Author and Bible teacher, Beth Moore reminds us in her book Believing God that the enemy loves to attack our minds with negative, spirit killing, defeating thoughts.  Paul, in Ephesians 6, calls these thoughts “fiery darts or flaming arrows of the evil one”.  Here are just a few the devil may have launched in your direction
  •  Fear — “You should be afraid, very afraid.  Something terrible is coming and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
  • Doubt — “You can’t trust God.  He’s not going to answer your prayer or help you out of this mess.”
  • Loneliness — “You are alone, you will always be alone, and therefore you will always be miserable.”
  • Rejection — “You’re worthless.  No wonder you’re rejected by everyone.”
  • Unforgiveness — “You can never forgive ____.  And even if you could, why would you?”
  • Anger — “You’ve been hurt.  You’ve got a right to be angry.”
  • Jealousy — “You’re not being noticed.  Someone else is getting the credit you deserve.”
  • Discouragement — “You’ll never get what you want.  You’ll never be happy.  Don’t get your hopes up.“
But praise God we have an answer!  Paul tells us to take up the shield of faith with which “we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”  Beth Moore then gives us a very practical way of putting this Scripture into prac­tice.  [we’ve been doing this in our Sunday night Young Adult Bible Study].  When Satan shoots one of those ar­rows hold out your hand like a stop sign.  Each finger represents a different part of your shield.  Go ahead hold up your thumb and say it out loud! The Shield of Faith
  • Thumb— God is who He says He is. (Jeremiah 32:17)
  • Index— God can do what He says He can do. (Isaiah 50:2)
  • Middle— I am who God says I am (Ephesians 1:3-8)
  • Ring— I can do all things through Christ [yeah, I have trouble holding this one up too] (Philippians 4:19)
  • Little finger - God’s Word is alive and active in me. (Hebrews 4:12)
 The next time the enemy attacks try using this little exercise to remind you that we don’t have to fall victim to the Devil’s lies.I’ve shared all of this to set the stage for what I am going to be preaching on this coming Sunday.  Over the past couple of months I am convinced that Satan has launched a major attack against  many of our Parkway families.  Many of you or your family members are dealing with catastrophe illness, chronic pain, a devastating loss, unem­ployment, or a host of other problems. Marriages are strained, relationships with children are stressful and some are even dealing with caring for aging parents.  Along with that Satan would love nothing more than to divide and defeat us as believers.  Our enemy does not want to see our church grow and prosper.  Things like our successful missions conference, Friend Day  and the influx of many new families makes Satan nervous.  He doesn’t like seeing people at the altar and decisions for Christ like we’ve had the last couple of weeks.  Yet, now is not the time to back down or give up!Thus, I am calling our church to prayer.  You don’t have to wait till Sunday, you can begin praying now!  On Sunday I plan to share some specific plans for an ongoing, intercessory prayer movement.  Tentatively, we are plan­ning “An Evening of Prayer and Worship” for Saturday, November 28th. (mark your calendars).  This may be just the first of many prayerevents in the coming weeks. [If you have any ideas let me know.]  Things happen when God’s people pray! On a lighter  note, I hope you are making plans to join us for our annual Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday, November 18th.  Again, this is a great opportunity to invite friends and family members to our church.  We have a very special evening planned.

Hope you are having a great week!

Pastor Barry
 


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