Luke 10:40-42

Luke 10:40-42
40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, "Lord, don't You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand." 41 The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her."

Most of us have probably read this before, but it is worth the reminder. Are you under satan's yoke?

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.In his opening address he said,
"We can't keep Christians from going to church.
We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth.
We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their saviour.

However, once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.
So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop that relationship with Jesus Christ."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:
"Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and maintaining thatvital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.
Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands towork 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.

Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!

Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.
Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive.
To keep the TV, VCR,CDs & and their PCs going constantly in their homeand see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non biblical music constantly.
This will jam their minds and break thatunion with Christ.

Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.
Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.
Invade their driving moments with billboards.
Flood their mailboxes with junk mail,
mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter andpromotional offering free products, services and false hopes.

Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives.
Keep the wives too tired to love theirhusbands at night. Give them headaches too! If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly!

Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas.
Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talkabout his resurrection and power over sin and death.

Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead.

Keep them busy, busy, busy!

And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.
Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seekpower from Jesus.

Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.

It will work! It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.
Having little time for their God or their families.
Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful with his schemes in your life?

"BUSY" means: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke!

In His Service,

For His Glory

Deborah

Psalm 139:23

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals." 34 Become right-minded and stop sinning, because some people are ignorant about God.

One of the quickest ways we start becoming lukewarm is when we start deceiving ourselves. We start by having revelations in the flesh. "The Bible says all things are lawful to me, therefore, it doesn't hurt if I drink just a little bit ." "I know my pastor says to stay away from R-rated movies, but this one isn't a big deal." "All those women dressing like nuns have just gone overboard. God doesn't care how I dress."

Then, you start gathering like minded people to yourself. If you can't find them in your congregation, you'll start looking for them elsewhere. And you'll find them. There will always be that one ignorant of God who will agree with you that you don't need to spend all that time at church. That pastor doesn't need to be asking you for money all the time. Before you know it, you are likely to deceive yourself right out of the church.

When you start getting frustrated with church, God to try your thoughts. Ask Him to reveal to you where you are being deceived. Ask Him to renew your mind and cleanse your heart. The stakes are high and the time is short.

In His Service,

For His Glory,

Deborah

Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

So you read yesterday's Bread, you decided that you are getting just a bit lukewarm and you're saying "What do I do?" You ask God to transform you by the renewing of your mind. Just as you sometimes have to take the time to fall in love with your spouse all over again, you have to remember your first love. Stop and remember how great it was when you first met Jesus Christ. How clean you felt when you were baptized. What power you had when He started taking the trash and addictions out of your life. What is there in the world worth giving up that feeling for?

In His Service,

For His Glory,

Deborah

John 15:19

John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, this is why the world hates you.

James 4:4 Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy.

I assume that most of us who take the time to read the Bread on a regular basis do so because we want a closer walk with Jesus Christ. We want to be considered disciples and followers of Christ. We know that we have been called by God and we have willingly (or sometimes unwillingly) answered the call. But what does that look like?

I said yesterday that we should be willing to use our time, energies, talents and finances to further the Kingdom of God. That is all very true. But even more important than that, we need to be willing to offend the world. As it becomes increasingly apparent every day that the world is ruled by satan and his minions, we need to be different. That is not to say that we should not interact with the world. We can't save a sinner if we don't bring the gospel to them. However, we should look different, we should talk different, we should be so distinct from the world around us that it makes people wonder why.

Too many of us want to be friends with the world. We want to claim Christ on the side, but we don't want people to think we're a "Jesus Freak" or anything. I'm here to tell you that the most dangerous thing in the world is a lukewarm Christian. Jesus himself says

Revelation 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. God's laws are consistent. If a relationship is not getting stronger, it is getting weaker. If you are not actively pursuing a relationship with Christ through prayer, fasting, Bible reading and fellowship with like minded people in a good strong church, it is almost impossible to be Kingdom minded. What is your temperature today?

In His Service,

For His Glory,

Deborah

John 15:16

John 15:16

You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

Have you ever stopped to really consider the fact that out of all the billions of people on this planet God has chosen you? That He reached down one day (for many of us, in the midst of our drugs, alcohol, and other addictions) and said “_______, Come follow Me.” Why? What do you or I have that is so special that the God of the Universe would want to be intimate with us? Why would a relationship with us be so important that He would be willingly beaten, humiliated and killed for us?

His answer is so that we can go out and produce fruit. The only way that is going to happen is if we use our time, energies, talents and finances to further the Kingdom of God.

I don't know why God chose me, but I do know that He did call me. He does want to be intimate with me and He did willingly suffer and die to be able to accomplish that. That makes me want to praise and worship Him with every fiber of my being. I also know that He made the same sacrifice for you. What is your response?

In His Service,

For His Glory,

Deborah