Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Devil is Already Defeated

Hey!! It's been a while since I've written a blog. I've been busy reading another book that my friend recommended -- 90 minutes in Heaven! I haven't finished it yet. This one is definitely different from the other book -- The boy who came back from Heaven.   This pastor who died from his car wreck visited Heaven and had very similar experiences as the little boy which is amazing. He also came back and didn't want to. He wanted to die again and go back to Heaven. He didn't understand why God would bring him back to suffer so much from his accident. He went through deep depression and all he thought about was getting back "home." You should read the books and how they described Heaven -- it's actually undescribable and so hard to put it in words but it's still beautiful to read about!

I got so much out of this book and I thought how the devil tries SO hard to take every opportunity to destroy the soul. Every one of us is a threat to the devil especially if we follow Jesus Christ who saved us from our sins. As long Christ is in our hearts, the devil can try to destroy our body but he can't destroy our spirits. It is so easy to let the devil become our thoughts and think it's our own but we have to learn how to fight that. Don't forget to acknowledge that the thoughts are not yours and fight it. Don't let the devil stop you from forgiving, loving, show humility, etc. Always put God first  you will know what to do.

This morning I was watching the news on Fox where they were asking the pastor about what he thought of what happened to Japan and if it was a result of a divine retribution or if it means the end is coming.   If you remember the blog I wrote about where Albert Einstein said that " God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man   does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that  comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no  light.'   Like I said, evil will take every opportunity to destroy any souls that has God in it. Its a continous battle, and no matter what happens to us - our body or our family - we still have to fight off the devil and not let them destroy our chance of getting into Heaven where we all undeservingly belong.   Even someone asked me about it and this was my response...

"That's between God and the Japanese. I am not to judge but this type of tragedies forces millions to revaluate their priorities and start thinking about eternity. It's scary and is very serious...God is serious. It seems like God allows the earth to reflect the consequences sin has had on creation. There's an interesting verse in Romans 8:18-28 that is similar to this situation. God sends help through us...people who offer their aid and support through red cross...etc."

Also if you look at 2 Chronicles 7:19-22

....Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house? Then they will say Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egpyt and laid hold on other gods and worshipped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them."


Gil bought a new Bible and in it and I've been reading it too, and on the side, sometimes it shows questions to help us think about the passage that we just read...

GENESIS 2-3

Was God tempting Adam and Eve with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:17)?

To tempt is to entice to do wrong by promise of pleasure or gain. God did NOT TEMPT Adam and Eve (see James 1:13-14). But he gave them a test. God wanted human beings to love him freely but gave them the ability to resist him. Without the opportunity of choosing to love him, their devotion would have been like robotlike. Devotion is real when unfaithfulness is possible.

What do you think of that? It's true, God wants to experience true love and devotion  and in order to feel that way, sometimes God gives us tests  to see just how much we love Him and how much we are able to resist evil for our God.

There would be days where I would feel depressed and that it would be hard for me to wake up in the morning and everything. I would be so upset with feeling this way because I have absolutely no reason to be depressed about --- I have my health, the most wonderful husband that God could've ever given me, my parents with their unconditional love, my family, my friends, even my job where I can make more money to give away more money....etc. So why am I depressed!? Then I realized that wow, evil really sees me as a threat and is trying to take happiness away from me.  It is so easy to take life for granted and be so spoiled by everything that we have been given. Sometimes we think that we earned it so thats why we deserve it too. We don't. The only reason we have these gifts is because God has given it to us.  He is in control. We should humbly accept it and thank Him. Everyday is a miracle, if you think about it. There are THOUSANDS of diseases out there and millions of problems that could easily affected us but if there's not one that is part of our life- that is a miracle!!!  The devil is very sneaky and will take any chance to rob you from getting you to Heaven. What the devil doesn't know is how powerful the Blood of Christ is, that once we ask for forgiviness, walk away from the wicked way....we are saved.  The devil has been Defeated ever since the day Jesus died on the cross for us.


The most difficult and challenging thing is to help others to be on the right path without sounding like we are criticizing or judging them for what they are doing. We want them to be saved and we want them to fight evil but it is hard to tell them that without giving them the wrong idea... but with God and His help, He will help us find the right words. I want to give you permission to help me and let me know if you feel like that I'm distracted or if I'm not doing the right thing, please let me know...through private e-mail or text or whatever! I know how easy it is to be fooled and we are all a target of that.  

Have a great day!! Enjoy every minute of it!!!!

5 comments:

  1. UGH! I wrote a good comment and it's gone ..... What does that mean? mhmmmmm

    It is true that we allow devil to control our behavior and thoughts towards others. We get jealous, angry, temper, and more. Those feelings should not exist but they do because its from the devil that want us to feel horrible about things. In order to get rid of that is to change your train of thoughts as I mentioned in my blog.

    For instance, a friend might say to you "Look at those people dress horribly". You would probably agree with your friend or make comments as well. What I would do is change my thoughts by saying well they might be poor who can't afford new clothes, or can't afford to do laundry, or they just don't know how to dress right just like those people on "What's not to wear" Tv show. We shouldn't judge based on their looks, they might be the nicest people in the world. I would smile back at them instead of giving them looks because if I were them I would love to see someone smile at me.

    This is a great blog Amanda :)

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  2. Yeah I know. While I'm trying to control my negative thoughts....I get frustrated when I see people being stubborn or narrow-minded and I'm like is this necessary? I know I can't change them but hopefully one day they will realize how their behavior affects others.

    Materialism is a form of distraction from true bliss - a quote that i found a while back lol It's true looks don't even matter.. we can "decorate" our body as much as we want but we shouldn't forget to worship our God and not brand names :)

    Thanks Erin for being a great listener :)

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  3. Oh sure no problem Amanda. This is actually fun :)

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  4. I perfectly understand you. I have the same falls. The devil uses every opportunity to destroy us. He starts with seeding innocent thoughts and then gradually whispers into us worse and worse thoughts and actions. Even a good deed may become a sin if we become proud of our good deeds. It is necessary to remember that we are nobody and our deeds are nothing without God's power. Our good deeds are nothing compared to Christ's Sacrifice. Prayer and fasting and the belief in God's mercy will help us in the fight against the devil's tricks. God help you, Amanda!
    P.S.: As per Japan, I remembered what Christ said in Luke 13:1-5. We do not know if the Japanese were punished for their sins, but this is not our business -- we need to focus on our own falls and misdeeds only.

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  5. Natalya!! Your comments mean so much to me!! Please keep sharing, you have great insights too. Thank you for letting me know about the Bible verse in Luke. And I definitely want to read the books from C.W. Lewis. You're right, Jesus only wants us to worry about ourselves and be ready for the second coming. We are going to die regardless. I saw one of the Church signs and I really like this too..."Friends don't let Friends die without Jesus". I want to see them in Heaven too. I think my next blog will be about this too. Anyway, we still miss you and I'm glad we have another way of keeping in touch :)

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