Week #31 Satan

He goes by many names...Satan, the Devil, El Diablo...and he is very real! There is a such thing as spiritual warfare, and believe it or not, there are such things as angels and demons. But this week I want to look into who the devil is and why he is where he is.

Satan and his demons are fighting for souls. Your soul, my soul, and your friend's souls. He is a fallen angel who was booted out of heaven because he rebelled against God. All of the angels that were loyal to satan were also thrown out of heaven...they're what we call demons. Satan wants to defeat God and rule the world. There is one major reason satan hasn't accomplished his goals. That reason is God. God is more powerful than satan. We see in Job 1 and Job 2 that satan has to get permission from God before he acts.

Don't misunderstand what I am saying here...satan is very powerful and has the ability to do a lot of things that could really mess up your life. I just want you to know that when it is all said and done, God and His people will be victorious, not satan (Revelation 20:10). God allows satan to wield a lot of power over the earth for now, because God does not force people to love Him. We have to choose between God and satan. Until we make that decision, satan will do everything in his power to keep us from following God. Once we have chosen to follow God, the battle doesn't end. Instead, satan's new plan is to destroy our walks with God and ruin our testimony. But...with God's great power we can defeat satan.

We have to be aware of the battle going on for our souls. I hope we all have a better understanding of who satan is, and what his goals are. I put different verses up on the right side of the page ---> about satan. Next week we will talk about spiritual warfare and the different ways satan preys on and attacks the world and especially God's children.

Week #30 What is True Success?

We all want good things. We want to have decent cars, nice clothes, a high paying job, a nice house, and our own personal chef. These are things I think we can all agree on. But does having these things mean our lives are successful? How does God view true success?

It is natural to want to be successful. Nobody wants to be a failure (I used to, but not anymore). When thinking about success, it is important for us to be sure that we have God's perspective on success. I doubt very many of us view success the same way God does. True success is not how much money we may make, how famous we may become, or how much we may accomplish over a lifetime. True success is obeying God and His commands. If we are obedient to God, we will accomplish all that He wants us to accomplish, and that is enough.

In Jeremiah 45:2-5, God tells Baruch not to seek out great things for himself, but to simply do what the Lord told him and the Lord would take care of him. If we are obedient to God, He will take care of us and we will be successful wherever He leads us. We may not be successful as the world would define success, but we will be successful in God's eyes...which is what truly matters. We endure our greatest successes when we allow God to carry out His plans through us.

God created each one of us for a purpose. We are all blessed with certain skills and talents. He wants us to make use of the skills and opportunities He provides us with. If we listen and obey God, we will be successful.