From All Directions! The devil attacks in a lot of different ways.  Some of his attacks or obvious and some or sneaky.  All of his attacks are real and they have the ability to really mess us up!  This is why it is very important to remind ourselves that through our relationship with Jesus we have supernatural power to overcome and defeat the attacks of the enemy.

You’ve Got The Power! Satan only has the power that we give him.  You need to know that as a child of God, the only power that Satan has over you is the power that you allow him to have.  You’ve got joy and he can’t steal it, unless you allow him to steal it!  The Bible says that the joy of the Lord is my strength!  If we will keep our eyes on our Savior Jesus and off of the situations and circumstances of life, then the devil cannot even get his hands on our joy.  It’s your choice, you get to decided!

Power In The Blood! You’ve got the power and the devil can’t beat it!  Revelation 12:11 says “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb!”  Your power is not you!  Your power is your Savior Jesus Christ.  If you are saved and in a relationship with Jesus, then live in the power of that relationship!

Use It! You’ve got to use what God gave you!  God gave you His one and only Son, don’t waste such a precious gift.  Accept Him and all of the difference that He can and will make in your life.  Don’t just say you have a relationship, live it out loud by developing and growing a testimony that honors God and the relationship that you have with Him.  Really look forward to Heaven!  Jesus went to prepare a place for us and it is so much better and more amazing than anything that we could dream or imagine.  If we really look forward to Heaven, then we will live for Heaven while we are here on this earth!

Remember: The worst in this life cannot even come close to comparing to what is to come in our everlasting life!

We Have A Very Real Enemy! If you are trying to live for God, then mark this down – you have a very real enemy and his name is Satan.  He wants to mess things up!  He tried to mess things up in Heaven when He was there, but God and His Angels put a stop to that!  He tried to mess with Jesus during His three plus years here on this earth, but Jesus was stronger and more determined!  He tries to mess with us and many times we give in, but we don’t have to!

You’ve Got The Joy! The devil wants to steal your joy, but He can’t have it unless you decide to give it to Him!  We need to understand something about our enemy.  He is not out to render us inoperable.  His goal is to render us ineffective.  If he can render us ineffective, then we will take ourselves out!

Getting Ready For The New Year! As we move out of 2009 and into 2010, lets all make the effort to realize that we have a very real enemy and it is not each other!  Let’s learn about what God has given us that the devil can’t take away, unless we let him.  Let’s grow so that we can be all that God created us to be and claim our place as “more than conquerors!”

Join Me! Join me everyday this week here on this blog as we seek to learn, grow and experience the victory that God has for us!  Until tomorrow – Keep your joy!  God gave it to you and the devil can never deserve it!  Remember:  We are in this thing called life together!

This is a verse from my devotional time this morning.  It  speaks volumes!  It is found in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

God knows what He is doing and God will unfold His plan according to His very own and personal schedule.  He has made us a promise and He will keep His promise because He is God and that is Who God is and what God does.  We need to understand that what may seem like slow movement from God toward us is really patience.

It is God’s desire that each of us know Him in a real, personal and meaningful way.  Stop for just a moment to ask and answer this question:  Can you know God better?  The answer is obviously yes, so take whatever time He has given you and do your part to get to know Him better.  No matter what mistakes you’ve made, God desires to be close to you and has made it possible through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ!  Don’t waste God’s patience – enjoy it!

MJ Sharing The Grinch With Some Of The Northwood Kids!

Today would be a great day to do something nice for someone!  Take a few moments to think about what you could do to be a blessing to someone today.  Maybe you could write a note, buy someone lunch, fix someone a cup of coffee or offer to help someone in need.  It does not matter what you do or who you do it to.  Just take the time to do it today!

Stop right now and think about something that you can do and then go and look for someone to do it to before this day is over!  Why are you still reading – you’ve got work to do!  Go!

A video update for today!

The Choice Is Yours!  Stress Or Joy?  Christmas really can be a stressful time.  It does not have to be and it shouldn’t be, but it often is.  We love the parties, presents and preparations, but we also have a tendency to allow these along with the other challenges of life to take us off track and out of God’s will.

Christmas can and will bring frustration if you allow it to and you will allow it to, if you focus on the wrong things.  It is so easy to get focused on the wrong things.  It is very important that we remember what really matters and what really matters is that there is a God and He loves us and He has a plan for our lives.

God wants our lives to be filled with JOY!  Christmas is about how much God loves this world and the people in it!  John 3:16 says “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life!”   Joy is about so much more than happiness.  Happiness has to do with what happens to you and can change according to circumstances.  Joy is an inner sense of well-being that abides even when the circumstances of life are unfavorable.

If you want to have and to keep joy in your life, then you must receive Jesus.  You must allow Him to reign and call the shots.   And you must be willing to change the direction of your life.  There is joy for this world, because the Lord has come, so let earth receive her King!

One of the things that I really love about Christmas is gifts. I love to give and I love to receive.  I honestly think that I enjoy the giving part as much, if not more than the receiving part.  A beautiful gift that comes through the gift of Jesus is God’s grace and it is amazing!  God wants to bless us with His “unmerited favor”.  We can’t earn it and we don’t deserve it, but He offers it to us!

Grace to be best understood, has to be experienced. I agree with John Newton, I am a wretch!  ”Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!  I once was lost, but now I am found.  Was blind, but now I see!”

Blown Away! The fact that God would love me enough to give His Son as a sacrifice for my sins.  The reality that God forgives me for all of my sin and holds nothing against me.  The opportunity to serve Him in ministry with gifts that He has provided to represent and bless.  It is all possible, only by the grace of God!

2 Corinthians 12:9 says: “God’s grace is sufficient.  God’s power is perfected in weakness, therefore I will boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

God’s grace is sufficient! He sees our arrogance and loves us anyway.  He is aware of our faults and short-comings, but makes the choice to see us as holy.  He is hurt by our sinfulness, yet is always ready, willing and able to love us without condition!

God Love Is Bigger Than Our Sin! God does not allow sin to chase Him away, instead it causes Him to chase after us!  God has made the choice to pursue us.  This is what Christmas is all about.  God’s gift of an intentional pursuit of a real, personal, meaningful relationship with each of us.

God loves you!  Enjoy the gift of His love!

It’s great to be back from a little blog break!  I figured that since everyone else was going to be taking breaks that I might as well take one and I enjoyed it, but missed getting to talk to you guys or ya’ll for those of us in the south.

We just finished up our month of Thanksgiving and now we are headed full steam ahead into Christmas.  How many of you already have the decoration thing going?  I love Christmas!  I love the lights – I even “redneck” up my truck with lights.  I love the music – one of my favorites is “Mele Kalikimaka!” by Bing Crosby And The Andrew Sisters.  Here are the words:  ”Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day.  That’s the island greeting that we send to you - From the land where palm trees sway.  Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright.  The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night.   Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way To say “Merry Christmas to you.”  And I love presents!  I love to give them and receive them!

As we head into this season of hustle and bustle, let’s all make sure to remember and remind each other of what really makes Christmas special and that is the gift of God only Son to you and me!

To remind you of all of God’s goodness – enjoy the song and video from Youtube!