Month: August 2017

There are a number of ways he accomplishes this. I will just share a few of them since I have seen this and have lived through these kinds of divisions at my church. Not just recently and not just my church, but it can happen at any and all churches that are sharing the gospel with others.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I would like to inform you that Satan loves to destroy anything and anyone that belongs to God. Satan loves to destroy the work of God’s church and he loves to destroy those who love the Church and God.

Ephesians 6:10-18 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.. read more… 

Below I have listed a few schemes that Satan has been keeping busy with.

Conflicts Within the Church

Church conflict isn’t new because Satan has been in the business of destroying the lives of Christians since the beginning of time. Personally, I think his favorite place to be is at church.  If Christians say that isn’t true, then they haven’t been reading the Bible and they have blinders on. Over the past year or so, he has been the instigator of arguments within the church, disagreements and trivial things such as the kind of music sang, color of the carpet and how something is worded or not worded. Satan is excited when fellow Christian and church members get upset and they storm out the door and never return. As each person leaves, that’s a check-mark or a win for Satan.

Satan Loves Lies lies and More Lies  

Satan loves it when lies or half-truths are said at church. A friend of mine that I use to go to church with told me that they were no longer going to any church anymore because people at church lies. One of our previous pastors was doing a sermon and worded something in a way that she thought was a lie. She didn’t like the version of the Bible that he was preaching from. Which he used the same version I do, so I kind of took that personal. She was also upset that the pastor read a particular verse from the sermon. She said that he had no right to share “that part” of the Bible, lol. I’m sure I gave her a stupid look. I told her that all of the Bible should be shared, not just the ones she likes. I think the sermon was on submission.

I told her that if she only wanted to hear certain parts of the Bible and not the whole Bible, then she needs to examine her relationship with Christ. I then told her that not all people at church are Christians. When I told her that even Satan is present at church and believes in Christ. She got upset since she thought I was calling her evil. I explained to her that wasn’t the case, but just going to church isn’t going to save you. It has been about 8 yrs since I last talked to her.

Matthew 4:10 NIV“Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan! For it is written…”.

Gossiping About Others

Proverbs 20:19 A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.

Oh boy, this is one of those things I have been guilty of and learned my lesson the hard way.  Satan loves to stir the pot of dissension. It’s nothing to him to whisper something into another persons ear and then chaos erupts. When one person shares something to another, things spread rapidly.  For example, there is a family member that loves gossip and within minutes what was shared has taken on a life of its on. As each person is told snip-its, the original version usually grows much larger that it really is and Satan loves it.

One of the churches I use to go to was practically destroyed because people were hearing just parts of a conversation. It was heartbreaking when one family left the church because they thought something was said that wasn’t. It was one of those things that started off innocent and snowballed to the point where they left. Not only did they leave, they caused a great deal of stress for the pastors family. They were good friends prior to what was supposedly said. Instead of asking the pastor, they believed the lies. I don’t know if things worked out for them. As of a couple of years ago, the family never went back to church and had a strong hate for the pastors family, all over a misunderstanding. The misunderstanding was based on a total fabrication about a discussion over how much was being paid for a book. I guess Satan was happy over that.

I brought up the conflicts, gossiping and lying in the church because it is important for us to have the Full Armour of God in order to protect ourselves. When we allow things to tear us down, Satan wins and I am a very bad sore loser.

Volunteers and Pastors

A couple of my blogs I touched on how volunteers are church and pastors are getting burned out. The pastor at my church does everything office wise, sermons, visiting the sick and so on. He is a full-time pastor and friend.  I have never heard Pastor Ray complain about what he does and I honestly think he enjoys what he is doing. I can also tell that he is tired and Satan has been attacking him lately. His wife and my friend has been fighting for her life for some time.  Satan has been taking advantage of how  full his plate is. My church has wonderful people and there are many that do a lot for the church. They don’t want to be called out, they silently do what they do without any fan fare. Which is what we should be doing.

When I do things for the church, there are just a few people who knows and sometimes it is between God and myself. But, every now and then, someone will make it a point to tell everyone how great they are and how much they give. If they don’t get the praise they think they should be getting, then they get butt hurt and have no problem telling others about how great they are or how misunderstood they are. Things turn ugly really fast and Satan loves it when he is winning the battle of dissension, discouragement and ultimately leaving church and  involving others.

Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV) 6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Read More

I mention how Satan is working within the churches and in the world because we need to put on our Full Armour of God in order to defeat him. We already know that God wins in the end. We shouldn’t back down from Satan. Satan is dangerous and he is in churches and he is everywhere. If we are Christians, we can expect him to be present anywhere God is.  I personally feel that we must be strong in our faith and don’t back down. We must use God’s Word as a weapon. Satan fears those who hold onto God’s Word and when we use it.

Never underestimate what Satan will do and can do. Satan is always trying to discourage us and I’m not into this whole notion of just backing away. I have gotten myself in a lot of trouble because I just keep going like the energizer bunny lol. As Christians we need to stand and fight. Satan is a liar and he is the king of lies. I have no problem calling him out. But, I know that in order to fight I have to put the Full Armour of God on, even at church. Always go to God’s Word when we are having difficulties or we are in need or strength.

Hebrews 10:23 “So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word”.

What is the Armour of God and how do we clothe ourselves in it? I will break it down piece by piece.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Things around my house has been crazy to say the least. Most people who I know are aware of the dangers of lightning and high winds. During this time of the year Southern Utah is hit by monsoons and other types of weather that causes flooding, lightening storms and death, Normally I am out taking pictures of the awesome lightening storms that God has displayed to us. Last night was different though, but a constant reminder of how awesome God is and how powerful lightening can be.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

When we started to hear rolling thunder and the winds picking up, we knew the storm was coming in as predicted. The alerts has been on TV for about an hour. Once we started hearing the thunder and wind, I asked my husband if he would go outside before it got to bad and bring in the garbage cans that way they wouldn’t blow away. As he prepares to get up to do that, the weather got really bad. We had strong winds, hail, thunder and lightning. The rain was so bad that you couldn’t even see the house across from ours.  But, that is normal during monsoons. They come in strong and dump a lot of water.

I told him to never mind since the weather got so bad. Just as I shut my front door to make sure things were OK, I heard a huge clap of thunder and lightning. At that moment

I went to the garage to see what was happening outside. I love to take pictures of stormy weather. As I opened my garage door, I freaked out big time. I yelled to my husband that the huge tree on the side of our house fell onto my car. My car is a 2003 Ford Mustang. All I could see of my car was the front end and the license plate. I have personalized plates that says, “JESUSIS”.

I was about to have a major meltdown. I know that God is in control of everything and at that moment I had to just trust in Him. I know that all things work out according to His will and is does what is best. I know cars are material items, but this car is special to me. There are many who hates Fords, but, for me I love this car. I looked for a yellow mustang for years. It took me a long time to be able to buy one. Our paychecks goes to bills and I am on disability for Myasthenia Gravis and Guillian Barre Syndrome. A good part of my disability check goes for Dr’s appointments and medication. This is the first car I bought that was specifically for me. I prayed to God to protect it since He knew that it is more than just a car. It’s hard to explain.

Cars can be replaced, but not people. I was just hoping I didn’t have to replace it. The reason I said though that cars can be replaced, but not people is because if my husband Chuck would have gone outside when I asked him to, the tree would have fallen on him since that is exactly where he would have been. He could have also been struck by lightning. I love my car, but I would take my husband any day over my car.

“Tell everyone who is discouraged, Be strong and don’t be afraid! God is coming to your rescue…” Isaiah 35:4

God was protecting us the whole time. Not only did He protect my husband from getting crushed by the tree, He also protected our house. Right next to the tree is a power line that is over our house. The city has had to come and trim the tree many times to keep it from getting into the power lines.

All I could see of my car

This is the part of the tree that was hit by lightening. This tree is over 50 yrs old.

Stressed knowing my car is under this tree

You can see a little bit

If you look a the tree, you can see the burn marks

I just wanted to cry

The winds were about 80 mph when the tree was hit by lightning. Had it not been for the strong winds all kinds of things could have happened and none of them good. The winds forced the tree to go in a different direction. It didn’t hit any power lines and it didn’t hit the house. My car is another story though. It did hit my car obviously.  Here is a link to St. George News. There is a video that shows the tree coming down unto my car.

You can see where this part of the tree was and the power pole

My husband trying to clear the street

A close up look of the tree size

What a mess

thanks to those who helped get my car out

As soon as the rain and winds died down, people started showing up to help out. The only person I knew was my neighbor across the street. One guy came with a chainsaw and others helped by moving the tree limbs and cutting them. After only 30 minutes, my car was free from the tree. I was absolutely amazed when I seen my car when the tree was removed.

My car had very little damage. There were no broken windows, no major dents. There were a couple small ones, but you would have to actually put your hands on the car to feel them. The only noticeable damage was to the spoiler fin on the back of the car. My husband and I looked up how much it would cost to get a new one and it would only cost around $100.00.

The tree is off my car now

I’m so happy my windows didn’t break

What a mess

This is the only damage for the most part. I was expecting it to be much worse.

Then there is this little dent. It should be easy to pull out

My husband moved my car to in front of the house.

When I seen my car in the condition it was in, I was truly amazed. I don’t know why I was amazed, but I was. I thought my car was going to be a total loss. Most people thought the same thing. When you look at the damage from the tree falling on the car, one would assume that I wouldn’t have a car anymore. God knows that I would have been able to buy a new car to replace it. I only have liability on it. I am thinking I need to increase my insurance on our vehicles after this. I don’t drive a lot because of my medical things, but when I do have to, I wouldn’t be able to.

In case anyone that helped us with getting the tree off of my car is reading this, I want to thank you all. My husband and I couldn’t do it alone. We had no chainsaw and I couldn’t help because of my physical limitations. Most of all, I want to thank God for having a hand in all things and making sure that the wind blew in the right direction and for protecting each and everyone.

In Closing, I want to leave you with some Bible verses that have come to mind because of what happened.  I would also like to thank everyone who helped us. We couldn’t have done it without your help. I hope that if anyone goes through something like this or even worse that God is always there for you. He has a way of working things out according to His will.

 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7