Hello All,
I hope you had a Very Merry Christmas!!! I know I
did!
I must share a few personal things before I tell
you what I feel God wants me to share. I am so sorry it has been SO long since
I have blogged. It’s been almost 2 months, and I must say, I have really missed
it. I hope you have missed me. J Every time I write I find God teaching me so many valuable lessons
and principles.
As I have told you before, this has been a
difficult Fall. I have dealt with food poisoning that seemed to upset my digestive
system severely. Ever since the bout with food poisoning, I have had pain in my
stomach. My precious doctor has run every blood test imaginable and a CT scan,
and found nothing. Most of the time I am weaker than usual. This has put a real
strain on Cecil, my patient husband. He is so loving and understanding, but he
is really tired of me not feeling well, and who can blame him.
Then about 2 weeks ago I went back to the doctor
to discuss more options for stomach treatment etc., and we discovered that my
blood pressure was up. After tracking it for a few days he put me on bp
medication. It has taken some adjustment but we have found a dose that works.
Which has me feeling some better too.
Now with all the preparations for Christmas I
simply wore myself out and I am sitting here right now exhausted and aching all
over.
Please understand I am not complaining. I’m
telling you these things for 2 reasons. First, to ask you all to keep me in
your prayers, that I may be able to do whatever God wants me to do including
this blog, in spite of the physical limitations. Second, to share that even
though these are physical aliments, I believe our battle is not a physical
battle. It is a spiritual battle. With each of these things Satan used them to
affect my witness as a Christian. That is what I want to share with you today.
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (KJV)
As all these things have been going on God has
shown me that it is not always the ailments that I’m struggling against, but
Satan. Let me explain. I can feel good all week, but when I wake up on Sunday
morning, inevitably I will be sick at my stomach or achy or have a headache or
something. I have found that if I give in to that and stay home from church, I
will feel bad all day. However, if I make myself get around, I feel better and
God gives me a spiritual boost.
I had a pastor many years ago who used to say “If
God allowed us to pull back the veil and reveal what is going on in the
spiritual world, we would be amazed. There is a major spiritual battle going on
all around us, between God’s angels and Satan’s demons.” I don’t know about
you, but that helps me keep in perspective the true battle over me that is
constantly going on.
During this time I have watched other people
struggle with their own spiritual battles. A friend and I have talked about how
Satan tries to prevent her from making it to Bible Study each week. I see my
children as Satan is putting barriers up in their lives to keep them out of
church or trying to draw them away from God. Satan will use anything he can to
keep our eyes off Jesus.
Matthew 14:28-33
28 And Peter
answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He
said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to
Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to
sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus
immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of
little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the
wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you
are the Son of God.” (ESV)
Just like Peter, we get into trouble
when we take our eyes off Jesus. As long as our focus is our Savior then we are
fine, but once we begin to worry about what is going on around us: how am I going to pay the bills, how will I find a job, when will I
get well, etc., that is when Sat can grab ahold of our foot and pull us under
the water. Until we get our focus back on Jesus and He pulls us back up out of the water! That is when we realize HE IS
IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS!
May you remember that Satan is
constantly battling for your attention, so keeping your eyes on Jesus can keep
you out of many difficult situations.
Living in Grace,
Angie
