Friend, be not deceived. Satan is alive and roams about seeking who he may deceive and use and eventually destroy; gaining himself a follower in the underworld - albeit sometimes a soul who does not want to be there but finds himself stuck in the hell of having willingly followed satan.

Satan is the great deceiver. He knows that God has a Plan for us to live an eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, but satan is jealous and does not want any of us on this earth to ever know God. He puts up obstacles to our believing in God. He sets God up as a mean and vengeful God, he twists all God has for us into a falsehood that many of us fall for.

He manipulates our thinking, the media, entertainment so that we're deluded into thinking that what he presents to us is good, and for our best interests, when in fact God is saying, "No, don't follow that thinking, that way, that path. Follow Me."

The way for us to know real Truth is to set our minds on God and His Son who died for us to have Freedom and to know Love and Truth and Inner Peace. Reading His Word will encourage and enlighten our minds and fill us with a new revelation of who God is - Good, Perfect and Holy, All Knowing, All Powerful, Wise, Law Maker, Judge - these are some of His attributes.

Satan is abhorrent and perverted, a killer and murderer who masquerades as light when in fact he is darkness and full of evil with not one good intention to anybody, even those close to him who think they are serving him and will receive good rewards from him. No, he is a liar and a deceiver of the first order who harms babies and children in order to get blame thrown at Almighty God. The evilness of his undertakings, is without end and never ceases to amaze the Godly. 

When you think that he and yourself are all palled up, you will find that something is required of you that you would never think of doing, but he will have you in a place where because of what he has given you, to get out of it you will have to expose yourself or someone dear to you and the fix is then "on". You have been snared and there is no escape only shame or dishonour in your life.

The Bible calls us to be wise like snakes because satan is who we are in a spiritual battle against, and gentle as doves because that is who we represent, the great God of Peace & Love.

So friend, start practising now, being wise as a snake with the Holy Spirit's help and through the reading of God's Word where He will reveal how you must proceed with evil; how to know it's intent and how to nip it on the bud and stop the onslaught before it becomes a real threat to your believer status.

Following the world and it's ways which are becoming more and more evil and ungodly will never give you the victory.

Start with asking yourself, "Am I being selfish in this situation in wanting to do such and such?"

Will God be pleased if I go ahead with this new plan even though I may hurt those who are vulnerable who have looked up to me as a role model? Is the encouragement I am getting to make a change for me, "because it's my time now," the really correct choice and will God be pleased with me when I accomplish this even though others will be hurt and misguided and may follow in my footsteps? 

These are important questions to ask; and examine the truth in our spirits to the answers that come up and; the insights we might get as we contemplate these questions.

The Light of the world was born as a baby; poor and homeless, laid in the feeding trough for the barn animals as a sign of true humility and the ability of God to show his Great Power through this humble beginnings to foil satan and speak to believers down through the centuries that God works in mysterious ways.

Friend, God is interested in your soul. It is the soul He wishes to have a personal relationship with. Once we are established as a soul who believes, He can address the needs of the body.

When we reject the needs of our soul, we limit what Jesus can do for us, because we are not sympatico with Him.

His Power can keep us brave. Without Him, we fall along the path of life in this world.

If you find yourself in this fallen state, choose to look up and see Him. There is Beauty and Power there waiting to fill your soul with the Knowledge of Truth that will give you Peace and fill you with Joy.

Friend, welcome this process and be renewed in your mind.

Meditation

Scripture.  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.  Ephesians 2:19  KJV

The apostle Paul is writing to the believers at Ephesus. He encourages them to walk worthy of their calling as
we must also.

Paul describes our state before we come to Christ as that of foreigners and strangers in this world.  There are many other descriptions of our fallen state but these speak to me.

Many of us feel like foreigners and strangers in our own family!  We are familiar with what it feels like to be estranged.

But, here the Holy Spirit through Paul is telling us some Good News. When we give our lives over to Jesus and our heart and mind is changed, we are no more foreigners to Him.

Jesus the Son of God accepts us as kin.  When He does this, the Father accepts us as "fellow citizens of the household of God".

Suggested reading today would be for the Book of Ephesians in the New Testament.  These are your rights, and obligations to walk worthy in God's Kingdom while here on earth. 

I hope the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened.

Prayer

Lord, thank You that you have devised a Way for us to know You.  Help me to read and mediate on Your Word today. Amen.

Friend, the Hope of the world was born to us in the form of Jesus, Immanuel.

Believers celebrate His birth with gladness in their hearts because He is the Author of Hope.

He makes Hope possible for us. Without His birth, most of us were eternally enslaved to satan. There were very few who believed in Almighty God.  He came for all of us, even the ones who believed in God the Father.

He is the Perfect Holy Sacrifice for all - if they accept His Sacrifice for them.

Even in our weakness we can have a glimmer of hope and it can grow as the Holy Spirit guides and teaches.

The one thing that makes a difference in our lives is when we come alive to the fact that Jesus died for us to have eternal life. When we believe that, things start happening and the things we hoped for begin to become reality in our inner spirit. One day, we look back and see we have come a long way and yet we didn't realize we were becoming this new creature who believes and has a solid foundation of Goodness that the Holy Spirit is building on, renewing the mind and heart.

One day, the tongue confesses that "Jesus is Lord" and we realize it is Truth and Beauty to our soul.

All this borne from a hope that at first was hidden then welled up in us as a seeking to know and eventually grew into belief.

The little seed of Hope, placed in each of us that will grow if we allow it.

Friend, as a believer in Christ Jesus, we have the assurance that He, (God) is with us at all times, in everything we face.

He is the One who sees ahead when we see but through a darkened glass.

When we are in the storm of life, He is there and will show us the Way out. He will be the One who we can cling to when the waves overpower us and try to drag us into despair.

Never forget, He is with you.

The thing we must face or weather, He has allowed, and in it, He wishes to grow our spiritual muscles and prove that He is Love. He will show you how to overcome the evil that has beset your life.

Just trust Him.

We can have His Divine help when we let Him be the Leader of our soul. Let Him take the driver's seat for your life. Just be happy that you have found Him and go forth each day into the world to be a blessing and He will be with you always.

He is the Helper of the helpless, so He can help you, and He is willing. 

Are you?

Friend, the Bible recommends that we draw close to God, seek Him and search for Him, and He will come close to us.

He waits for our approval. He waits for our acknowledgement that He is King, Creator, Truth & Love.

Can you say today that you believe these things about God?

If not, then what do you believe?

Is there a Good God?

Or is He an angry and vengeful God seeking to destroy all peoples, seeking to put them in chains and punish them?

Friend, there is a Good God.

He is Almighty, over all other idols and man-dreamed up gods. 

Native peoples from milleniums past have tried to understand their surroundings and the happenings within their communities, and have come to their own wildly devised conclusions that monkeys or elephants or the sun or moon are gods therefore to be worshipped or appeased.

No, God is Good and those are things He created, which we made into idols, not seeing the one who created, to our detriment.

Face it, early peoples lived very simply and allowed others to rule over them who too late; they may have found out that they were just hungry for power; not knowledgeable about Godly things at all; found themseves subjected to that ruler's whims.

They were sheep for a bad shepherd.

But Jesus is the Good Shepherd!

He takes care of His sheep. He went to the Cross for His sheep. He made a Way for His sheep to be returned to His flock.

That's me. I am a sheep returned to the flock!

When you turn to Hiim and draw close, you become conscious of Him more clearly, showing you new delights - the things that make your soul and spirit happy.

Thankfulness is a good start to drawing close. Look around there is always something to be thtankful for and if it is a good thing, then it was given, freely to you from the King of Heaven.

If you are in need you can appeal to Him and draw close also.

You don't need to go to Him with gifts. He is handing you the Gift of Life Eternal.

You only have to say, "I believe, help me Lord." You may be in rags, crawling along the ground, with scaps to eat and draw close to Him. He will welcome you. He is waiting for you to recognize Him.

That is the KEY. 

Leave all your complaints and worries at the foot of the Cross to be burnt up in the Fire of His Presence. He will from those ashes, make a beautiful smelling flower of your soul.

His Presence can overturn all the circumstances in your life to bring together great Harmony, Peace and Love, and you will know Truth and live in His Light.