Weapons Of Warfare (Part 1)

 In my last post, I challenged us with the thought of waging war with our sin nature. This truly is a big responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly. But, what exactly are we fighting against? How do we wage war? What weapons has God already placed in our hands to wage war with?  And, where do we even begin?

What are we fighting against?
“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.” 
Ephesians 6:12

So many of the challenges we face in this life are not just because we are merely human and make mistakes, or because things “just happen.” There is a much greater force at work than simply the little lives we live. Our Heavenly Father has plans and purposes for each and every life on this earth (Jeremiah 29:11). However, satan has plans too! The heavenlies are waging war against us, our families and our friends. Satan wants to annihilate all traces of God’s plans and purposes for us, and if he can’t completely knock God out of the picture he at least wants to keep us distracted enough so that God’s plans are no longer our priority. And satan will stop at nothing to see God’s plans derailed in our lives. We get ourselves into trouble when we don’t acknowledge the fact that there is a war raging in the heavenly realms. I have heard well-meaning Christians say “I don’t want to make this out to be a spiritual battle.” What is it inside of us that makes us think that the struggles we find ourselves in are not spiritual attacks? I can only assume that this concept of the heavenlies waging war for our souls is a topic that makes people extremely uncomfortable. It is an area we as humans do not understand nor are we able to have complete control over. And quite frankly it’s a scary concept to think about. It is this very entrapment of discomfort that satan is so eager to keep us entangled in, because living in fear of the unknown will, in fact, paralyze us from ever waging war. All the while, the situations we are facing are continuing to wage war with us. Can you see the dangers of not acknowledging the spiritual forces of evil working in the heavenly realms? They will wage war whether or not we acknowledge their existence. We might as well trust God when He tells us that there are spiritual forces of evil at work in the heavenly realms.

How do we wage war? 
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Since God’s word tells us there are spiritual forces of evil that we must wage war against, the question remains of how do we wage war? According to 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 God has given us weapons with divine power. These weapons are used to demolish strongholds, arguments (speculations), and pretension (a lofty thing) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. In other words, anything contrary to the word of God or the character of Christ we are to wage war against using the divine weapons that God has given us.

To continue this series please read: Weapons Of Warfare (Part 2), Weapons Of Warfare (Part 3)

Father, help us to believe you at your word when you tell us there is a spiritual battle going on in the heavenly realms for our souls. Give us the courage we need to wage war, to not back down, and to fight the good fight of faith. Heap upon us the fortitude that we need to use the weapons you have already placed in our hands to demolish strongholds, arguments and any lofty thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of you. Fill us with the tenacity we need to wage war in the heavenlies! We ask these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. 

Time To Wage War

One downfall I often see in the world of blogging is this illusion that the person writing has a life with few struggles and blissfully shares their advice with us. I have shared my frustration about this misconception with you before, but bear with me as I share it once again. The truth of the matter is that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) So, when this common misconception arises, let me be the first to remind you that here on this blog, all you will find is a woman who has dreadfully and woefully fallen short of God’s perfect glory time and time again. And to be perfectly frank, I will continue to do so, not because I am willfully sinning, but because I have a sin nature that I am in a raging war with on a daily basis and it is inevitable that I will lose a battle from time to time. 

One of the biggest battles I continually find myself in is one that leaves me feeling smothered under the suffocating grasp of my own insecurities. I am haunted by my shortcomings so much so that I lay in bed at night, my pillow soaked from tears of inadequacy because I was reminded yet again that I have indeed fallen short of the glory of God. I can usually shake off the insecurities long enough to keep them from affecting my daily living. However, there have been times I have found myself to be so paralyzed by them that my family has suffered because of it. The difficulty with this is how to handle it. I have always had a hard time sharing what is going on inside and when I finally get brave enough to try I have already burned the bridges of people’s patience. So, since the patience is gone, I just hold it in and keep silent longer. This inevitably propels the situation into a full-blown nightmare! Oh, how I wish that I was blessed with the ability to sort through my emotions quickly and speak openly and freely about them! It is an incredible inconvenience!

The faithfulness of God 
I thank God that His word tells us He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6), especially in those moments of struggles. God is not an “Indian giver.” In other words, He does not give us something only to take it away. God gave us His word. His word never changes. He never relinquishes on His promises. What a treasure! As I ponder God’s faithfulness I am reminded of a dream that I heard many years ago and it was eventually turned into a song, entitled “Footprints in the Sand.”  If you have never heard that song please click the link to view the song. It truly is a precious reminder that the Lord is always with us even when we feel like we have been left to fend for ourselves.

Not only is the very character of God faithful, but He also sends people our way to speak words of life when we need it most. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to give us a clear understanding of what is really going on. I recently had a phone conversation with a dear friend who understands what it is like to be in the trenches of motherhood, homeschooling, and ministry simultaneously. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, she was able to speak such soothing words to my raging heart and mind. I can honestly say I walked away from that conversation with clearer vision. Not that my circumstance had changed one bit, but what had changed was my perspective. How many of us know that a right perspective on a situation can be the paradigm shift in a problem being resolved?   

I thank God for giving me moments of clarity in the midst of the fog. If it weren't for those little clearings I would find myself continually lost in a sea of emotions unable to distinguish left from right and up from down. 

Freedom
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6 (Emphasis mine)

This verse is such a beautiful reminder that in the very depths of our need, in the face of our weakness, and in the trenches of our inadequacies Christ died for us. He was and still continues to come and meet us where we are for the sake of saving us and making us whole. We truly serve a remarkable God. I don’t know of any other kind of love, but the love of Christ, that would come into to a life riddled with sin all because He wants to have a personal relationship with that life. This verse says we were powerless. Are there days when you find yourself powerless? I sure do! Christ died for you. Christ died for that sin in which you find yourself ensnared and engulfed with. He died for me in the throngs of my insecurities, in the depths of my self-doubt and in the pile of perceived shortcomings! Christ has given us freedom! He has placed freedom in the palm of our hands. The question remains are we going to carry that freedom and walk in it, or are we going to lay it aside and walk in our bondages? That is a choice I find myself struggling with on a daily basis. There are days I choose to walk in the freedom of the cross. Then there are days I choose to walk in my bondages. I am finding that when I walk in freedom I feel refreshed and light as if the chains have been lifted. There is a true liberty in my spirit. On the reverse side of that, when I have chosen to walk in the bondage of my insecurities, my soul feels entangled in an eternal war, my spirit is restless and my emotions run unchecked. The crazy thing about this is I find it more comfortable to lay aside the freedom of the cross and cling to my insecurities. Are any of you that way with their repetitive sins, or is it just me? Here is the kicker of that, it is a false sense of comfort in every way conceivable! By clinging to the sin of my insecurities, I am really clinging to self rather than to the Lord. I will never find freedom in myself. I must cast the cares of my insecurities upon the Lord, pick up the freedom of the cross and walk in it! This is a conscious, deliberate, and minute by minute task. We must be willing to wage war with the old nature before we can ever expect to gain victory over it. 

The Lord will bring us to a place where we are so sick and tired of the sin that we find ourselves drowning in that we are ready to wage a very harsh and furious war with it. Are you ready to wage war with your repetitive sins? You may not be, and that’s ok, but may I encourage you to go before the Lord and ask Him to well up inside of you the will to fight. Ask Him to give you a desire to slaughter the enemy. Yes, I’m sounding morbid here because the enemy is not playing peaceable in our lives, so why should we? We have been given mighty weapons to defeat the enemy and we (myself included) have laid them aside too long and watched the enemy annihilate us without ever lifting a finger in retaliation. NO MORE!!! It’s time to wage war!!!!!!!!!

To read about waging war please read: Weapons of Warfare (Part 1), Weapons of Warfare (Part 2), Weapons of Warfare (Part 3)

Father God, I thank you for the place you have brought me. It has not been a fun road, but I thank you that I am finally ready to fight. Give me the of faith Abraham, the drive of David and the wisdom of Solomon to fight the good fight of faith. Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that this spirit of insecurity that I have allowed to inhabit my heart will flee! It has no authority in my life. I am casting off the burden of insecurity and choosing to walk in the freedom of the cross today! I thank you for the blood that was shed for my sins. I thank you that it has the power to cleanse, purify, and set me free! Lord, I realize that this is going to be a long and furious battle, but it is one I have put off long enough and I am now willing to go after it with all that I am. Father, may those who read this today be stirred to wage war against the sin that so easily entangles them. Give them the will to fight and to fight with grit and zealousness. We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Being Effective And Productive In The Kingdom

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 1:5-8 (emphasis mine)

Two phrases literally leaped right off the page as I read this scripture. “if you possess these qualities… they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive…” There are certain things that we must have  in our spiritual walks in order to remain effective and productive in the kingdom. The opposite can be said that if we do not possess these qualities then we inevitably will be ineffective and unproductive in the kingdom. This is exactly the very card satan is trying to play on Christians. He wants to deem us ineffective and unproductive. Keeping the devil in a place of fear is our playing card. When we are aware and continuously working on the qualities needed to be effective and productive in the kingdom of God we keep satan in a constant state of fear.

Let’s take a look at the characteristics that have been listed in this verse: faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love. That is a pretty powerful list. I don’t know about you, but I know there are a few on that list I need some help to possess in increasing measure for sure! I want to take some time to look these characteristics, learn what they are and what scripture teaches about each one.

Faith

Scripture tells us that “...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move...”  Matthew 17:20 We do not need an abundance of faith in order to thrive in the kingdom of God. We just need the tiniest amount of unwavering faith in the Lord to see the impossible take place. The beautiful thing about faith is that it can start out as small as a mustard seed and as we see mountains move in our lives and the lives of those around us we can watch it grow. Our faith grows with each answer to pray, with each God sized portion of provision, with every occasion of supernatural protection and in  each and every heartfelt moment of peace in the midst of the cayos. Scripture tells us that when we seek Him we will find Him. (Matthew 7:7) Our faith grows when we look for God in every situation.

Goodness

Goodness is moral excellence and virtue. This is a quality we have seen drastic declines in our culture over the last several decades. Our culture likes to tell us that humans are inherently good. However, scripture is clear that we were born with a sin nature and are sinners from birth.

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5 The sin nature we are born with wages furiously against any type of goodness unless we are willing to purposely take a stand and fight back. Our flesh will always win the war that we are not willing to fight.   

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6 (ESV) I’d like to reword this verse to say…”Surly moral excellence and virtue will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (My rendition of Psalm 23:6) The old saying that states “What goes around comes around” applies quite literally in this verse. When we operate with moral excellence and virtue, then they will surely follow us. People are drawn to those with a large moral base and function with virtue. I have never met a person who displayed excellent moral character that I haven’t enjoyed being around. These people become magnets for the kingdom. It’s no wonder God wants the characteristic of goodness to grow in increasing measure in our lives.

Knowledge

Knowledge is acquiring facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation (adapted from dictionary.com). God intends for us to grow in our knowledge of Him, His word, His truths, and His principles as we mature in our faith. We are not called to stay spiritual babies forever. “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.” Proverbs 18:15. We are called to actively search and seek out knowledge, understanding, truth, God’s principles and investigate the scriptures. If we are not diligently doing this we can not possibly be growing in knowledge in increasing measure. This takes time and effort on our part. We must be willing to put forth the effort needed to acquire knowledge. I sometimes wish that by some form of osmosis it would just come to me. But it doesn't. That would be a surefire way to create a lazy Christian. And if I know anything about our Heavenly Father, He is not in the business of creating lazy Christians.

Self-control

Self control is our ability to restrain our actions, feelings and words when we find ourselves under pressure, stress, or criticism. This is an area that needs so much of God’s grace in my personal walk. I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve. People know when I am annoyed, frustrated or bothered. I wish I had a shut off switch in this department because my lack of restraint has gotten me in more trouble than I care to admit. Proverbs 14:17 tells us that “a quick tempered person does foolish things…” Yep, that’s me alright, a short fuse that turns into foolishness. How about you? Are you one who is quick to anger and frustration, or are you one who exhibits self control in difficult situations? Lord, help us to have self control in increasing measure!    

Perseverance

The meaning of perseverance is having a steady persistence in a course of action, or a purpose, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement (dictionary.com) Some translations of scripture also use long suffering. We are going to be faced with all kinds of obstacles in our walk with Christ. Will we have the stubbornness that it takes to stick it out no matter what the obstacles? Are we truly willing to suffer long and hard for the sake of the kingdom or will we crumble under the pressure? I believe we must exhibit a certain degree of obstinence in the kingdom. We must not be willing to compromise our faith for shortcuts, narrow roads or smoother paths. I truly believe that in order to have perseverance we must be bullheaded for Godly principles. Afterall, satan is certainly persistent in his fight for our souls. Why shouldn’t we be just as insistent upon righteousness prevailing in our lives and the lives of our family? ”Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12 We will receive a crown of life when we persevere under trials! What sobering thought. We are storing up treasures in heaven when we are stubborn for kingdom principles. Lord, give us a tenacity for long suffering.

Godliness

“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8) Becoming more Christ like is the very essence of being a Christian. Having godliness is valuable to everything we do in this life. We must desire to become increasingly Christ like each and every day.

Kindness

I have shared in a previous post about kindness. When people operate with kindness, it flows from their very character in such a way that they will elevate the good in others. They consciously look towards the interests of those around them. (Philippians 2:3-4) It is their desire to see others grow and flourish. The very nature of our Heavenly Father is kindness. He desires for us to grow in kindness with increasing measure each and every day.

Love

I recently completed an entire series on love. Please feel free to go and view that series if you need a refresher on God’s love. Love encomposes all of these characteristics that we just listed out. If we truly love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27), then we will possess faith, goodness, a thirst for knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness and kindness. That does not mean that we possess each of them with increasing measure. That takes work on our part to make that happen. I truly believe that if we put the majority of our efforts into loving God, and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31), then the rest will fall into place. That is why scripture tells us that “...the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 3:13.

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the keys to being effective and productive in your kingdom. Help us to grow with increasing measure each and every day in faith, goodness, a thirst for knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and most importantly love. Thank you for not giving us a spirit of fear, but for allowing us to use fear as a weapon against the enemy. As we increase in these qualities may it build fear in satan. We pray that no weapon that he tries to bring against us is going to prosper because we are keeping busy working the word in our lives with increasing measure. We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

The Gentle Nudging Of Christ

How many of you know that when the Lord is calling you to do something, even when it seems like such a little thing, you need to do it? I recently had a situation arise that challenged me with the verse in James 5:16. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” God had laid on my heart a specific person to go and seek forgiveness from for the attitude of my heart and I had put it off for several days. I really didn’t want to seek forgiveness, mainly because in my mind the very person God had asked me to seek forgiveness from, I felt was just as guilty as I was. So in my pride, I pushed it aside, thinking that maybe this person would realize what they were doing and be the more humble person in the situation. That never happened. God would not allow me to walk away from the responsibility He had placed in my lap. As the days went by the nudges kept coming. And finally, Sunday morning rolled around. The very first verse that was mentioned that morning was James 5:16. I always find it interesting how God uses others to seal the deal once and for all about my obedience. In that moment, I knew I could not fight the gentle hand of the Lord any longer. I knew if I continued in my disobedience the consequences would not be favorable for myself or the other person involved.

As humbly and gently as I knew how, I approached this person and asked for forgiveness. I shared with them that my heart had not been right towards them and that that I had not been treating them with kindness. My heart was laid bare and broken before them. Let me just say,  when God leads you to do something you will be amazed by the outcome! Psalms 51:17 tells us that. God will not despise a broken and contrite heart. He certainly does not! He loves and adores a humble, broken and apologetic heart. That is the very key to the kingdom. It was Christ’s broken and contrite heart that allowed Him to lay down His very life so we could live. Without Christ’s humble spirit we could never experience forgiveness of our sins nor could we experience eternity with our Heavenly Father. Such a beautiful example God has given us through His Son for us to follow. And when we are obedient to do so, the doors of heaven will open up.

The healing that took place in my heart from that experience was nothing short of a miracle. I had been experiencing so much strife and turmoil prior to that conversation. As I walked away from this conversation, my heart was filled with joy, and peace all because I finally chose to obey. When I opened my heart, the Lord poured in the oil of healing. That oil would not have come through any other avenue. This person not only received my broken heart well, but shared with me their heart as well. I had not wanted to open my heart to this person because of their unconfessed sin. God used the confession of my sin as a chance for this person to confess their own. This brought such a revelation to my spirit! How often do we get so caught up in pointing out the sins of others that we refuse to take care of the sins in our own lives?

Matthew 7:3-5 talks about this very concept. We want to pick out the sins of others when we have glaring sins of our very own that are in need of our attention. Jesus called those people a bunch of hypocrites. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want Christ labeling me as a hypocrite. My heart keeps me plenty busy with the entanglement of sins I find myself involved with. I certainly have no business getting even more entangled by the sins of others.

Call to action

Do you find yourself quick to pick out the sins in others? Is God calling you to seek forgiveness from someone? Are you hearing a still small voice that is nudging you to do something and you’re resisting? If you can honestly answer “yes” to any of these questions or if you are feeling a stirring in your spirit, then run to our Heavenly Father. Seek clarity if needed, but most importantly, be obedient to His nudgings. Don’t put off His quiet gentle voice any longer. Simply obey. You will never regret obeying His voice. Our situations may not always turn out the way we hoped, but even in those instances, God’s ways are better than our ways.

Other posts aligning with this subject: What If?

Gracious Father, you know the inner workings of our hearts. You know what is best for us even when we do not know what is best for ourselves. I pray that as you call to us, we will be quick to listen and even more quick to obey. Help us not to push aside your gentle nudges, but to move forth with boldness and confidence in knowing that you have spoken to our hearts. Help us to remember that our obedience excites your heart. You get energized and captivated by our obedience. Lord, it is our desire to capture your heart and we know that we can do that by walking in obedience to that still small voice and those gentle nudges. We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Conflicts Of Christmas

In light of the Christmas season, my mind has been mulling over the conflicts that we as Christians face in this age with the whole concept of Santa Clause. Yes, I am going there. What triggered this thought process was a post on Facebook by a Christian seeking advice about whether or not to do the whole Santa Clause thing. We are constantly bombarded with all kinds of things that are contrary to Christ. “But Santa is not against Christ. You can do Santa and Jesus both at Christmas.” Says the well-meaning, unsold-out Sunday Christian. Please excuse the sarcasm here as I promise to justify myself.

Breaking down Christmas

Santa, while seemingly innocent enough, does not convey the true meaning of Christmas. As Christians, we know that the true meaning of Christmas is Christ and if you take that away all you have is “mas.” If you look up that word “mas” you will find its meaning to be “a carnival.” (dictionary.com) So without Christ, we have a meaningless, empty celebration. When you add Christ to it (Christmas) you have a celebration of Christ. Christmas is the celebration of Christ and nothing else.

Foreigners

Looking at this concept of Santa from a parenting perspective brings yet another angle to this conflict. I have heard parents say that if they didn’t do the Santa thing, their kids would be missing out. As a family, we chose not to do Santa with our kids. This led me to ask them if they felt as if they were missing out, felt left out or jipped in any way at Christmas because of not doing the Santa thing and their response without hesitation was “No way!” My concern with this excuse really comes from two schools of thought. The first is that we are called to be in this world and not of it (John 17:16). In other words, we are called to live here, but not act like those around us. We are foreigners in this world and therefore, we should not act like we are natives. 1 Peter 2:11 says, “Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.” (NLT). I know you're thinking that Santa does not wage war against our souls. He gives gifts at Christmas just like the ultimate gift was Jesus. That type of thinking should send off alarms because it is taking a very sacred biblical concept and weaving fictitious nonsense into it so that we feel justified. This is exactly the type of thing satan did in the garden with Eve. He wove enough truth into his lie to make it palatable. Therefore, Eve swallowed it, literally and figuratively speaking. That was the first and deadliest method of manipulation satan has used on the human race and obviously is still using it today.

Lying

The second school of thought is, that as Christians we are called to obey the entire word of God. We should not be picking and choosing the parts of scripture that we “feel like” obeying. The word is not meant to be pigeonholed for our comfort. It is also not meant to be applied to some situations and not others. That being said, scripture is clear on the topic of lying. “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.” (NIV 1989 version). This verse is one of many in scripture that talks about lying and it states that God detests lying. He hates and abhors it. When we tell our children that a fictitious person is going to bring them gifts for Christmas. We are lying. When we tell them that he will come with his reindeer and sleigh with their gifts, we are lying. When we tell them to write a letter to Santa telling him what they want for Christmas because he will bring them something they want off that list, we are lying. When we tell them he is watching their every move to find out if they have been naughty or nice, we ARE lying. So, help me understand how lying to our children is setting a Godly example for them. How can we possibly tell our children not to lie when we have spent years and years lying to them? God’s standard does not change. He expects us to be truthful despite the fact that it might not be the most popular route to take.

Narrow way

“...For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

Not many Christians are willing to walk the path of unpopularity. Most would much rather take the path of least resistance. They would much rather take the broad road. In our many travels, we have found that many American Christians would rather compromise their faith to make life easier then sacrifice and face potential persecution for walking the narrow road. Our human flesh does not want to be the odd ball out. We want to fit in with the crowd. (To read more about this concept read my previous post entitled "Sold Out.")

Persecution

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” 2 Timothy 3:12 (emphasis mine).

May I suggest, those of us who are not facing any type of persecution or push back from this world are not living a godly life. Ouch, a painful thought isn't it. We should not only expect people to be offended by our decisions, but we should embrace the fact that this is who God has called us to be. We are foreigners in this world, not natives. We were never meant to fit in here. Our residence is in heaven. Deep breath!

Father God, help us to lean deep into you this Christmas season. Help us to lean not on our own understandings but in all of our ways acknowledge you so you can make our paths straight. Help us to demolish strongholds that set themselves up against the knowledge of you. We realize that the attack against your Son is real and in full force. Give us the strength not to be intimidated by the crowd who is going one way when your word tells us to go another way. Lord, lead us not into the temptations of this life but deliver us from them. Give us the backbone that we need to stand up for righteousness. Give us a heart to embraces the persecution that is going to come when we live a godly life. We ask all this in the precious name of your one and only Son, Jesus Christ.