My Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ, we are immersed in a world filled with evil everywhere we turn. It’s on television, radio, social media, in public settings, in traffic, professional sports, our schools, and politics. The ever increasing evil in our world today is normalizing the most evil of behaviors in human beings. We absolutely must make every effort to insulate ourselves, our families, our church members, and every person in our sphere of influence.

We must replace a prideful and selfish interest in worldly things with The Word of God in our lives. If this means giving up leisurely self-indulgent activities then so be it. The mind of the flesh is hostile to God. The mind governed by The Spirit is life, peace, and truth.

This is a full time 24/7 diligent effort accompanied by prayer, Bible study, and meditation. Any self-inflicted damage to your Holy armor creates a situation where you become more vulnerable. I have just suffered through several of these in the last couple of days. It culminated this morning with me having an outburst of anger at my poor cat because of him biting my bare ankles, on top of a brief illness related to a bad reaction to anti-inflammatory medication for planter fasciitis, and communication from an old girlfriend that I don’t need to be involved with.

I didn’t handle these situations well at all. Over the last week my morning prayer, Bible study, and devotion have not been Spirit filled and on point. I have learned this lesson many times. In addition to my lack of passion for God’s word lately, and the fact I’ve recognized it for what it is, I had been praying for an army of protective angels to defend me from attacks.

In one of my previous posts I wrote about frontline spiritual warfare. This is an excellent example of a skirmish I apparently lost in the larger scope of the battle. I should have realized from past experience the more effective I am in my personal ministry, the more frequently and viciously I am going to be attacked. Apparently I am not yet spiritually mature enough to take joy in my sufferings for Jesus. This is something I battle constantly. At times I am weary and frustrated. Sometimes the spiritual energy is just not there for me to persevere like I should, particularly when I am not physically well.

That being said, I am looking at this as an opportunity for spiritual growth and enlightenment. Despite my flaws, I don’t ever give up. I had a heartfelt conversation with God this morning about my weariness and battle fatigue. I literally just walked in from my back porch after passionately expressing my human feelings and emotions in prayer. There was no Peace of Mind in that prayer. Today is going to be a day of reflection and hope. I love how God always has incredible ways to keep us focused on Him. Which even further solidifies my point about us insulating ourselves from the world.

We still have to exist here on this planet, but most importantly we should reinforce the idea on a daily basis that this is not our home, and we should not have an interest in it as such. The renewing of our minds is not going to be a forward progressing process is if we continue to maintain interests in our lives that have priority over our Faith. I’m not going to make a list, but news and social media, politics, and sports are three of the worst. I know a lot of Believers are fully invested in these interests. We can try to justify it any way we want, but the evil and deception oozing from these sources is horrendous, particularly with most of the companies advertising through these outlets having anti-God agendas that are not in your best interests. It’s no different than watching pornography. Now it’s news pornography, social media pornography, political pornography, and sports pornography.

Yes of course we have to keep up with what’s going on in the world so we can react and pray, but we have choices where we can receive this information without being caught up in the world to our spiritual detriment. Be extremely careful what you expose yourself to.

In closing, my prayer for everyone who reads this post is somehow seeds of sharing can be planted in your hearts and you are spiritually inspired to be warning beacons in a dark and ugly world. Share this with someone you love and let’s all make a Godly effort to protect our precious spiritual purity, given to us by the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Blessings everyone, God loves you more than you can ever possibly comprehend..

Before I get into the meat of the topic I’d like to point out I’m not giving credit to the evil one and his minions by writing this post. In fact, I’m actually exposing him for the fraud and liar he is. I’ve had a few people rebuke me for having conversations aloud about detailed specifics related to spiritual attacks. In my mind these things need to be discussed. I view them as battle plans.

I did not get saved until late in life. At age 53 God backed me into a corner after a double hernia operation. On the night of December 7, 2013, he came into my bedroom and I fell to the floor and surrendered. It was a literal transfiguration. It changed my appearance and my speech. People noticed it and asked about it. Especially my family. My Mom was particularly fascinated by the process. I know what happened to me. My salvation was genuine. I was baptized on December 29 of that year in front of three thousand people as a public profession of my Faith. My full testimony is rather lengthy and I will write about it more in a future post.

The last ten years has not been easy. My past was filled with every kind of sin you can possibly think up. Sex addiction, alcoholism and drug use, crime, pathological lying, prideful perfectionism, anger issues, anxiety and depression, and pretty much anything else sin related. I have had some struggles with a few things since being saved. I am not perfect by any stretch.

It’s my observation at my church that people who get saved later in life are usually more vulnerable to demonic attacks. A lifetime of sinful thought and action doesn’t just disappear from your memory. No amount of prayer and Bible study is going to make those memories completely vanish. They are always there right under the surface. The potential for stumbling and backsliding is more evident for people who found Jesus after a long life of sin. Children and young adults who were saved at an early age do not have this huge memory bank full of unwanted thoughts. The lifelong saved sinner has literally been prepared to recognize these attacks for what they are. The battle against it requires a firm foundation based in fellowship with fellow warriors. It cannot be fought alone and it is not for the faint of heart. Fighting spiritual battles for The Lord as a soldier in His army is honorable and righteous in His eyes.

My pastor once said the most spiritual people he has known throughout his career are the ones who are the most acutely aware of their sins. These people are your frontline troops in the battles of spiritual warfare. If you know someone saved by God after a life filled with sin, please pray for these people and build them up and support them. They are not immune to losing some battles.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:8-10 “⁸ by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; ⁹ as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet behold, we are alive; as punished and yet not put to death, ¹⁰ as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things”.

An effective frontline warrior will continue to sustain attacks as he becomes more successful. These attacks will come in the form of their weaknesses being targeted. If you are one of these warriors you know exactly what I am talking about. satan knows the magnitude of the sin you were saved from by the precious blood of Jesus on The Cross. He knows you have not forgotten it. This is particularly true in the area of deeds of the flesh and especially physical addictions. Addicts relapse all the time. Even saved Christians.

So how do we win these battles and become an overcomer on the spiritual battlefield? As previously mentioned you must have a strong support group of Believers. You cannot fight this battle alone or you will lose. I am speaking from experience. If possible you need to have an accountability partner, mentor, or counselor and you need to see them as often as possible. Do your best to talk to your accountability partner on a daily basis. If you don’t have one get one. Have people in your class or congregation place hands on you and pray. You have your holy armor and weapons. A well prepared and equipped warrior is near invincible.

A wonderful byproduct of victorious frontline warfare is that your testimony becomes a powerful tool in your life. Victories solidify your personal relationship with God and Jesus and Graces you with a peaceful and serene confidence. Peace and Truth are two of your most powerful weapons.

Ask God to continuously surround you with armies and legions of protective angels. You are always going to need them. They are there for the asking.

Finally, no matter how bad you think you’ve messed up, no matter how far you’ve backslid, no matter how tough it gets, just remember God loves you more than you could possibly ever comprehend with your human brain or feel with your heart.

My prayer for everyone is whoever reads this can share with a Believer in your life who is struggling. Many frontline warriors doing the heavy lifting don’t even realize they are cast in that role. Build them up, refresh them, and above all love on them like they are a newborn child.

Blessings everyone, Peace and Truth to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

We all come out of the womb at birth as sinners. As babies and small children we all have an innate propensity to get in trouble every minute. It’s the anti-spiritual effect of a cursed Earth, thanks to Adam and Eve handing over to the title deed of the planet to satan. As we grow into toddlers we want what other kids have and we want the things we cannot have. As we grow older this morphs into jealousy and coveting, and deep down inside of us our survival instinct kicks in and we even frame people we don’t even know as the enemy. And oh how we love to gossip about it and do mental gymnastics to justify it. It even finds a way into competitive sports and especially those involving teams we are a big fan of. I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and I know people who literally hate other teams opposed to the Dallas Cowboys. It even permeates the lives of Christian Believers. None of us are exempt.

Galatians 5:19-21 details the deeds of the flesh: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these”..

I have a situation in my own life that I am struggling with. When I retired three years ago we had just terminated one third of our employees as a preemptive strike to the possible effects on our business from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We literally did not have enough people left to run the business. As a regional vice president, this came to bear directly on my shoulders. With the no overtime and hiring freeze policies implemented, everything came to a screeching halt.

Months earlier an executive management change was made and our VP of Finance became my direct manager. I was in operations. This gentleman had no operations experience and he and I had a personality conflict from the start. Our daily zoom meetings did not go well after the mass termination and quite frankly I’d just had enough of it and I retired (quit).

As a Believer I had a lot of trouble handling this situation in my heart. As much as I prayed for him and myself I just could not let go of it. I even went to a Christian counselor for guidance on that and a few other things. As time went by I was eventually able to let go of it. However..

The gentleman that previously owned the company I retired from has started a new company. The new company is in direct competition to the old company. I keep in touch with a lot of people at my old company and apparently moral is low and everything is an organizational mess. The new company contacted me last year to do some light consulting work on computer programs and procedures. I felt like I was doing it for the wrong reasons. It’s gets even worse..

The new company contacted me last month and asked me to contact a commercial real estate agent and find a distribution center for their Dallas expansion. They are based out of Los Angeles as was my old company. Many of the old employees are now working at the new company, including the man who was my direct manager in operations since 1993. He and I have known each other since 1978. He is my direct contact. He is also a Believer. Despite this, some of our conversations are highly critical of management at our previous employer. Some part of me tries to justify it because it’s business. I expect a permanent job offer once we locate a building.

As we approach that time when the job offer becomes a reality, we are going to recruit the management team and key personnel from our competitors Dallas operation. These people worked for me for many years. I trained and mentored them. The vast majority of them are Believers. I had dinner with them last week with an old friend of mine from Denver is who is now their manager. The old friend is a preacher and marriage counselor and a strong Believer. Obviously we did not discuss the new company. I did not utter a word about it.

I’m at a point in my retirement where I need to go back to work, despite many health issues including planter fasciitis and prostate cancer. I’m incurring extra expense related to my Mom’s estate, including remodeling her home for resale. None of these extra expenses were forecast in my retirement budget.

Even though this is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new business and reestablish old customer connections and the like, something deep down inside of me is whispering this is not right. I literally feel like I’m doing it for revenge. I keep praying about it and asking God and Jesus for wisdom, but so far I’m kind of stuck. The deafening silence from God is probably my answer.

If anyone out there is a front line prayer warrior, please add me to your list. I would be forever grateful and thankful. I will ask God to watch over those who pray for me and I will pray for you as well.

Peace and Truth to you in The Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..

I’ve been in a long period of transitioning in my walk of Faith from a very emotional and feelings based relationship with Jesus to something more based in Truth and Peace. As many of you know, a feelings based Faith is a hotbed for recurrent sin and stumbling. One of the most dangerous feelings that can be spawned from this type of Faith is called “desire”. It’s so easy for us to desire what we can’t or don’t have and it’s even easier to desire everything related to the deeds of the flesh. Faith based in these emotional feelings has no firm foundation in Truth, and when we allow ourselves to be seduced into an emotional state, our peace of mind is compromised and it produces worry, anxiety, and guilt. The danger of Faith based in feelings that can lead to carnal desires is illustrated in James 1:14-15 “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death”.

Now contrast this to the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5: 22-23 “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. The challenge for the feelings based Believer is these traits and attributes can still be viewed as emotions, and taken as such. Reading further in verse 24 and 25; “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”. Also Romans 8: 5-8 “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God”.

So you see the constant cross pull of the Spirit and the flesh in our being. This is why it is so eternally important to keep ourselves in check and in self accountability mode through prayer, fellowship, and Bible study. It requires a strong support group and a close family of other Believers. If you are trying to pilot your own aircraft without a first officer and crew you are more likely to have a serious accident. Been there and done it.

The fruits of the Spirit are not emotions. They are self-sacrificial service traits related to affection, devotion, and respect. They have absolutely nothing to do with feelings. In a future post I will detail and discuss each of the nine fruit traits. These traits are the true marks of God’s saints and are in direct opposition to the deeds of the flesh, feelings, and emotions.

It is extremely easy for a new Christian to start off on the wrong foot, particularly since the moment of salvation can be so overwhelming, both spiritually and emotionally. This is one of the reason all of us as Believers sharpened by Jesus have such an obligation to teach and mentor our Brothers and Sisters. The Parable of The Sower comes to mind. We have to make sure those seeds find fertile soil.

Now on the other hand, there are many life events that become sudden blips on our radar that can send us into an emotional spiral. We are still human. Family deaths, physical illness, financial problems, the list goes on and on. I know I could not function on this Earth if I did not have my Faith. I would probably die. As much as I have my own self-inflicted troubles, and as often as I get out of the sheep pen and into the Holy woodshed, there is no possible way I could ever turn away from my Faith and deny God and Jesus. Not going to happen.

My prayer for everyone who reads this post is somehow a tiny seed of sharing can be planted in your heart and you can share these words with someone in your life to broaden your own personal ministry. I don’t claim to be a Bible scholar or theological genius but I do have God given wisdom, common sense, and street smarts. I’m not doing this for subscribes, likes, and follows. God is in control and He is going to have specific people of his choosing read these words. I’m not going to use my pride and selfish ambition trying to build a personal brand. I do not want the recognition. I only want God to be glorified by hopefully impacting someone’s life.

Have a Blessed weekend everyone..