God’s promises

February 22, 2019

I AM – Devotional Style Short Stories – “Free Entrance”

In the distance music softly fills the air as two teenage boys are walking down the street. They hear music and cannot figure where it is coming from. They continue to walk toward where the music seemingly is coming from when they see a church as they round the corner.

One boy approaches the front door. “I’m going to peak in,” he states and puts his hand on the door knob.

“You don’t want to do that! It’s just a bunch of old people singing those religious songs.” The other boy announces.

The boy tries to turn the door knob but it doesn’t turn.

“Come on. Let’s get outta here.” The other boy states while tugging on his friend’s arm.

A Man walks up to them and the boys turn in fear that they have done something wrong. The Man smiles and says, “It’s okay. I’m glad to see you want to enter My church.”

The boy removes his hand from the door knob and asks, “Are you the preacher?”

“You could say that. I am the head of the church, or I’m supposed to be.” The Man replies.

The other boy tugs on his friend’s arm and snarls, “Let’s go!”

“Why can’t I get in?” The boy asks, jerking his arm away from his friend.

The Man looks at the boy intently and states, “In order to be a part of the body of Christ you must have a key. Do you want the key?”

The boy looks to his friend, then back at the Man. “Yeah, I think so.”

The Man hands the boy a large key. The boy looks at it and printed in large letters across the key is “Faith.”

***

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.”

***

There are many that fill the pews of a church and listen to the Word, mouth the songs, and glance at their watches wondering when it will be over. God has given us grace to journey through this life.  He assures us He is always with us yet many do not cling to that promise. It is by faith that we can walk with Him. If we do not believe His promises, if we do not receive the grace He offers, we have become our own gods. To trust Him is to believe He is the Creator, the Lord and Savior, and that He died for our sins.  He states that His grace is sufficient and it is through faith that we learn it is.

http://www.elahministriesinc.com

http://www.cybersupportgroup.org

http://www.facebook.com/elahministries

 

 

 

 

 

January 19, 2019

I AM – Devotional Style Short Stories – “The Devil’s Playground”

The Devil’s Playground

The day began bright and sunny and the woman went about her daily chores. She stopped by her office to quickly check her e-mail and suddenly her world seemed to turn upside down. Reading the last of the short e-mail sudden anger boils up within her. The day is now shot as she stomps about office with questions broiling through her mind. In a short time her strong faith has taken a sucker punch to the gut.

By sundown tears continue to flow, not only from the anger within, but from the devastating news and the confusing thoughts screaming through her mind. Sorrow fills her heart but the anger and confusion overrides all feelings of empathy and sorrow. How can God do this!? screams in her mind.

By bed time her tears continue to flow and sleep is non-existent. The news she received pounds through her mind over and over and then other events, past events, intrude. Her anger boils until she feels she will go crazy. By the wee hours she is exhausted yet sleep will not come. Angry thoughts, thoughts of an unloving God, thoughts of how everything she has believed is hog wash intrude her mind.

Without realizing she has dozed off she’s embroiled in a dream. In the dream she is on a tight rope and at the far end of the tight rope a large black panther is creeping toward her. Step by step he comes closer with teeth bared and a riveting intent on killing her.

He gets close enough that she suddenly and viciously kicks the panther as hard as she can. He flies off the tight rope, but returns. Again, he slowly stalks his prey. Hunkered down with piercing eyes focused and teeth gleaming through a low vicious growl, he moves slowly and purposefully.

She cocks her leg once again and when the big cat raises its paw to rip her wide open with his deadly claws, she kicks with all her might and hears a painful yelp from the cat as he falls into the abyss below.

Jerking awake, with heart racing, and jagged breathing, she sees a Man standing at the foot of her bed.

She blinks.

“Now you know where the anger and confusion is coming from,” the Man states and disappears.

***

1Timothy 4:1 – “Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.”

***

When things are going well it’s easy to thank God for all His blessings. We walk and talk our faith and then suddenly something happens that seems to knock the skids right out from under us. When that happens there is a hungry lion ready to pounce on us and rip our faith to shreds. The devil waits for any opportunity to invade our minds for that is where we are the most vulnerable. I like to say, the mind is the devil’s playground, but in reality our mind is his prey and he is deadly serious! If he can invade our minds and feed us deception, and we listen, he will accomplish his purpose. His sole purpose is to turn us away from God. The slightest occurrence that takes place in our life can be a target for the enemy. Maybe the job we wanted didn’t come through. The devil will jump in with, “You aren’t good enough for that job.” He is the master of lies and deception. Standing strong in what God’s Word says is not always easy but to hold onto our faith and holding to God’s promises we must fight the lies of the devil. Today many churches have been invaded by spirits of darkness that leads them to compromise the truth of God’s word. People are being deceived by many who the enemy is using in these last days to deceive the congregations. Beware for the devil prowls about like a lion looking for his next prey, and we all are his targets!

Into The Light Ministry

http://www.intothelightga.com