Are There Cracks In Your Armor?

 Not sure if you are aware or not but, there are evil spirits (or demons) swirling around you. They are waiting for a crack in your armor to find a way into your mind or body. God tells us to put on His full armor (Ephesians  6: 10-18) to prepare for battle. These demonic spirits are waiting for us to slip up and cause a crack in our armor to begin their attack on us. That is why we must remain strong in The Lord, and not to give these demons a foothold!

1 Peter 5:8 The Message

8 Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. 

So how do we keep our guard up? Stay in God's word. Meditate on it. Commit it to memory. Be prayed up & trust in The Lord, and the power of His might. His word prepares us for the spiritual battle that we all face. Our flesh and spirit are constant at war! Our flesh wants things done our way and The Holy Spirit living in us want us to live another. Of course the demons that are trying to attack us at any given moment are lusting for our fleshly desires and not God's desires. They want us to choose the world, not God!

If we are filled with The Holy Spirit, demons cannot possess us because we cannot be filled with both good and evil. There is no room at the inn for both!

Of course a crack in our armor can come at any moment, without any notice. We may do something without even realizing it, then "BAM", demons are getting in the cracks.

John 10:10 Living Bible

10 The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. 

They try to deceive us, tempt us & accuse us. All lies. That is Satan, the accuser, the father of lies. He tries to make us feel guilty about things that we have done. "God could never love you with what you have done". Another lie. God loves us unconditionally. We are His children. Children of the most high. I know that some of us have a hard time accepting this because of Satan's lies.

2 Corinthians 6:18 Amplified Bible

And I will be a Father to you, And you will be My sons and daughters,” Says the Lord Almighty.

So I encourage you to stay vigilant with reading The Bible. That will help us prepare for war! Not the flesh and blood kind. A Spiritual battle that will be waged against us. 

God bless!

Your Circle Matters.

Believe it or not, who you have in your circle of friends and influence matter. It matters who you hang around with. Who you do things with. Places you go. People you visit. It all matters.

1 Corinthians 15:33 New International Version

33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

How many times have you been around someone who is negative all the time? All they do is complain and grumble. Never happy with anything. Next thing you know, if you spend enough time with them, you start sounding the same way. All of a sudden you find yourself complaining about things that never used to bother you. You start grumbling about this thing and that thing. 

People look at you and notice that you are not much different than the world. They will say to themselves "If this how Christians act, they are no different than me." A friend of mine would always tell me that you need to separate yourself from 'stinking thinking'. People who's thoughts are just down right negative. They will pull you down with them, if you let them.

You need to surround yourself with people who will lift you and others up. Who's positive energy is addictive! They encourage instead of discourage. They cheer instead of boo. They want everyone to succeed and not fail. See the best in people, not look for or expect the worse.

Look at the book of Job in the Bible. His three friends did very little to help him, encourage him or soothe him. The kept blaming him for everything that was happening to him, even though most of it was false.

On the other hand in the book of Mark, a paralyzed man was healed because of his friends. They carried him on a mat to see Jesus. The house they went to was so full, that they had to go to the roof, dig a  hole and lower the man down in front of Jesus. (Mark 2:1-12) Because of the faith of this mans friends, he was healed. His circle mattered! Jobs friends condemned, this mans friends helped. We could all use friends like this. Fight for their friend to get him to what he needs. What a difference between Jobs friends and this paralyzed mans friends.

So I encourage you today to take a look at who you have in your circle of friends. A friend will be there to listen, encourage and lift up.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 New Living Translation

11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

God bless friends!