1 Peter 5:8-9 “ Be sober! Be on the alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your brothers in the world.” (HCSB)

I stopped in at my current favorite coffee shop recently. My usual barrista (one of them) was behind the counter and looked somewhat perturbed. As he made me a cup of tea, he told me that he was starting to question himself again. How real was his faith? Who was he really? What purpose was he accomplishing? Was he really living his Faith? Was he in the center of God's will for his life? The doubts and self-questioning continued on and still he continued to try and explain where he was coming from. I know this guy. This is a guy who wants to serve God so badly he quit his band and stop touring just so he could work with the guys in his church. This is a guy who tries to outreach to the skater crowd. This is a guy who had plans to go into the ministry. This is a guy who as soon as things started happening for him as he threw himself into ministry, suddenly these doubts start popping up.

He was not being alert. He was not paying attention to his real reason for ministry. His sight lowered from Christ and started to rest on what he was involved in. His eyes left Jesus and started to stray towards the path he was taking. He saw the waves and started to wonder what he was doing. This is a frequent, even favorite tactic of Satan. If the prince of darkness, this illusionary angel of light, can remove our adoring gaze from God and instead focus us on anything else, suddenly we become swamped with anything, everything, that can drag our attention further. The thing is, we are not alone in this struggle. Any and every believer has and is going through these same things. Not all suffering is physical, and we can all encourage each other because of it. At some point some other believer whom we know has already been where we are and we have been where they are now. As believers we are our own support group. We as believers can encourage and aid our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in returning our sight to Christ.

I would like for you to notice something. Look in this verse, what stands out? To me the word “your” stands out. Why? Simply this. “Your adversary the devil” means that Satan is not God's adversary. There is no way Satan can stand against God, so he stands against us. Lucifer is our adversary and that is why he comes against us so hard. He is desperate to try and shake us and move us away from God's will because that is the only way he can attain any victory. The fallen one can not defeat Christ, he can not defeat death, He can not even defeat the spread of the Gospel. He can at best oppose us in our daily walk with God. If this frightens you, also remember Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God has promised to never leave or forsake us. This does not mean that we can not fall, fail, sin, or have problems. It just means that we have continual access to the throne and - dare I say – even the very lap of our Creator, Abba Father, El Shaddai. Be alert! Satan is like a roaring lion. Roaring! How hard is it to avoid a beast that always lets you know just where it is? Satan is roaring and as long as we pay attention we will be able to avoid the traps he tries to catch us in. Be alert! Be aware! Satan is already defeated and despite our doubts, our fears, our stresses, we are children of the Most High and that will never change. We are capable – you are capable – of resisting Satan. Whatever level of Faith you have (or think you don't have) does not matter. What matters is that God has faith in you. You are His beloved, adopted Child and nothing can change that one, all-important fact.

Begone unbelief, my Savior is near,
And for my relief will surely appear:
By prayer let me wrestle, and He wilt perform,
With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.

Proverbs 28:13 “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

Have you ever been stuck in a situation in life and not known how to get out? No I don't mean having your car stuck in the mud and you having to call a tow truck, although that is as good an analogy as I can find. I mean that you find that you are stuck within the muck and muddy mire of the slough of despond and there seems to be no escape through your own abilities. No matter how much you try and rock the vehicle, no matter how you pile branches under the tires, you just find yourself spinning the wheels and getting nowhere. Have you been there? Are you there right now? I have been there repeatedly and every time it is not a pleasant experience, but what I have found each and every single time I am stuck is that there is something in my life that should not be there. I am carrying some treasured baggage and I have to get rid of that burden before I can get out of the rut in which I have found myself.

Most of the time, I have found that I by myself am unable to even remove that heavy weight which has been dragging me in the mud, but before God can help me I need to decide that I want it gone. We must then call out to God for assistance. Sure enough a “heavenly” tow-truck is out where we are; the driver says “That's your problem!” and He dumps whatever load it was holding us back, then we are towed out of the mud. With a wink and a nod, He tells us that we are free to go and He will see us on down the road.

We all have those carefully horded burdens. We have problems we have explained away, we have secret sins which we have been unable to get out of our lives. Each one of these things that could be holding us down must be given to God and we must renounce them. If it is a sin we keep secret, it must be made public so that those few fellow believers who now know may help prevent us from returning again to it like a dog to it's vomit. It it is treasured baggage then we must decide if the baggage is worth more to us than God's sacrifice. If it is an explainable or a self-excusable problem, we need to stop explaining or excusing it and instead we must own up to it and pray for God's help to remove it.

God wants us to be safe and secure in His gentle arms. He does not enjoy seeing us struggle through the consequences of our own choices. Those consequences bog us down, and become excess baggage in our lives, but God wants our hearts to be only for Him through our own choice. He is willing to help us, but we must first choose that we want His help, and only then will He act. His mercy shines throughout every single action He takes in our lives.

God's mercy overflows whatever problems may be trying to hold us back. The muck, the mud, the mire that tries to hold us is overpowered and we are free. The stains and filth on our clothes are washed away in that great deluge. God's mercy shines brightly and we must only decide that we want it, every single day. So if you find yourself stuck, if you ever are unable to get out of that rut, if you find yourself sinking in that slough, call out to God, get rid of the baggage, and He will be there to pull you out. Fortunately we do not have to wait for a tow-truck or a passerby to help. He is there with us every hour of the day, through every problem we have, and is always available to aid us when we need Him.

O Love divine, what has thou done!
The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father's coeternal Son
bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th' immortal God for me hath died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Isaiah 33:10 “'Now I will arise,' says the LORD, 'now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.'”

Now! Today! This day! The Bible is replete with present tense terminology. Jesus told the rich young ruler to “Go, sell all you have, and follow me.” (Mark 10:21) He announced himself to the world at Nazareth when He said “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21) In Psalm 119:67 we read, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” In fact, in his sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us specifically to not worry about tomorrow, but instead to deal with the here and now (Matthew 6:34). Have we as believers become so focused on the past or the future that we have neglected the present?

Most of us have indeed focused ourselves on reaching Heaven, and yet we still deal with an overwhelming sense of guilt about our past. Why? Are we not renewed and redeemed? Have our sins not been removed as far as the east is from the west? Is Christ not the Lord of our Lives? Of course we are! Of course they have! Absolutely He is! The past is history, and we do not need to dwell on it, only learn from it that we won't fall into such temptations again. God tells us that He will take care of the future, but we should focus on the present! God wants to be exalted now, not in the future. He wants us to make every effort to serve him now, even despite our problems. We have no excuse for putting anything off. I have heard (and said) “I will serve God better when I have my debts paid off” “I can't do it right now, because of _______.” and “I can not serve God until I am better prepared.” This, my friends, is Satan's way of trying to remove us from glorifying God now. Certainly my debts are there, but I can bring glory to God by volunteering to help out around the church, or at an outreach ministry such as a soup kitchen. If I am too busy to serve God who am I serving?

Today we serve God, not tomorrow, not two days from now, not next year. Today is our day. Today is the day we bring more glory to God than ever before. Today is all we have, Today we do what we can for God, not waiting until tomorrow or complaining about the past. Today is all we have because we never know what the future holds. Let us look at our excuses and find the reason behind them. Let us deal with that reason, be it laziness, apathy, or a lukewarm heart. Then we can see what we can do to serve and glorify God, even if it is something as humble as vacuuming the church, mowing our neighbor's lawn, or picking up trash from the side of the road.

What can we do today for God?

Lord, for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray;

Keep me, my God, from stain of sin just for today.
Help me to labor earnestly and duly pray;
Let me be kind in word and deed, Father, today.

Let me no wrong or idle word unthinking say;
Set Thou a seal upon my lips through all today.
Let me in season, Lord, be grave, in season gay;
Let me be faithful to Thy grace, dear Lord, today.

And if, today, this life of mine should ebb away,
Give me Thy sacrament divine, Father, today.
So for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray;
Still keep me, guide me, love me, Lord, through each day.

1 John 2:1 “ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin,we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

I heard a pastor say something once that really disturbed me. He said that “True Christians never sin.” The preacher was of the opinion that it was impossible for someone who became a real Christian to ever commit another sin. I had to scratch my head when I heard that because it did not make sense. Of course real Christians will sin. It is impossible for a true Christian to never commit another sin in their life! How then could this respected man of God say that a Christian never sins?

I don't know about you, but I am not perfect. It may come as a surprise to some and it may be obvious to others. I am not perfect and neither are you. We all make mistakes and at some point or another we are always confronted with our own fallen selves. We all sin, and there is no way around that fact. We all have fallen short even after we came to know Christ. Certainly as we grow to know Christ we sin less and less in our actions, but we continually find ourselves sinning in our thoughts. Jesus said that the thought was the same as the action. If we have thought angrily about someone we have committed mental murder, which in God's eyes are the same as physical murder and if we lusted after a cute girl or a hot guy, then we have really committed adultery. I know that I have been angry with someone a time or two (or more) in my life so far (even in the past year!) and I am sure that you have been upset with someone at least once. When I find myself falling into sin, I always tend to berate myself that I am supposed to be better than this, that I am God's now and not the worlds. How can I stop this from happening? How can I stop sinning? More importantly how is it possible for a Christian to never sin?

While I thought on it, I realized that Christ answered that question. We, as fallen humans, are selfish, self-seekers. Christ said that He would take our burdens, whatever they may be, and deal with them. He took our sin, our shame, our guilt on that rough wooden object of capital punishment. He did not just take what we had done up to the point were we recognized Him as Lord and Saviour, but He took everything we had ever done and thought. We had already been forgiven everything, that is what the pastor meant!

The problem with this though, is that we can easily fall into the temptation of thinking that God has already forgiven us everything and so it is okay for us to do this one thing, just this once. No! Never! We should be on our guard against this type of thinking. Whenever we recognize even the possibility of sin we must fight with everything we have! Do not be afraid to call in the “big guns” to deal with something that you think others might think is insignificant. No sin is insignificant in God's eyes. If there was only one sin committed or thought in this whole world, Jesus would have still died for it. Do not be afraid to call your pastor, to call your accountability partners or tell a good Christian friend. We must remember to do everything in our power to avoid any and all sin, yet we must also not forget that if we unintentionally have a stray mind, speak a lie, or even think a lustful thought after a pretty girl or guy, Christ is still there for us, our Lawyer to God, our friend in our need, and our elder brother who is watching out for us. A real Christian may never sin, but our fallen nature certainly will and God has an answer. Do not fear if you find that you have sinned you can just ask for forgiveness and truly repent. God loves you just as much now as He did yesterday, last month, and even two thousand years ago! Friend, He is still there for you no matter what has happened.

Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.