"Me an Rev, we both dig the Temptations" (quote from Remember the Titans)

Temptations. We all know that Satan tempts people to disobey God. We also know that his first temptation started with Eve and Adam. As much as we don’t want to think it is, temptation is something very, very strong that can rule our lives if we let it, and we usually recognize temptation because it is almost always followed by a 'stab of conscience,' as some like to call it.

I just want to look at some of Satan’s tactics (as it were) that he used on Eve, and that he’s still using today. These we must recognize if we don’t want Satan ruling our lives.
“And [the serpent] said unto the woman, ‘hath God said, “Ye shall not eat of the trees of the garden?”’”(Genesis 3:1)
Well, God told Adam in the beginning…
“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest feely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou mayest not eat of it” (Genesis 2:17).
So Satan started out by confusing Eve. He changed God’s Word around to be similar to the truth, but grossly inaccurate. Eve should have known God’s command well enough to be able to turn away the untruth by correcting the serpent with the exact command God gave her.

If you are a human, especially a Christian human that is trying to do God’s will, Satan will try this on you. He will plant thoughts in your head (yes, in your very own head, so that you think it’s actually YOU that’s thinking the thoughts) and they say something like this: “Did God really say that you could give this speech in front of everyone? Did He really say you could witness to your friend? Or pray every day? After all, you’ve failed at so many things before. So He’s wrong.” But the Bible says,
“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
If you don’t know that scripture, you’re going to believe that God told a lie, just like Satan tried to get Eve to think God was unfair. It’s the same with any other scripture in the Bible. So know the Word of God! You will not be able to resist even this first plan of Satan if you don’t know what the Bible says!

Well, after Satan tried one thing and Eve still hadn’t sinned, he had to do something else. So he sparked off her pride. He said,
“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
He was insinuating that unless Eve ate the fruit, she would be ignorant—he was telling her that, by not eating the fruit, she was missing out on something she should have. How many times have we people thought, ‘If I don’t watch/listen/do/say/wear this, people will just think I’m an idiot” (or something to that extent)? Then we think that if we do this thing we’re tempted to do, our friends (or whoever it might be) will know we are not stupid, or annoying or something like that. This is a lie from Satan. The Bible says we are supposed to be wise to what is good and ignorant to what is evil.

I know I’ve only mentioned two things Satan uses, but these are both very common ones he uses on us every single day! Beware of them and resist them.

My Cop

Shop, shop, shop till I drop.
Through the muddy roads I sop.
And while I am shopping and sopping and dropping...
A cop bops my top and hops through the sop.
Well, my eyes sort of pop, as he flops to a stop.
His body goes plop, and he drops in that sop.
He cannot hop op.
He calls for his pop, but my wrath will not stop.
I sop where he's plopped, and poor pig slop on his cop's top.
Now he'll HAVE to chop his ugly mop!

I Want to Leave a Legacy

Today, I was reading in Psalm 13. It began with David speaking—he was petitioning God for help. It wasn’t a long psalm, in fact, it was only six verses. But as I read carefully through, trying to pick something out as my daily nugget, I just wasn’t finding anything in those first verses. But I kept on, because over the past several years of my life, I have become very acquainted with this shepherd/king’s style of writing. I’ve always been impressed with David because I know that when he writes about his hardships, he always ends them with praise to God. So, as I was reading this handful of verses, I was expectantly waiting for the last few where he poured out his praise to God. I was not disappointed. As I expected, he talked about not losing hope because he was trusting in God’s mercy, rejoicing in His salvation, and counting the blessings He had given him.

David lived thousands of years ago. But he has left behind such a powerful, powerful legacy for me, and for countless other Christians to follow. What kind of legacy do I have? I certainly do have troubles, things that can make me say, “how long, O Lord?” (Psalm 13:1) like David did. Sometimes I tell other people about those troubles. Sometimes I tell God about them. But when my sisters, my friends, or the Lord are patiently listening to my mournful sagas, do they expectantly wait for the praise that will flow from my mouth? Can they expect me to switch my distress and questioning that I feel into happiness because I am reminding myself of God’s mercy, His salvation, His goodness, His help, His comfort… (This list goes on and on) that He gives me?

The above list is very long, but how often do I use it? Well, I can pretty easily use it every morning after I’ve finished reading my Bible, wherein lies David’s simple, but beautiful praise to God. When my heart is uplifted and basking in God’s love, I praise Him. But while I’m going through my Bible reading, I have no trials. I’m reading about all the amazing things that happen in it. It’s later on in the day when the frustrations, the arguments, the impatience and the problems come. Then it’s terribly easy to forget about all those amazing things, and to mourn and complain when the bad bashes you and thrusts you down.

So my question is: What kind of attitude results when we feel weighed down by certain things? I pray fervently that I will learn to add praise at the end. To always, without fail, add praise. Like David, that is the legacy I want to leave.








** I Want to Leave a Legacy is a song by Nicole Nordeman. The reason I named this after her song is because I wanted to remember this stuff every time I sing the song in my head.

My Poor ol' Sprained Ankle

Yes, I know, it's rather shocking. I should have titled this post "My Tennis Ball."

My very very very very very very very FIRST post!

Hooray! This is my new blog! I am officially one of THE LAST of my siblings (ahem...Matt would be the exception) to have one. I actually decided to make this because I have a bunch of things I've written that I just wanted to put up here for people to read............and see............and look at..........and all the other things you do to the things people write!

So welcome, Miriam! (I just kinda felt like I should say that, since nobody else did :D)