This year has been one of drastic change for many of us and I want to encourage you to keep your eyes focused squarely on Jesus Christ. Jesus told us that troubled times would come and He also promised that He would go through them with us. He also promised that He would give us the necessary strength to walk through those difficulties.

Jesus can always be trusted. God our Father can always be depended upon. The Holy Spirit can always be called upon for help and guidance.

So, no matter what horrible events happen in our country, no matter what terrifying news we receive, we can turn to God; in fact, we should turn to Him. He is our loving Father, our caring Creator who wants to have a close and personal relationship with us.

None of us can understand why men randomly fire upon innocent men, women, and children and then kill themselves. What we can and should understand is that we live in a fallen world, a world that has been corrupted by sin. Don has written an excellent message that explains how horrific events like the recent shootings can be instigated by demons. I encourage you to watch it and learn about this unseen world that influences our lives.

Our physical world is only half of the real world around us, the other half is the spiritual world–both good spiritual and evil spiritual. Once we understand that, we can learn to see what motivates evil in our world and why.

The Bible tells us that Satan was cast out of Heaven by God and that he was cast down to the earth. Just because we don’t see a physical body doesn’t mean he isn’t here. He rules this world from a spiritual dimension that we cannot see.

Have you ever walked by a dark alley entrance at dusk or at night and felt chills down your spine or hackles rise up on your neck. These are your “instincts” warning you of danger. That is your spiritual self sensing the evil demons lurking about. Your instinct tells you to walk fast and get to the light. That is your spirit man urging you to get away from the evil demons.

God gave us these instincts for our protection. In the same way that we sense the evil around us, we can also sense the good. Remember how you got “goose bumps” when someone shared how they miraculously survived a car wreck or when you hear beautiful Christian music? Same thing. Your spirit-man is responding to the Holy Spirit and to the presence of God’s Angels.

This sensitivity to the Spiritual World that God created is a good thing and we sometimes have to learn to listen. Be careful to listen to God and what He says about the spiritual world. There are many deceptive demons who have disguised themselves as the New Age movement, nature worship, angel worship etc.  God is a jealous God and His First Commandment is that we have no other gods before Him.

Anything that urges you to think of yourself as a god and all-knowing is a lie.  Anything that says you are self-sufficient and don’t need God is a lie. Anything that says God needs help is a lie.

I could go on and on and on about the many lies that have been propagated over the years and still not cover them all because new ones continually crop up.  The best way to recognize a lie is to be so familiar with and knowledgeable about the truth that you will instantly see a lie for what it is.

Please take some time to read the first four Books of the New Testament in the Bible. These are commonly known as the Gospels and they tell us about the life of Jesus, about God’s plan for us, and about how much He wants a relationship with each one of us. These books are names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You’ll find the story of Jesus’ birth recorded there as well so this makes for good reading during this season.

God knows what is going on in our world and He grieves with us. He weeps when we weep, He hurts when we hurt. He doesn’t want the evil here any more than we do. It was man who first sinned and broke our relationship with God. It is only through repentance and seeking Jesus Christ that our relationship with God can be restored.  This is the only way we can find peace in this life.

This is not a theory or something I’ve read about or heard about. This peace is real and I found it myself when I repented of my sin and asked Jesus to come into my heart and into my life. You can have peace and security too even in the middle of  the turmoil of this world. I hope you will read the Gospels for yourself and act upon what you read. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes as you read; ask Jesus to make Himself real to you.  He will!

God bless you always,

Dottie