The Power of Speaking God's Word

I want to continue my thoughts today on the power of God's Word in our lives.

Hebrews 4:12 says -
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thought and attitudes of the heart. NIV

The KJV says quick and powerful. We talked the other day about the word for quick - zao - meaning breathing and living. The word for powerful is energes meaning effective, powerful, active and effectual. That is the Greek word that we get our word energy from. The Word of God is effective. This supports the verse in Isaiah(Is 55:11) that says, "so is my word that goes out from my moth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." When God speaks His Word, His living, breathing, active, and effective Word, into our hearts, He sends it for a purpose that He will see is accomplished! It will not return empty or void. When God says it, it is done!

The part about the double edged sword is what I want to get to today. On one side this double edged sword fights the devil. The enemy cowers when we SPEAK the word of God. He knows he cannot begin to battle that power.... It was the spoken Word of God that created the universe and the spoken Word of God that cast the enemy from the portals of heaven to where he is now. The spoken word of God is powerful when fighting the enemy. That is why it is so important to not only read and meditate on God's word but to speak it out loud. The enemy cannot read our minds. He shivers on what he hears out of our mouths the Word of God. (To study my statement, "The enemy cannot read our minds", please check out the following links)

http://www.biblestudy.org/question/can-satan-the-devil-read-our-thoughts.html

http://www.gotquestions.org/Satan-power.html

http://www.biblebb.com/files/macqa/1301-Q-13.htm

http://www.epm.org/articles/readmind.html

The other edge of the sword is where the power of meditating and reading God's Word comes in. From one side we fight the enemy- from the other side we clean ourselves up. We talked about that the other day. God's Word penetrates to our soul and spirit and circumcises our heart, as the Bible says. That just means it helps us to crucify our flesh. When we meditate on God's Word, we are able to live and walk in the Spirit, rather than the flesh. We are cleansed and sanctified through His Word. When we live according to the Spirit of God rather than according to our flesh, we are again making the enemy powerLESS in our life. He can only operate with our permission. We give the enemy permission to work in our lives when we live lives contrary to God's spirit. (Ephesians 4:27)

So - when you read God's Word, put your name in there and speak it out loud. For instance if God dropped Isaiah 61 and in your heart. You can read verse 7: "instead of their shame my people - YOUR NAME- will receive a double portion and instead of disgrace YOUR NAME will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. For I, the lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them(YOU NAME) and make an everlasting covenant with them! Tell the devil out loud what God's word says. Shout it at him. Then meditate on it every day.
Throughout the Bible we are told to:

• meditate on God's Word (think about and repeat over and over again to ourselves)
  
• pray God's Word (the only way we can be sure to pray according to the will of God)
  
• speak God's Word (like Jesus did when He was tempted to be discouraged - spoke it out loud to Satan)

If you are struggling with battles in your life, remember this: God sees time so much different than we do. He is infinite and we see time through our finite beings. Time for God is just like this line below:

________________________________________________

He looks down and sees the beginning as well as the ending, and all the points in between. He sees your good times and your rough times, but ultimately He sees your rejoicing in heaven for eternity. That is how He works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). That is why placing our trust in Him is so vital. -Trusting Him when we are tired and worn out. -Trusting Him when we feel all is going down the tubes. -Trusting Him when we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. Simple trust. He has promised you victory - so tomorrow, if it brings worse news than yesterday, you can trust in Him.

Psalm 25. The whole chapter deals with asking Him to show His ways and teach His paths. It is my wife's favorite chapter in the whole Bible. Listen to what David says:

Psalm 25

To you, O LORD , I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse. 4 Show me your ways, O LORD , teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD , your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD . 8 Good and upright is the LORD ; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, O LORD , forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. 13 He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. 15 My eyes are ever on the LORD , for only he will release my feet from the snare. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. 18 Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. 19 See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me! 20 Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. 21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you. 22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles!
NIV

So, I encourage each of you today to take up a warrior mentality. Be an enemy of Satan. Take up the Sword of the Spirit, clothe yourself in the armor God has provided (Ephesians 6) and battle the enemy of your soul through the power of the Holy Spirit. Read God's Word. Meditate on God's Word and Speak God's Word out loud.

I love each of you and am thankful for the opportunity to be your pastor.

PS I have added a poll to todays blog at the top and to the right. Please take the time to vote. Thank you.

Pastor Rusty

The POWER of God’s Word

Chuck Colson, in one of his books, was talking about the fact that so many of us have Bibles, and yet the Bible doesn't change us. 81% of the people surveyed in a recent poll said that they were evangelical; and yet only 42% of them knew that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount; and 48% of them could name the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Out of the 1382 people that were surveyed, less than 1% of them said that their lives were directed and truly changed by what the Word of God said. In other words, many of us read it; but it doesn't always change us. Many are not really reading it and meditating on it.

I read a story about an inner city preacher was reading his Bible and preaching out of it. It was a New Testament. There was a drug addict who noticed the nice, thin paper of the Bible, thought how good it would be to roll up marijuana cigarettes, and asked the preacher for the Bible, "I would like to use the paper to smoke marijuana with." The preacher told him, "I will let you have the Bible if you promise to read it before you smoke it." The addict agreed. Sometime later, the evangelist was preaching a meeting, after the meeting a man came up to him and said, "I am the man who you gave the bible to" The evangelist remembered. "How are you doing?" The Evangelist asked. The man said, "Well I took the Bible I read Matthew then I smoked it, I read Mark then I smoked it, I read Luke then I smoked it, I read John, and it smoked me" THE WORD OF GOD WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE, IF YOU TRULY READ IT and MEDIDATE upon it!

I was reading recently about a guest lecturer at a university. The only thing they asked him before he made the lecture was not to talk about the Word of God, the Bible. He noted how strange it was to speak at the university and be asked not to talk about the Bible. Especially when that evening, he went to do prison ministry and the first words from the warden were, "As you talk to the prisoners, could you talk to them about biblical principles?"

That seems to me like the cart's before the horse. We're not supposed to share God's Word at the universities; but when we speak to prisoners, who've already messed their lives all up, then we can talk about it. It seems to me like we're building the hospital down at the bottom of the cliff instead of putting fences at the top. Seems to me that we don't really understand what the Word of God will do and how it can change our life.

The Bible was written over a 1600-year span. It was written by 40 generations, by over 40 authors from every walk of life including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, and scholars. It was written in different places, including out in the wilderness, in dungeons, in palaces, inside prison walls, while traveling, on lonely islands, in the midst of war. It was written at different times, sometimes in peace, sometimes in battle. It was written during different moods, some writing from the heights of joy while others wrote from the very depths of sorrow. It was written in three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. And it was written in three languages -- Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek. It covered subject matters including hundreds of controversial subjects, yet with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation, there is one unfolding story, and the story is the redemption of man through Jesus Christ.

Ezra tells us in Ezra 7:10, four ways to take God's Word and apply it. Let me just read the passage. "For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it and to teach its statutes and ordinances to Israel."

1. Ezra prepared his heart to approach God's Word. Ezra literally prepared himself in the way that he approached God's Word. He wanted to make sure that he entered into the presence of God's Word in an appropriate manner.

2. Ezra prepared his heart to study God's Word. As Ezra read it, he allowed his heart to be tender and open to the voice of the Spirit.

3. Ezra prepared to practice what he learned. Ezra not only read it; but as soon as he read it, he practiced it. He began to apply it to his life.

4. Ezra prepared to share what he learned. Ezra not only learned it in his own life and practiced and applied it, but he took it immediately and he shared it with others, so they could apply it to their lives.

There are three simple things you have to do when you come to the Word."

Three key phrases:

1. Learn It.

It can't change you until you know it. "Learn it, and that deals with your head." Memorize scripture, that's the thing.

2. Love It.

You've got to begin to embrace the Word and let it embrace you.

3. Live It.

You've got to let the Word of God that comes into your heart go out through your hands, and you've got to apply it to others.

Question: What convictions should I have concerning the Bible?

Answer: I have learned to: learn , love, and live God's Word. No wonder the psalmist said, "Your Word I have hid in my heart so that I might not sin against you." Now what happens is, when we take the Word of God and learn it and love it and live it, we begin to develop biblical convictions. And there are three convictions about the Word of God that I want to make sure that we have today.

1. Even when I don't understand it, I'll trust what God said.

"It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me," wrote Mark Twain. "It's the parts I do understand that give me fits."

Even when I don't understand it, I will take what God has said at face value. I will place my trust not in my understanding, but in God's Word. Naaman did that, remember? Naaman, the captain of the Syrian army, had leprosy, and his little servant girl suggested that he go to her country and see a prophet who could heal him. So off Naaman went to Elijah's house. He arrives in front of the house in his chariot, and Elijah doesn't even come out -- he just sends a servant out. And the servant tells Naaman that the prophet says for him to go down to the Jordan River and dip seven times in it. This ticks Naaman off. In fact, he says, "If I just needed to dip in the water seven times, I could go back to my own swimming pool in Syria. At least, the water's cleaner there." And off he goes. But then remember, his colleagues talks him into going down to the Jordan and dipping seven times, and when he comes out, his flesh is like a newborn baby's.

Now, what's interesting about this is how Naaman responded. He said, "I had thought the prophet would come out and wave his hand, and I would be healed (he had preconceived how God would answer his prayer)." But now, after his healing, he said, "Now I know that there's a God of Israel." Now isn't this interesting? Haven't we all done the same thing Naaman did? Haven't we come to God with a prayer request and told him how to answer it? We have this preconceived idea of how he's going to answer it, and we're just ready for it to be step one, two, three, four. Now, the first conviction is that the Word of God is very important. And that is, even when I don't understand it, I'm going to trust what God has said.

2. Although it seems illogical, I'll obey what God has said.

I will obey what God has said, even if it doesn't make sense. Remember Mary? In John 2, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee? They run out of wine, and Mary looks at the servants, and says, "Whatever he says to you, do it."

3. While human opinions vary, God's Word is right on every subject.

While human opinions vary, while others will have all sorts of answers, God's Word is right. One more conviction that'll change your life. I need the Word of God as much as I need food. And when I realize that the Word of God, which is the bread of life, is my spiritual staple that allows me to grow in my walk with him, it begins to change my life. And it begins to build convictions that help me to stand. I have five for you.

Convictions come into our lives when...

1. We have learned what the Word says on a given subject.

2. We choose to apply and obey the Word in daily life contexts.

3. We have exposed ourselves to a need in that area.

4. We have decided what is worth living and dying for.

5. We have settled the issue before we are forced to.

I am so thankful for the Word of God. As I posted yesterday, too many people say, "I prayed, BUT, I DIDN'T READ THE BIBLE" You can not and will not be the victorious man or woman of God that you can be without daily spending time with God's Word. If you have a hard time reading, then listen to the Bible online. I was listening to the Bible just this morning. Here is a website that will allow you to do this: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/audio/

Or, you can get the Word of God on CD or cassette tape. Just make a commitment to spend daily time with the Word of God. You WILL be changed for eternity!

I love you guys, and pray that you have a faith-filled, peace-filled, and hope-filled day! Blessings!

Pastor Rusty

"I prayed, BUT, I DIDN'T READ MY BIBLE"

I have something that is heavily on my heart this morning. I was meeting with a man the other day, and we were discussing our relationship with God. This man was struggling with something in his life, and I asked him about his relationship with God. He said that he was struggling somewhat. I then asked him if he had spent time in God’s Word this week and he said, “I prayed, but, I DIDN’T READ THE BIBLE.” This has become a recurring problem with this person and others as well. I want to tell you that FIVE people told me this exact thing this past week. Think about it for a moment, I prayed, BUT, I DIDN’T READ THE BIBLE.” Does that sum up your day, week, month? Do you find yourself praying, but failing to open up God’s Word and allowing it to speak help, hope, and health into your life? If so, you aren’t alone.
Down through the years it has been the plan of the enemy to remove people from God’s Word. It started in the very beginning and continues today.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan twisted God's very words in order to deceive God's creation. The same is true with us today. If we do not stay connected to God through His Word, the enemy will twist God's word in order to deceive and confuse us.

Meditate on God's Word to see what God says about this:
John 8:32
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
John 14:6
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 15:1-8
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunesF73 so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

The Word of God is so much more than a compilation of scriptures for inspiration for living a Godly life. It IS the power by which we live life. It IS living and breathing! Consider Hebrew 4:12-
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
The Greek word used in this verse for living is zao, which means living and breathing!

When we read God's word and meditate on His actual Word to us, that word is powerful to cut out of us our sinful nature. The Word of God keeps us clean. Christ died on the cross for our sins. It is through His precious blood that we are saved and reconciled to God the Father. It is through the power of the Word that we are sanctified on a daily basis.
Read Ephesians 5:25-27
...just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

So, my request, as your Pastor and friend, is for each of you to make a commitment to God and to yourselves to read and treasure God's Word!

If you are struggling in this area and it seems you are constantly going to God with your petitions, but are not soaking in the richness of His Word on a daily basis, then take a few minutes to read Psalm 119. Listen to the psalmists heart as he reflects again and again on the hope and life that God's word and statutes bring.

My prayer is that each of you recognize the life giving power of the Word of God and take in God's freshness every single day through His Word.

May this season bring you peace and joy!
Pastor Rusty

Taking Every Thought Captive

When I was around sixteen years old, I decided to begin memorizing certain passages from the Word of God. One of the passages that I worked hard at memorizing is 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Down through the years it has been such a source of comfort and victory to me in the midst of battles. Let me share it with you:

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, (5) [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

I want to share verse 5 in several translations:

(BBE) Putting an end to reasonings, and every high thing which is lifted up against the knowledge of God, and causing every thought to come under the authority of Christ;

(ESV) We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

(GNB) we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

(KJVR) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

(MSG) We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.

What a powerful Word from God. You may be reading this blog, and you have been under attack from satan. Maybe you are battling depression, despair, discouragement, worry, fear, doubt, etc. What makes it worse, is that the enemy attacks many times through our MINDS using our imaginations, and other peace-attacking distractions to keep our mind from being in PERFECT PEACE with and on God. In fact, listen to what Isaiah 26:3 says, (AMP) You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.

God reminds us that we will walk in PERFECT PEACE if and when our minds are set and fixed on Jesus. That is why all of hell attempts daily to get our minds on imaginations (what if's), that lead to worry and other faith destroying, peace-attacking issues of the mind.

I found the following prayer some time back on the internet. Why don't you take the following prayer and add it to your arsenal of attacks against the enemy, and pray it DAILY:

Father, teach me to wage spiritual war in your manner, and not according to the world. Guide me to live - and to fight, argue, conflict - with weapons of the Spirit and not weapons of the flesh.

Be my strength, Lord, when I am up against the wall – and I decide, by faith, to respond with weapons of the Spirit and not react with weapons of the flesh. Bring me, Father, to a point where I no longer have any confidence in the flesh, but my confidence is only in you.

Lord, teach me, guide me, compel me, train me – fill me with the Grace me – so that when I face conflict, when I face discouragement and temptation, when I collide with an obstacle - I rely upon you and your way. I acknowledge you have given me the power and authority to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of You.

So, rather than getting into arguments, I can point to the truth - and I can state the truth. Help me to state the truth in my own life - and work on those areas where I am out-of-sync, where I am in sin, winking at that which is wrong.

Lord, I commit to taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Show me how that works; show me how to do that, and develop within me the discipline and the habit of doing this.

Lord, prompt me and guide me to fit every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. No stray thoughts, no wandering thoughts, not allowing emotions to rule my thoughts or actions or moods - even taking my impulses and subjecting them to you.

Lord, make me ready to use the tools you provide to clear the ground of every obstruction, so that you may build my life as an obedient life - matured into the Father of the Faith that you want me to be. I trust that, despite my sin you will build me into a mature believer who is obedient to you, serves you and constantly looks for your work in others.

What does this mean?

· The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will." (2 Corinthians 10:3, MSG)

· God has provided the tools we need to live a God-life. "We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5, MSG) What tools? The Word of God, prayer, the name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, praise and worship, just to name a few.

· Using God's tools moves us to maturity. "Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity." (2 Corinthians 10:6, MSG)

Blessings!

Pastor Rusty

A Lie from the Devil during tough times: “Life isn’t worth the effort”

Good morning! This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. I hope you are as well.

We had a great day yesterday. Bro. Joe Wilmoth shared a powerful message with us about holding onto four anchors: #1 Salvation through the Blood of Jesus, #2 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, #3 The Healing power of God, #4 The Soon return of Jesus Christ. What a great reminder of the anchors that we have. Then our banquet last night was a lot of fun, food and fellowship. It is so good to be a part of God's wonderful family.

Let me share something that God laid on my heart very early this morning from Job 2:9-13:

Job is totally covered with agonizing sores. He was not only physically afflicted, but he was also painfully humiliated. He ends up sitting in the ashes, scraping the pus from his sores with a broken piece of pottery. To cap it all, the one to whom he ought to have been able to turn for emotional support turned against him. His wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity?" I can see that her faith has crumbled under this attack. She no longer believes that God is loving, thoughtful, and just. She sees this as proof, as many of us have done in times of trial, that God has forsaken his promises, that the Bible is not true.

How many times I have come to comfort people going through trials, and had them say to me, "I tried these promises, I tried believing God, but it doesn't work." Have you ever said that?

That is getting very close to what Satan was trying to get Job to say: "Curse God, and die." He used Job's wife as his instrument, and, just as Eve became the instrument to get at Adam in the Garden of Eden, the assault upon Job's emotional life comes through his wife. She advises him to do two things: "Give up your faith, apostatize. Curse God." (Actually, in the Hebrew, the word is "bless" God, but it is properly translated "curse" because the word "bless" is dripping with sarcasm.) "Bless God, and die." She is clearly suggesting suicide: "It would be better for you to take your life than to go on like this." So poor Job, bound by physical pain, sits in humility with a disfigured body, and suffers from a sense of emotional abandonment by his spouse.

I do not know if women fully understand how much their husbands depend on them. I think husbands often draw emotional strength from their wives far more than either they or their wives realize. Here was a severe attack addressed to the very soul of Job, in which he felt his wife abandoning him, advocating that he turn from his faith and renounce his God. But now, in Verse 10, we get the results of this second round of tests:

But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:10 RSV)

Job's rebuke is a very gentle one. He did not say, "You foolish woman!" He said, "You speak as one of the foolish women." He is not attacking her, rather, he is suggesting that this is a temporary lapse of faith on her part, and that, for the moment, she has begun to repeat the words of stupid, foolish women who have no knowledge of the grace and glory of God. In that gentle rebuke you can see something of the sturdiness and tenderness of Job's faith. In this great sentence he again reasserts the sovereignty of God: "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" And herein is the lie that is growing in America spoken by Job's wife. She had the philosophy that life ought to be pleasant and if it was not, there was no use living it.

That philosophy is widespread in our own day,
and a mounting suicide rate testifies to the universal acceptance of it. But this book is given to show us that life is not to be lived on those terms. The reason we are here is not necessarily to have a good time. There are meaningful objectives to be attained in life, even when it all turns sour. When the pressure comes, when living is no longer fun, life is still worth living.
A philosophy that wants to abandon everything as soon as things become unpleasant is a shallow, mistaken, distorted view of life, and a growing lie from the devil in America.

Job reaffirms that. "Shall we not take both good and evil from the hand of God?" We take his joy and his pleasure, the pleasant things of life with gladness and gratitude. If he chooses to allow something that is difficult, shall we then abandon that gratitude and begin to curse him in protest, because life is suddenly different than we thought it would be? The reason we are here is not merely that we might have a good time, and this is taught everywhere in the Scriptures. God, in his grace and glory, does give us many, many hours of joy and gladness and pleasure and delight, and it is right for us to give thanks. But do not abandon that when the time of pressure comes for that is what satan wants us to do. He wants us to begin to complain and to protest to God; to get upset and angry and resentful; to stop going to church, or to stop reading the Bible. That is what Satan's whole attack in our lives is aimed at doing.

So today, put on that garment of praise, and understand that "life is worth the living, just because He (Jesus) lives! I love you guys, and pray that you have a thank-filled and peace-filled day! Blessings!

Pastor Rusty