As Christians we need to be prepared and ready for Satan when he attacks. We need to draw close to God during these times as he will draw close to us. We all know that Satan is no match for our God, so the closer we are to God the more protection we have. If you are dabbling on the line between living for the world and living a Christian life, then you are already in arms reach of the devil. You need to turn around and run. Don’t let Satan win!

If you are discouraged and having feelings of not being good enough, I want to tell you today those thoughts and feelings are from Satan himself. He knows your weaknesses and your insecurities. Satan studies you and will attack when and where you are most vulnerable. Satan wants to destroy you mentally, physically, and emotionally. Don’t let Satan win!

Satan will use others to bring up your past sins, your mistakes, and your failures to prevent you from moving forward in your walk with God. If he can keep you so focused on your past, then you aren’t moving forward in God. This is exactly what Satan wants. Don’t let Satan win!

Satan will attack your self-esteem and create chaos in your life by going after your relationships with friends, family or your spouse. This can cause anxiety and depression in our lives and this is exactly what Satan wants. Don’t let Satan win!

Satan will try to keep you from God’s word and from prayer. He knows by limiting these two things, that he limits you. Sometimes we get so caught up in everything that is going on that we neglect our time with God. All of our strength and power comes from God. This is exactly why Satan wants to steal your time. Don’t let Satan Win!

When Jesus saved you, he said your sins were forgiven and remembered no more. In Isaiah 43, it says I am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake and remembers your sins no more. If God has forgotten our sins then why are we still dwelling on them. Why do we wear these sins like a ball and chain? We drag them everywhere we go and this slows us down on our journey with God. God said when we are saved, we are a new person. His word says go and sin no more, it doesn’t tell us to dwell on our past sins. These thoughts can hold us back from fulfilling God’s purpose and this is what Satan wants. Don’t let Satan win!

Today if you are struggling with any of the things I mentioned, turn it over to God. We serve a BIG God and he can handle all of your problems. You see, Jesus knew your sins, your failures, and your insecurities before he died on the cross. Yet, he chose to still die for you. See, Jesus thought you were worth it. Don’t let Satan convince you otherwise. Don’t let Satan win!

Thank you for reading this and I hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ.

I was sitting at my kitchen table thinking how I need to make healthier choices, lose a few pounds and get more exercise.  Now that I am heading into my late forties I need to take my health seriously and get in the best shape possible. I have a lot more wrinkles when I look in the mirror and things are definitely not in the same place or shape they were 20 years ago.   As I sat there obsessing over my physical appearance, I began to think about my spiritual appearance.  Do I put as much thought into how I look spiritually as I do physically?  This made me think what makes us spiritually attractive to God.  

I began to think, what do we look at to decide if someone is physically attractive.  We look at their eyes, their smile, their height and size.   Now I know it varies with each person as to what we personally find physically attractive but generally we look at these things.  I began to think what if we looked at these things in a spiritual sense and what would be considered spiritually attractive.

Eyes – I believe the eyes would look at everyone with love and see the best in others.  The eyes would look at every living person and see a soul that needed Jesus.  The eyes would show compassion when they saw someone hurting or struggling.  The eyes would see pain in others and would have empathy for them.  The eyes would not overlook someone just because they have less than everyone else but would see them as equals. The eyes would stay focused on God and not be detoured by the things of the world.

Mouth – I believe the mouth would speak only in love to others.  Gossip, lies and destruction would not be on the lips of a spiritually attractive mouth.  The mouth would encourage others and pray over those in need.  The mouth would speak the word of God and would hold its tongue in anger.  The mouth would not speak to hurt or injure someone with its words.  The mouth would build others up and not tear them down.

Height and Size – We would stand tall and know that God is with us.  We would be bold, brave and courageous in our faith. We would find strength in our God and know that we are warriors in Christ.  We would not be afraid because God is with us and for us.  We would be prepared for the battles and struggles that will come our way and know God is going to bring us through it.  We would not only fight our battles but we would be willing to stand and fight spiritually for our brothers and sisters in Christ. While we may be battered and bruised, we know we will not be defeated. 

I do feel that we all should take care of our physical bodies and this temple that God gave each of us.  I believe we should make smart and healthy choices, but what if we worried about our spiritual body as much as we do the physical?  What if we started making healthy choices in our spiritual bodies?  What if we fed our spiritual body the word of God instead of the junk food of the world?  What if we exercised our spiritual bodies during praise and worship? What if we kept our minds in constant prayer and meditation with God?  What if our mouths spread the gospel to everyone we know?

I believe if we as Christians did these things, we would not only see our lives change but the lives of others would change.  I believe we would see real revival in our personal lives that would flow over into our churches.  I believe you would see a move of God like we have never seen.  I believe we would see people getting saved in such numbers and that our churches would not be able to hold the people. 

Thank you for reading this and hope you all have a great day in Jesus Christ!

I am reading in I Samuel chapter 3, where the Lord is calling Samuel. The Lord calls Samuel 3 times and 3 times he goes to his father Eli and says “Here I am” but Eli was not the one calling him. His father, Eli, realizes after the 3rd incident that it is the Lord calling Samuel. Eli tells Samuel to return to his room and when the Lord calls him again to say “Speak Lord, for Your Servant hears.”

Most of the time when we read this we focus on Samuel but I want to focus on Eli in this story. Had it not been for Eli telling Samuel that the Lord was trying to speak to him, would Samuel have realized it was God speaking to him? Would Samuel have answer the Lord on the fourth call? I don’t believe he would have without the guidance of Eli. In verse 7 it says Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the Word of the Lord yet revealed to him. So, Samuel needed guidance from Eli to open his heart to the Lord and say Lord, I am here and ready to serve you.

As Christians, sometimes our role is to just give guidance to someone to listen to the Lord. To encourage someone to follow Jesus. This could be someone who doesn’t yet know Jesus as their personal savior, someone who is a new Christian, or maybe someone who has been a Christian for years but is afraid to take that step into their purpose for God.

Sometimes “The Call” is not for us directly and instead of encouraging someone we get mad and pout. Sometimes we let the flesh get the best of us and instead of encouraging someone else, we began to question God. Do we miss our own call from God because we are so focused on everyone else? Jesus says we make up the body. The body is made up of several different organs and extremities and they all serve a different purpose. This is the same with the spiritual body.

The call maybe different for each of us but they are all important to God. His word says we each have a purpose but we have to let God decide what our purpose is. I believe a lot of Christians miss their call because they want to decide what their purpose is instead of following God’s purpose.

I believe we can all do great and mighty things for our Lord and Savior when we all work together as one body. However, the minute you start operating in the flesh you are not fulfilling your purpose. Let’s pray today that God removes this mentality from us. Let’s pray that he gives us the knowledge and wisdom to encourage others to answer their call and to be ready for our call from God. Let’s ask God to use us for his purpose and not our own.

Thank each and every one of you for reading this and I hope you all have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

As Christians we should all know how powerful prayer can be. Prayer is our direct line to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. When you call on him you don’t have to worry about going to his voice mail or receiving an automated voice response system, he is always on the other end of his children’s prayer. I feel this is such a powerful tool and yet we do not treasure it or utilize it the way we should.

If we are honest, a lot of times we are just going through the motion when we pray. We look at it as a duty and not the honor that it truly is. We make it short and sweet so we can get on with our day. Some of us even have a memorized go to prayer so we don’t feel guilty for not praying. This is not how God intended us to use prayer. He wants a true relationship with us and wants us to spend time with him. I know we are all busy with our day to day lives but God wants to be a part of your day to day. Prayer should not just be our 911 calls for help. Yes, God wants us to pray to him when we are in trouble, hurt, or have a need; but he also wants to hear from us when things are going good in our lives. He wants to know the desires of your heart, so share your thoughts and dreams with him. You can pray driving down the road, at work, cleaning your house or even at Wal Mart. Give thanks to him each day for the blessings in your life. We tend to focus on what we don’t have instead of giving thanks for what we do have.

These 2 scriptures came to mind as I was writing this. One tells you when to pray and the other tells you what to pray.

• I Thessalonians 5:16 – 18 says Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
• Phillippians 4: 6 – 7 Be Anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

I wonder what would our lives be like if we prayed the way God intended. What if we prayed without ceasing and gave thanks to him in everything. I believe you would see our Joy return. I believe you would see the weight that the world puts on us lifted. God puts things in perspective for you when you pray. Sometimes the stresses that we put on ourselves are due to what the world says we should be or what we should have and God will show that to you in prayer. God is worried about what we look like on the inside not what we have on the outside. I am not saying there is anything wrong with having nice things, I am just saying this should not be your priority. We are not going to stand before God and be judged by the house we live in, the car we drive, or the clothes we wear. We will be judged by what is on the inside. We will be judged for what we did or did not do for God on this earth.

Just remember God loves you and he wants to hear from you today. So, let’s stop just making 911 prayers to God. Let’s start just talking to God throughout our day. Thank him for the many blessings he has given you and share your heart with him. He will always listen to his children when they pray.

Hope you all have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

I was walking down the toy aisle yesterday, getting Christmas ideas for my grandchildren when I was drawn to the Transformers. This toy appears to be a normal and average car but in an instant, it changes into this huge unstoppable machine. It was transformed. I began to think that as Christians we have been transformed. You see we may appear as average and normal people but when we give God total control of our lives, we become huge and unstoppable machines for Christ. We are transformed.

There is nothing that can stop us if Jesus is leading the way. In John it says, God is greater than all and that no one can pluck us out of his hands. Yet, we let fear and doubt hold us back from our potential in God. We all have a purpose but so many will never fulfill that purpose because of doubt and fear. We worry that we might fail or about what others will think about us. When all we should do is keep our eyes on Jesus and just move forward in him. He will take us places that we have never imagined. He will make the impossible possible. What if when Satan attacks us that instead of being scared or fearful, we saw our spiritual selves as a massive giant machine that can and will conquer all evil. We may get knocked down but we know how the story ends. We know that Satan is no match for our God. God wins in the end. If we stand firm in our faith and we let the holy spirit guide us through our journey of life and we remain obedient to God and his word, God will protect us and fight for us.

I hear a lot of people quote Phillippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me but few truly apply this scripture to their life. I don’t think we even comprehend the magnitude of this scripture because if we did we would be an unstoppable force.

We need God to win our battles with the devil. We need our God to stand up for us and put that hedge of protection around us. To be these massive unstoppable machines called Transformers, we need God in our hearts and our lives. Otherwise, we are all average and normal human beings. All the power and transformation I am speaking of only comes with the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood that he shed willingly for you and I, that we might be transformed.

You see, God doesn’t need us to conquer Satan and the evil of the world. God doesn’t really need us for anything but he WANTS us. We are not a need for God but we are a Want. He wants us so badly that he sent his only son to die for us. He wants us so badly that he gives us chance after chance to get it right on this earth so we can be with him in heaven.

Let’s get it right today in Jesus name. Let’s start living as the Spiritual and Godly Transformers that we are through Jesus Christ. Let’s fight the fight that we have been given and let’s honor our God with our actions today. Let’s honor him by being transformed into that massive unstoppable God loving and serving machine. Today, let’s be transformed in Jesus Christ our King.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you all find yourself in church somewhere this morning praising and worshipping our God.

Hope you have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

We serve such an AWESOME God. He is mighty and so powerful that the mountains will crumble or move at the sound of his voice, yet we don’t trust him with our day to day problems. Just look at the earth he created and you don’t think he can handle your finances? Look at nature and the wildlife that not only he created but provides food and water for every day and you don’t think he can provide for you? Look at the human body that he created, that man has been studying for years and still can’t explain how it all works but you don’t think he can handle your marriage or other relationships in your life? Now as you read this, you will say “Yes, of course I do” but do you really?

As I began to think about this I realized the answer for most of us is No. You see, if we truly trusted God with these things we would not stress or worry over these things. We would truly give these things to God and not continue to take them back from him. We say “God I am giving this to you because I don’t know what else to do” and a few minutes after that prayer we are worrying about it again. That is not truly giving it to God. We have more trust and faith in a new car than we do in God. When you get in that new car you don’t stop every 10 feet get out, walk around the car, get all anxious and worried thinking am I going to make it to my destination. No, you sit back and relax trusting that car is going to get you to your destination. You can’t see your destination from where you are but you have faith in that car that it will get you to your destination. This is how we should be with God. When we give things to God, we should sit back and relax, knowing he’s got this.

A Chiropractor told me a couple of years ago that 90% of the back and neck pain he saw had nothing to do with physical injury or disease. He said the body was not designed to carry the weight of the world on its shoulders. I was there to see him for this very thing, back pain. I wasn’t saved then and I didn’t want to talk about it with him because I had a feeling it had to do with God and I wasn’t interested but that comment has remained in my mind. After I was saved, I realized God didn’t create our bodies to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders because he planned to carry that weight for us.

Let’s pray today and ask God to forgive us for not trusting him to carry our weight. There is nothing he can’t handle and as Christians we know this but we tend to try and hold onto things, when all we have to do is say God I give this to you. Let’s give it all to God today. I promise you he can handle it so much better than we ever could. Let’s start truly trusting him today.

I hope each of you have a great day in Jesus Christ.

Why are we so quick to judge others? Matthew 7: 1-2 says Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. This made me think what if Jesus judged us the way we judged others.

This was a pretty scary thought since we don’t tend to cut people any slack. If someone we know makes a mistake, we want to tell everyone who knows that person what they did. We want to prove to everyone that they are not a good person or they are not the Christian they say they are. What if Jesus went around telling everyone our sins? In Romans it says None are righteous, no not one. So why do we act like we are so perfect? We all sin and fall short of the glory of God according to the bible. The bible also says we should love others as we love ourselves but we are not telling everyone our mistakes. Let’s be honest we tell things on others to give ourselves a “Greater Than Thou Complex.” We think we are better than that person because we haven’t done the things they have. We think our sin is not as bad as their sin. This is not biblical. In Romans 12 it says Not to think of yourself more highly than you should.

Do we even stop to think of the damage we can do to someone? We don’t think about the pain that we cause when we do this. We don’t know the struggles that someone else is going through. No, they are not perfect but neither are we. You can damage someone emotionally and mentally with the tongue but even worse you can destroy someone spiritually with the tongue. The bible says there is Life and Death in the tongue and so often we use it for death. We destroy people with our tongues and for what? Do you think Jesus is going to tell us good Job when we stand before him? Nowhere in his word does he tell us to do this. The bible tells us over and over to love others as ourselves. The bible says to abide in Faith, Love and Hope but the greatest of these is Love. Where is the love for our fellowman? It doesn’t matter that you go to church on Sunday, if you go to work on Monday and destroy someone with your tongue. Maybe you are the reason that person doesn’t even go to church. How are you going to answer to Jesus for that?

Let’s stop hurting each other today and start showing others compassion and love. Let’s start building each other up, helping others grow and leading people to Jesus. That is our true purpose on this earth. So, let’s pray today and ask Jesus to forgive us for using our tongues to hurt others. Let’s ask him to help us bridle our tongues and only use it for his glory.

Hope you all have a great day in Jesus Christ!!

We all get so caught up sometimes in our own pain, disappointments, and struggles that we forget to thank God for what he has done and for what he is going to do in our lives.  Sometimes we focus all of our attention on the bad in our lives that we don’t see the good.  So, I want each of us to start this morning thanking God for what he has done for us.  Let’s make this a Thankful Thursday to God.

If you can’t think of anything to be thankful for this morning, then start off thanking God that he allowed you to wake up this morning.  Thank him for the breathe you are taking at this very moment.  Thank him for being with you in your darkest times and in your happiest times.  Thank him for never leaving you but most of all thank him for sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die for each and everyone of us so we might be saved.

I am thankful for each and everyone of you this morning and I hope you have great Thursday in Jesus Christ!!

I have spoken with so many people lately that seem to be just sitting on the fence between following Jesus or following the devil.  They are full of excuses and reasons why they are not following Jesus but I hope they realize that Satan owns the fence.  You see if you are not living 100% for Jesus then you are letting Satan win.  The bible says you cannot serve 2 masters and you cannot walk with God holding hands with the devil.  You have to make a choice to live for Jesus Christ and that means you have to give up the things of the world.  So many people are trying to sugarcoat the gospel because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feeling but people are dying and going to hell and that is something as Christians we better take serious.  If God calls something a sin, it is a sin.  In II Timothy chapter 1 it says He has saved us and called us to holy life.  It doesn’t say he saved us to live the same way we were prior to our salvation. II Corinthians 6:17 says to Come out from among them and be separate.  Jesus says to let his light shine in us so others might see.

So let’s stop sitting on the fence and start living for Jesus today.  Jesus loved each and everyone of us enough to die for us.  He wasn’t sitting on a fence when it came to saving you and I by dying on a cross and he wasn’t sitting on the fence when he rose from the dead.  He was willing to give 100% of himself for us so the least we can do is get off the fence and start living for him today.

Thank you all for reading and following this blog.   Please feel free to email me at tressiebyfaith@yahoo.com  to say hello and share your comments. I would love to hear from each and everyone of you!
Hope you all have a Great Day in Jesus Christ!!

I typically pray when I am driving by myself, not because of my driving as my husband would argue, but just as my one on one time with God.  I had to run in Wal Mart for a few things and as I pulled in the parking lot and parked I began to watch people going in and out of the front doors that automatically open, when you get close to them.  As I watched this, it hit me that this is how some people treat their relationship with Jesus.  Like Wal Mart, Jesus is always there and the doors of the store are like his arms, if you get close he will open them up to you and close them behind you as in a hug.  See, you can dwell in his presence as long as you want because there is no closing time with God.   The problem is, we as Christians are so busy we won’t take time to dwell in his presence.  So, when we need something from God or we are in trouble or hurting  we run in and get just a little bit of what we need and run right back out.

See with God, just like Wal Mart the doors open both ways.  God is a gentleman and he is never going to force you to stay in his presence.  We are free to leave when we want.   As I watched people going in and out, I thought how wonderful and powerful Christians would be today if we dwelled in his presence.  Not just call on him when we need something from him but truly dwelled there.  I tell you there would be nothing we could not do as Christians, if we did this.  So today pray with me that we would stop treating Jesus like Wal Mart and just running in and out on him.  Let’s Pray that we stay in his presence.  Pray that we grow in him and become rooted in him and that we bear his fruit.   The bible says we are known by the fruit we bear and it is time for us to bear that fruit for Jesus.

However if you have walked away from Jesus,  today is the day to change that.  It doesn’t matter how long it has been, he still loves you and wants a relationship with you. Remember his arms are always open,  all you have to do is get close to him.  You can get close to him by just calling on his name and asking for him to forgive you.  Jesus loves us all and wants us to dwell in his presence.  He wants to spend time with each and everyone of us. So let’s stop treating Jesus like Wal Mart and start treating him as our true Savior and Lord of Lords.  It’s never to late to make that change.

Thank you all for reading and following this blog.   Please feel free to email me at tressiebyfaith@yahoo.com  to say hello and share your comments or if you need me to pray for you. I would love to hear from each and everyone of you!

Hope you all have a Great Day in Jesus Christ!!