he handles it about as good as I do. When we got home that night I was obsessed with searching every part of our house.  All I could think of is that if it was a baby then there was a family and I was praying that their family wasn’t living with my family, follow me? I searched and searched until after midnight when I finally, reluctantly crawled into bed. I was so freaked out by the thought of a poisonous snake anywhere close to my children and hated feeling so invaded. After tossing and turning forever I finally prayed. I thanked God for protecting my children and that I in no way believed that it was just luck that the snake was found where it was. I also said that I trusted Him to show me at any time if there were ever another snake and believed that He would be faithful again. Let’s just say He has been faithful…and consistent. Since then I have had another snake in my dining room, several (and I do mean several) encounters outside (kids included), a few at the lake and just last week one in my garage. We have more snakes here then Swamp Brothers, at least that is what Braydon says and every single time God has been so totally in the middle of it. He has made things happen and people move in ways that my children were protected and the snakes were found. I know that God prompted/warned Will and I the other night to not let Braydon go in the garage by himself and as Will opened the door the snake was there in between him and the car. After everything settled I nicely asked God (with a smile on my face) if we could be done with this one. I pictured Him smiling at me saying, I don’t know, you tell me. I trust Him completely in this circumstance but have seriously contemplated leaving our place in the country and moving to concrete. Unfortunately, my fear goes deeper than snakes. Isaiah 7:9b says, If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. I think I’m done sitting, anybody else? I was able to share for a few minutes with two of the ladies in my small group yesterday and was blessed by their encouragement and stories of faithfulness. I am already feeling a bit of freedom in the area that I am struggling with and I truly believe it is because I just put it out there for prayer. We don’t have to be ashamed or worried that it is wrong to have doubts or concerns with God. We just have to be prayerful and diligent about letting Him help us defeat it. At the funeral for my step mom the preacher looked over at the casket and said these words that I will never forget. “She was promised nothing more than this.” In some weird morbid way it made sense to me and I was overcome with peace that my Father knows me and has every single second of my, my kids life, written out. There is not one single thing our worry can change (I’m speaking to myself here). My mind knows this but at times my flesh is still afraid. Matthew 6:27 says, Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Isn’t that the truth. I wonder what would happen if we took all that fear and laid it at His feet and in exchange grabbed a good healthy dose of fear of the LORD.  Deuteronomy 10:12 says, ¹² And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Therefore we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Should faith have substance? I looked up the definition of substance and really loved this one. Substance: the actual matter of a thing, as opposed to the appearance or shadow, reality. The Greek word for substance in this scripture is hupostasis meaning that which stands, or is set under a foundation. So based on those descriptions yes faith has substance. It’s not just something we agree to while speaking out into the sky. It is a choice, a lifestyle.  It becomes an active reaction to an action taken against us. So when we are up to bat what will we choose faith or fear? There’s not a third choice here.  Grab your bible or someone else’s bible (if you don’t have a bible send me a message and I’ll make sure you get one) Ask God to give you a few scriptures in dealing with your specific situation. If you don’t know a lot of scripture go to biblegateway.org and do a word search (example: fear, worry etc.) write them on an index card and study them like your life depended on it. Place them under your pillow, carry them with you in your car. Post them in your kitchen, your bathroom mirror, your desk, wherever it takes…whatever it takes. Isaiah 55:9-13 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me (void) empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  … This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.” - I will close with this last thing. Make Him your beginning and your end, at least. Before our feet hit the ground running spend some time with Him. Grab a notebook and start talking to Him. He is all about relationship and relationships take two. Ephesians 6:10-18, (I almost put this in the King James Version, it’s worth looking it up) ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God and pray…Be blessed my friends, I’m praying for you.