As we have seen in our previous blogs, the initial step in defeating the devil and his schemes is to RESIST him. And, his primary weapon to steal our hopes and our joy is “the lie.” Remember what Jesus said about the devil, that he is a “…liar and the

In my last blog, we concluded by looking at the strategy that the Apostle James gives us when temptation knocks on our door. His strategy is short and simple,  “Submit to God and resist the devil” (Js. 4:7). If we are to overcome the temptation that is presented to us,

Last week, we discovered that our most intense struggles in life do not generally come from what we can see, but from what we cannot see. As we saw last week, the Apostle Paul identified this “unseen enemy” as “rulers,” “powers,” “world forces of darkness,” and as “spiritual forces of

Many writers have spoken of the “enemy of our souls,” And it stands to reason that if this enemy is targeting our souls, then he must be “unseen.” If fact, that is exactly what the Apostle Paul told the Church in Ephesus, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood

Those of us on the excursion to the national park in Thailand had no idea that the place where the van dropped us off was at the top of a mountain, and that the advertised 30-minute hike would take us down the mountain through a narrow gorge with some of

Each of the eight remaining teams in contention to reach the Super Bowl are well aware of this one thing – only one of the teams will receive the Lombardi trophy. Seven of today’s remaining teams will end their season with a “loss.” In the “game” of life, Paul reminds

Have you ever played a game with the intention of losing? I doubt it. Most of our family loves to play board games, especially Peggy (I’m not in that group). But when I see family members gather around the table for a game of Yahtzee, Uno, or Pirate’s Dice, I

As we begin our investigation into “wisdom,” it’s essential that we have a working definition of what wisdom actually is. Although there are a number of slightly different definitions, when combined, they look something like this,  “Wisdom is the ability to consistently exercise sound judgment, making good decisions based upon

While the angels and shepherds were gathered in the manger witnessing and celebrating the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, God was preparing the heart of an old man six miles to the north in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Luke records that he was both “righteous” (faithfully keeping God’s commandments)

In last week’s blog, we talked about “inspiration,” the theological concept that the written Word of God, the Bible, accurately presents the truth of God. Remembering that it was written by over 40 different men from vastly different backgrounds over a period of 1500 years, their writings were kept from