Just a target on the road

 

As I drove to church one day I noticed an empty pop cup laying on the road being rolled around by the air currents created by passing cars. As I got closer I wanted to try and hit it as I passed by. I’ve always been one of those who see some things as targets on the road. For example, the tumbleweed that gets blown on the road, the empty pop cup, the clod of dirt, anything that wouldn’t be too harmful to hit such as animals, fallen ladders, hay bales and more.  
 

As I approached the cup the wind from my car blew it away before I could hit it. Instantly my thought wasn’t “darn it I didn’t get it” surprisingly my mind went someplace else. It made me think of Satan and how to him we are just a target on the road to try and hit on his way by.

 

 

We can lay there on the road and allow ourselves to be what they call “road kill” or we can move with the wind, the breeze of Jesus and get out of the way. We don’t need to stay in the dangerous areas of life’s road hoping we can dodge the hazards around us. Playing truth or dare, or some “prove” how brave you are games and try to stand up to Satan alone just doesn’t work.

 

Through our choices we can move out of Satan’s target range. Unfortunately sometimes we are not going to be able to move out quick enough and there will be times we get hit by Satan’s sly and evil ways. When this happens we need to get up and keep moving with the wind of Jesus and go to the great physician, God for healing.

 

 

We are supplied with tools to fight Satan’s attacks such as the armor of God we are told to wear daily. The helmet of salvation protects our minds from Satan’s target games. The breastplate of righteousness shields our hearts from being entered into with things that don’t belong. The shoe of readiness gets us up and running out of the way in order to keep us safe. The belt of truth and the sword of the spirit, which is the truth from God’s word, is our fighting tool to slash the tires of Satan as he goes by.

 

 

Last but not least is the shield of faith the tool that fights off Satan’s fiery darts he tries to throw our way. The darts of lies telling us we are road-kill, we are no good, finished, done, and worthless. We need to allow the wind from us putting up our shield of faith every time to move us out of harm’s way of Satan and into the presence of God. Settling safely in the shadow of God’s wings, bound for Heaven, destined for His glory simply by the choices we make and the armor we wear for Jesus.

 

We don’t have to be the target on the road. Satan is the one that is going to wind up “road-kill.” Our target needs to be Jesus and the Heaven He is preparing for us for all eternity, streets of gold, peace eternal, laughter and love forever and ever. Amen? Amen!  

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett at Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Kid Dees Shield of Faith Eph 6:16

Ephesians 6:16 (NIV) In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

In the book of Ephesians the writer Paul gives us a list of spiritual armor we need to wear in order to stand up against the bad things in life. Although all the pieces are vital, the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation I think the shield of faith is very important.

A shield is something you hold out in front of you to protect yourself. Paul tells us it’s the one piece that will put out all those flaming arrows coming your way. The flaming arrows full of anger from another person, a bully at school, a brother or sister at home. Flaming arrows of criticisms telling you you’re no good, you’ll never amount to anything. The flaming arrow of temptations telling you its okay to do this, don’t worry about doing that, it’s okay to steal something or lie about stuff if we keep them “little.”

Whenever you feel those flaming arrows coming your way hold up your imaginary shield in front of you that really isn’t imaginary and stand strong. Tell yourself I have faith in Jesus. I have faith in His love for me. My faith is in His promise to never leave me nor forsake me. I have faith in what God said about being my help and stronghold. “I stand behind my faith in knowing I am something in God’s eyes even though others don’t see what He sees in me.”

Faith in Jesus is the handle we hold on to attached to the shield. The shield itself is built with all the other things attached it. The shield grows as our faith grows as we stand behind the promises of God. There are a lot of them and you need to get into God’s treasure chest of the Bible and look for them. I’ll help. For the weeks ahead we’ll be looking for the promises of God we can stand behind and build up our shield of faith.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you Lord God for giving us this tool we can use to fight off the bad in this world. What a blessing it is that by simply having faith in You and Your promises we are protected by Satan’s flaming arrows. It doesn’t stop them from coming, it doesn’t stop the sting of them when they hit but it will stop them from doing further damage beyond the sting. May we never lose heart and drop our shield knowing Your strength will keep us strong enough to hold it up high before us. We love you Jesus. In your precious name we pray. Amen (So be it).

© 2010 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Kid DEES~~~It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.

I wish I could say the world out there is full of kind and gentle people but I would be lying. Unfortunately kids often get bullied at school and it doesn’t always end there, adults do it to each other as well.

Frequently it’s done simply because someone is labeled “different” than all the others by the standards the bully has chosen to measure them by. They use all sorts of excuses like a girl who doesn’t wear make-up or own a cell-phone like everyone else. The constant picking and pecking and shoving of others around gives great pleasure to the ones who are doing it as it brings tears to the one being hurt.

After enough beatings we often begin to think it really is because we are not like everyone else. We begin to doubt who we are inside and it begins to hold us back. We can’t play the part of the bully and pick on ourselves for not being “like everyone else.” Honestly take a good look around. Are these bully’s really as great as they think they are. What has their makeup got them? What has their ownership of a cell-phone achieved them? The right to bully? The right to pick on others? No way!

Know who you are inside. God created each of us to be different, unique, and worthy of His love. It is by His standards we need to go by in our hearts. The bully at school may never stop, in fact, if they think they are losing their game they will only increase their pressure. Although harsh words can pierce even the strongest of hearts it’s important to stay strong and pride yourself in who you are, not who they are trying to make you out to be.

No one is perfect, we all have our areas where we could use some improvement but that is up to us to decide not the one doing the browbeating. Learn to walk away and to stand strong. Make up your mind before hand that you will not let it wound you to the point you begin to make the mistake of actually listening to those harassing you.

For now you may be their target physically or emotionally to pick on but you don’t have to remain their target as long as you stay strong. You will have your weak moments when it can really get to you but don’t allow yourself to lie down to be their doormat to walk over. Walk away, stay strong, and lean on those worthy of the title called, “friend.”

© 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

They Call Me, Grandma

Picture Dees #35 Playgrounds and Battlefields

Picture Dees are devotionals with a picture. Read them alone or share them with your family and friends to get the opportunity to talk out what God wants us to learn through the simple use of pictures and words.



Picture Dees #35 Playgrounds and Battlefields


When we ask Jesus into our lives we think that life is going to be a playground of endless fun and laughter. Being on the winning side with Christ it can be just that thanks to Jesus. However, there is a battlefield we all will go through as well. It’s a zone where we find ourselves fighting against the local bully of the park, Satan himself, the one who comes to cause trouble for as many people as possible. It’s important to remember it won’t always be battlefields or always playgrounds. Either way we need to stand strong in Jesus in order to come through both areas of our lives stronger and better children in God. Learn how to fight to win with Christ and learn how to play in praise to the One in charge of both our good times and bad, Jesus Christ himself.

© 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

In the news: "Abstinence Teaching"

December 30, 2008

Making the news today was the subject of abstinence. The abstinence they are talking about here is not having sex before marriage. Recent study shows that the abstinence teaching that is being done in schools are not working. The purity ring some wear to show the vow or promise they made to themselves, to God, and their future spouse is not working as the “study shows.”

Some have broken their promise and found themselves in situations that birth control would have been a better solution than abstinence teaching one lady said. Her logical advice was to stop abstinence teaching that doesn’t work and is just a waste of money.

Kids don’t listen. It works if you make it work. You will get yourself into situations where you may fall away from your promise to be pure. We all have our moments of stumbling, being weak but that should never stop us from doing what we know is right in God’s eyes. Our lives must never be based on what the “study shows” but what God wants for us.

If we went off the logic of the world we should be shutting down all Alcoholic Anonymous clubs, gambler addiction organizations, diet programs, drug rehabs, and anything else because they just don’t seem to work. In a day or two it will be entering a new year. A time where people make New Year resolutions to stop smoking, lose weight, do this or do that.

The fact is most of those resolutions are broken in less than a month. Does that make them a waste of time and effort? They can be if we don’t discipline ourselves to move forward and deal with these things in our lives. A lot of these represent areas of weakness that need to be strengthened not given in to.

Our resolution should be to learn self-discipline and how to apply it to our lives in a healthy manner using the Lord Jesus to see us through and give us what we need to succeed. Using God, through the help of His Holy Word and Spirit, to teach us how to stand up to Satan and the temptations he puts our way.

If you stumble, get back up, repent to God for your shortcoming and seek to learn from your mistakes that they will not be frequently repeated. You are a temple of God, a dwelling place where He wants to live, take care of that temple. Don’t measure yourself against the kid next to you on how easy they seem to bounce back from something they do. We all have our areas of weakness and strengths. Deal with your own not someone else’s. The avenue of prayer is a good place to start. Pray that God will help you where you are weak while using your strengths to glorify Him.

Copyright 2008 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Prayer for Protection

Prayer from Kari Jo and Fluffy…

Dear Heavenly Father, today we lift before you a prayer for our children as well as ourselves for the protection from evil. Preserve our lives, Lord. Guard us against the attacks of Satan both physically as well as spiritually.

With the Halloween season quickly approaching may Your angels forever be on duty this day and always standing between Your children and those who would like to harm them. To a small child Halloween is all about the goofiness of dressing up like a clown, tinker bell, cheerleader, or superman and receiving a feast of candy that surpasses life’s daily treats. Protect them in their innocence that some day they will understand what it’s all about. That they will turn to You for their feast of treats and blessings that surpasses any thing life itself can offer.

Help us as parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors or strangers to show the younger generation the blessings of trusting in You. What it means to lean on your hope and to rely on Your strength. What a great comfort it is to know that You are there watching over us, may we live our lives on that truth. Not as something we don’t want because of what You may catch us doing but as a blessing to know You care enough to keep an eye on Your children. We love you Father God, we love you. In Jesus’ most precious name we pray, AMEN!

A touch of History:

On Nov 1, 1165 Pope Gregory IV declared this day the Feast of all Saints from there things were added to the celebration over the years piece by piece leading to what we now call “Halloween.” All Hallow Eve came the day before All Hallow Day like Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve being the day before those major holidays.

Hallow means holy or sanctified. Some say that people dressed up in costumes the evening before all saints day to scare off any evil spirits that may be there to ruin the feast of all Saints. Other people have their explanations of the costumes as well.

A letter Pope Gregory I sent to Bishop Mellitus in the 6th century, made the suggestion that places of non-Christian worship be adopted and consecrated to serve a Christian purpose. It is when you start mixing the Christian with the Non-Christian that you are heading down the wrong pathway.

Satan often works that way in our lives taking what belongs to God and claiming it for himself. Sadly enough we sometimes help by allowing it to happen. Allowing him to overtake what he has no business touching. It happened to Halloween and it can happen to Christmas, and to our own individual lives as well too as we allow “Happy Holidays, and Merry Xmas to replace Merry Christmas.” And “it’s all about ME to replace its all about Christ.”

Stand up to Satan and keep the claim on your life where it should be, with Jesus the only Door to Heaven, the only path to a fantastic eternity with Him. Don’t leave earth without Him!