Encouraged by God's Word

Archive for the ‘Resisting the Devil’ Category

Hello Family,

When someone has done you wrong it’s hard not to retaliate. It really takes a big person to use some form of restraint and self control. It’s natural to want to defend yourself but that is not always the best solution.

I have a friend who was dealing with some serious issues on the job and I could see that she had to use a lot of self-control from saying or doing something that could have landed her in a lot of trouble. She really had to restrain how she felt because it would have been a bad situation for her if she acted on it and it definitely would have jeopardized her future.

My friend was being wrongly accused of doing something that she didn’t do but because a certain individual was trying to make a name for himself, this guy decided

to turn against my friend and believe the lies of a fellow coworker. He knew the person was lying but if he had accomplished his goal of crushing my friend, he would have had “a success” in his position of leadership to add to his resume; so he thought.

This guy was determined to build up his reputation at my friend’s expense. He was arrogant enough to tell her to her face that he was coming after her.

My friend had a couple of stressful weeks trying to deal with this issue but she stood strong. She held back and didn’t do anything that would jeopardize her reputation or her career. She really had to use self-control to keep from flying off the handle and she did it through meditating on the word of God.

Proverbs 25:28 (ESV) says A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

A city broken into and left without walls is a city is ruin. It is fragile and has no protection from its enemies. It is weak.

A man without self-control is just like this. He can not function properly and he leaves himself open for many dangers. If he does not check his desires or impulses, he will blindly follow those things that are sensual and tempting to do but that could ruin him.

But a man with self-control exercises restraint over his own impulses, desires or emotions. He does not let outside influences control him. He knows when to speak and what to say. He knows when to act and when to be still. But most importantly he knows how to call on the Lord for help.

The man with self-control knows that no situation can or will get better unless God is in the middle of it.

So the next time you want to act on a situation that may not end the way you want it to, remember to use self-control and let the God in you take control.

Be Encouraged and Have a Great Weekend!

P.S. After a couple of weeks of foolishness, the person who was trying to ruin my friend now had the same lady telling lies on him to his superiors and he was UPSET. I wonder if he’ll use self-control to handle the situation.

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Hello Family,

One of my favorite comedies is the movie Liar Liar. It stars Jim Carey who plays Fletcher Reede who is a fast talking lawyer that consistently tells lies. His job as an attorney is more important than anything in the world which caused Fletcher’s marriage to end in divorce and caused him to break a promise to his son Max and not show up to his birthday party.

Max knows that his father is a habitual liar so when he blows out the candles on his birthday cake, he makes a wish that his father can not lie for 24 hours.

When Max’s wish comes true, Fletcher’s biggest asset, his lying lips, becomes his biggest liability. Instead of confusing people through lying, he is now in a situation where he must be truthful.

He no longer can manipulate the system and take advantage of people in the courtroom where he is a very successful attorney.

Throughout the movie Fletcher comes to a point in a very important court case where he is bewildered because all of his old tactics of lying were not available and he had to tell the truth and right at the very last minute, he found the evidence he needed to win. For the first time he won a court case without lying and manipulating the system.

Not only did he win his case, he managed to make amends with his ex-wife and son and they became a family again.

Is lying a part of your character, your lifestyle? How many times do you lie in order to get what you want?

Proverbs 12:22says Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.

The Lord hates lying lips, point blank! No excuses! He calls it an abomination because He is disgusted by it and He hates it.

Conversely, He loves one who deals truthfully. It delights Him. It is extreme gratification and joy for God when we deal truthfully.

Many times people feel as though they have to lie in order to make things right but that’s not true.  People think that if they don’t lie, they may hurt someone’s feelings. Maybe you don’t need to know how to lie but you need to learn some tact.

If I don’t like what someone is wearing and I think it’s ugly, I don’t have to lie and say it’s nice. I can say it’s just not my style. Did I lie, no. I told the truth and used some tact as to why I didn’t like what you had on.

Fletcher Reede would not have ever had the opportunity to get back with his ex-wife or have a loving relationship with his son if he continued to lie. It was tearing his family apart and it was destroying his character. He was out of control.

But when he decided to be truthful, everything he wanted he got. God blessed him because he saw how he had changed and how he had decided to practice being truthful.

So the next time you think it’s okay to tell a lie, step back and re-evaluate what you’re about to say and speak truthfully because it delights God.

Be Encouraged and Have a Truthful Weekend!

P.S. Leave me a comment and tell me if you liked this post or if you’re struggling with lying or anything else that’s destroying your character or relationships.

Hello Family,

I remember a long time ago one summer when I was down North Carolina, me and one of my cousins were outside playing around and we decided to hitchhike.  Now we weren’t going anywhere, we just decided to do something stupid.

You see my grandmother owns a house that sits on a busy road and because we were knuckleheads, we thought it would be funny to throw up the thumb and see if anyone would stop.

Because people were friendly it didn’t take too long for someone to pull over on the side of the road and offer to give us a ride. Before the person could get a good look at us, we ran away.

Do you ever wonder why it seems as if the devil is always with you? Does it seem as if trouble is with you 24 hours a day/7 days a week? Regardless of what you do, there is always mayhem in your life. Maybe it seems that way because it IS that way.

Ephesians 4:26-27 says “Be angry, and do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

The reason the devil is always with you is because he is a hitchhiker! He can’t go anywhere unless you take him with you. By your actions you give him a place in your life.

If you are a born again Christian, the devil has no place in your life and you shouldn’t be making provisions for him.

A lot of us carry around the “woe is me” mentality and “I’m no good” syndrome and all we do is provide the devil with an opening into our lives.

Or we put ourselves into situations we know are not good for us and we get in trouble.

We need to stop entertaining these thoughts and actions and prevent the devil from hanging out with us.

He only has power over us when we give it to him so stop leaving an open invitation into your life with his name on it. Cancel that sucker out and move on and let him know he can’t ride shotgun with you anymore.

Don’t send him any invite, evite, text message, email, skype message, oovoo message, yahoo instant message, Blackberry chat, telegram, video message or any other type of communication that encourages him to hang out with you.

If you are a Christian celebrate and know that God is with you and know that you have been given power over the devil. Execute your godly authority and have faith that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Be Encouraged and Have a Devil-free Weekend!