The best Is Yet To Come

Life gets us all `down` at times, and for some, it is quite difficult to shake it off in
a quick fashion! It just doesn't work that way for them! Sometimes it can be weeks
of attempting to fake happiness for the sake of family and friends, but inside they
are coming apart at the seams! Depression is a disease but one that can be cured!
Its not just a matter of getting the right medicine but of getting the right attitude in
this life-struggle. After all, attitude is everything!

If we want to thrive and live out the dreams and passions that God has given each of
us, then we must add to the mix the one ingredient that is an absolutely a must! Its
attitude. Not just any attitude but the `right` one which matches up to your own
personality. One that exemplifies that certain gift for each individual whom God
has molded and shaped a very `personal` plan for. The wrong attitude will contort,
shift and misshape that certain plan and vision for the one who owns it! The other
guy doesn't have your personality so he or she would respond in a different way
than you to any given situation or hardship!

Becoming the person we were born to be takes much work on a moment by moment
discipline and determination that quitting is NOT an option! If we will `line up` with
the guidance we are given through the Spirit of God and do our due-diligence as need
be, we will start to see some changes to our daily lives. Our roI have direction utine may not change
much but we as an individual will experience small, inner changes at first that will
soon manifest themselves outwardly after a while. At that time, it is `full speed ahead`
and away we go! Wooooo! That last expression was a favorite of mine which I just
throw in here and there when I get excited! Like NOW!

Becoming the best version of yourself that was created by a limitless God will happen
only when your heart and will are submissive to the guiding and direction of the Holy
Spirit! We have to be willing to let the creator have his `way` in us and not to hold
tight to our own ideals and selfish ambitions! It's just that way, people!

Guess what, though? After we make that inner decision to let God do the leading and
the prompting, we are then free to become everything he has placed along the way for
us to line-up with. Every time I have done that in my own life, which has not been
nearly enough, I have seen the hand of God move upon my own heart and pull the
curtain back so I can see the light of what he is creating in me and through me after
those moments of submission. It brings great joy and true satisfaction for me and
other's take notice pretty quickly. The opposite is also true, by the way!

I choose to believe that, by faith, my life is improving and I have direction now that
I have searched for through the decades. It has not been easy at all, but very often in
this life, the best thing's are often the hardest thing's to accomplish, but it is well-worth
it. During the hard-ships and terrible events that everyone goes through in this world
it is vital to have an attitude, a thought-process, be one that envisions success and
becoming a person who is known as a 'giver'. One who gives himself away to others
is one who has a very bright and fulfilled life! There is no questioning that because
it's a principle just as the law of gravity! A physical law is dynamic and is unchanging!
If you hold an object above your head then let go of it, what happems? It falls to the ground.
Right? So the same goes for life-principles such as thoughts. Thoughts will obey you
every time because what you think is what you become!

So as 2016 nears its end, it is my hope for all who read this that each of us will have
an attitude-checkup and change where it is needed and watch our future alter. Truly,
the best of us is yet to come!

Crunch Time Is Really Ramping Up

After the events of the presidential election and Final Trump winning the center~seat at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue coming in January and all of
the hate~speech and idiotic, demonic and criminal acts immediately following,
I think we can safely say NOW is the time for revival in this land!

Those who have for the last twenty years or more to bring down this nation
and level it's freedom~loving people to the ground, have had their plans pushed back for a time and today we clearly see the evidence of their anger and their
vitriol against Trump and the boldness he displays against them. They are showing their lack of control and frustration as the people of America courageously made their voices heard!  Now, more than ever in the history of our country, we need to be united in every area of our daily existence! In our families, in our team, in our work places and, most certainly, in our church~family!

I strongly believe that God is not yet done with the United States as far as blessing and rebuilding our land to a top world power once more and along with that, a friend of the nation of Israel, in future dealings between our two
countries. Some evangelicals believe God has given them visions of Trump being used in a very similar way that King Cyrus was used to build Israel back up into a nation of blessing and provision and helped the Jews come back home. I could easily see that being the case here as well. Let's watch very closely the deeds done within the weeks to come before the new year of 2017!

Above all, it's more important now that Christians seek God's face in repentance, fasting and praying for our new President and the direction once again to be in tune with our heavenly Father. We must choose to humble ourselves before him and allow him to have his way in America and lead us once again in the path of righteousness!

Whether one agrees or not with the election of Donald Trump is mute right now and what comes next will be vital and history~making or the lack of any godly leadership here! That's a bold statement but it is very true!

It's my prayer that I can do the same in my own life on a moment~by~moment manner and stay out of the LORD'S way.


Jeff pendleton
11/11/16

Do We Really Believe In Spiritual Warfare?

  I am perplexed, at times, how many Christians either ignore the spiritual world or just simply choose not to believe in things supernatural!  It's quite astonishing to me, actually, that for those Christians that I have conversed with on this subject, some from my own church, there are few who truly understand the reality and the seriousness of spiritual warfare. 

  The reasons for their doubts or fear on the supernatural are known only to them and God! They seem to accept the verses of the bible that speak about Jesus and salvation. His death, burial and even his resurrection but after those scriptural facts they will hit the brakes very quickly! This far but no further! Why is that, I wonder?
After all, the bible is a supernatural book and it reveals within it's holy script that we serve a real, supernatural God! How is that most Christians turn away from this very real fact which his word fully details in many passages of both old and new testament?

  If one would study God's word as he has told us to one would clearly see that the supernatural world is actually more `real`, if I can use that term, than the one we call normal! After all, truth is stranger than fiction and the bible is chalk full of evidence presented before groups of people, usually, which have caused many to repent of their sin and put there Faith in the living God, and those who have declared their faith in the coming messiah, Jesus! Beyond this there remain numerous passages which tell of talking donkeys, people raised from the dead, money found in fishes mouths, floating axe~heads and the manifestation of angelic beings appearing to those chosen for God's holy work.

  In trying to answer this myself, I believe I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people, Christians included, simply fear the unknown! They don't truly believe what they can't see, feel, touch or taste. It's actually a matter of faith and not one of physical evidence, though the before mentioned events were seen and felt by a great number of people! Today's society has been slowly programmed to believe that all they need to concern themselves with is that little square box which is the space they live in. Outside of the box, apart from themselves and their own problems and challenges, doesn't exist, in their perception of things!

  In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul the apostle tells us that we must "put on the full armour of God" in order to fight in this spiritual battle. We are instructed in the pieces of armour to wear and, by the way, there is none for the backside, if you get my meaning. He states that we must put on the "helmet of salvation", "the breastplate of rig righteousness", the "belt of truth", the "sword of the Spirit" by our side and the "shoes of the gospel of peace ( speaking of taking the gospel of Christ to the world) " and, finally, and maybe the most important piece of all...the "shield of faith" that we can stop the `fiery darts` or schemes of the devil!  Being clothed in this armour assures us that we can stand against the attacks of the enemy. Without daily putting on the armour, we are fodder for Satan!

  Demonic forces, fallen angels and ungodly entities are real folks! Once we come to terms with these facts, we will then be much closer to becoming a warrior for God, readied for the fight which comes, not day to day, but, moment by moment! The enemy never stops because he knows that he has but a short time to attempt to ruin God's plans, but he must surely realize that he has already lost the battle. At the moment of Christ's birth then his sacrificial death and wonderful resurrection from the grave, Satan was defeated for all time! End of story! Perhaps not quite the end of it but certainly the atoning death of our saviour, Jesus Christ, Satan's head was greatly `bruised` and yet he persists. 

    Until the moment of Jesus return to take his church home to heaven this war will continue to wage, so be ready and be clothed in the armour of the LORD folks, because the fight goes on every day and every moment we are awake or sleeping!
Have no fear, though, and put your trust in God Almighty to protect you and bless you in the battle.


Jeff pendleton
11/3/16