“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (NIV) Ephesians 6: 13

Today, so much evil abound in this world and we seek refuge for our dear souls. So many entangling issues come our way and we wonder the way out as Christians. In our day-to-day relationships, we are faced with tough times as we thrive to live lives that are worthy of our calling as children of God. Sometimes we have to make tough decisions as well; decisions that may affect the people around us and cause us to bear certain consequences. So the question is; what do we do in times like these?

We can learn from our Master. The Lord Jesus anticipated evil when He said, “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23, 27). He concluded by saying “now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour”. Jesus was troubled within because of the evil He anticipated, yet He knew it was part of His destiny. The next thing He did was to go and pray, and the word of God says “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him" (Luke 22: 43).

To face tough times and win, we need strength from within, and that strength comes from God when we pray. We must understand that evil is not supposed to destroy us because God would not allow that to happen. We must know that all the temptations and challenges that come our way in this world are such that they are common to man; but God is faithful so He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we can bear. He will make a way of escape that we may be able to bear the temptation (1 Cor. 10:13).

That way of escape is in His Word. We must constantly and daily declare God’s word in earnest, heartfelt and continued prayer. We must not give up in our prayers. Trusting in God during the tough times is our sure way to win because He will always make a way where there seems to be no way.

Focus on the Master, not the meat || More

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." (NLT) 1 Corinthians 10:13

A story is told of a dog and his master. The dog couldn’t resist the temptation of stealing his master’s meat despite incessant warnings from his master not to touch it. Anytime he steals the meat and eats it, he becomes grief-stricken and his guilty conscience will not even allow him to wiggle his tail to meet his master as he comes home from work.

Deep down, his relationship with his master matters more to him than the fleeting pleasure of feasting on his master’s meat. However, any time he turns his gaze on his master’s meat he can’t just resist its allurements.

Finally, he was struck by a thought: “What if I fix my gaze on my master and not the meat?” He realized there and then that if he focuses on his master, he will always remember his directive of not touching the meat and that can save him from that temptation.

As we strive to truly represent Christ here on earth, the temptation to sin will forever be on our trail. We can become like Oscar Wilde and say: “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it … I can resist everything but temptation” or we can lock our focus on our Master Jesus who will always show us the way out of temptations.

Yield not to temptation, for yielding, is sin

Each victory will help you or some others to win

Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue

Look ever to Jesus and He’ll carry you through

Reason or Passion || More

“…Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (NIV) Mk. 8:34

The most difficult aspect of adult life is decision making. The exercise of the power of choice God gave us is not easy as we journey on the issues of life. As Christians, we keep struggling between fulfilling our physical pleasures or denying ourselves for the sake of the cross. Sin has been renamed and repackaged in several ways to deceive the believer. The advertisement for evil practices has become so enticing that many are unable to resist. This has promoted so many vices such as addictions, uncontrolled tongue, hot tempers and staying in sin instead of staying true to God.

Self-control is the use of will power, self-motivation and divine support to master one’s desires and passions, especially sensual appetites or governing yourself instead of letting some other person, other desires, and other forces to control you. We can control and master our lives first by becoming Christians and continuously following the instructions of the Bible. Being obedient to the word of God will ensure that we do what is always right and with assistance from the Holy Spirit, we can control every aspect of our lives.

An uncontrolled self is a recipe for indulging in all the wrong things we can think about. There is always a great battle between godly reason and lustful passion for every decision we take. When godly reason wins over passion, there is complete self-control. However, when passion wins over godly reason, unbridled lust is in control of self. The ability to master oneself is essential for success in many aspects of our lives; becoming a Christian (Acts 24:25), being happy, unity in the Lord’s church, leading a pure and godly life, happy marriage and being a faithful, fulfilled person (Eccl. 12:13-14).

Sin must not control us to live for ourselves. We must rather be inclined to live for Christ (Gal. 2:20). Let us use spiritual reasoning to control our lives and not our canal passions.

A beautiful life || More

"Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (NIV) Psalm 34:12-14

It is the desire of many people to enjoy life to the fullest and have fulfilled dreams. This is usually understood to be going beyond meeting basic needs to living in luxury, pleasure and fulfilled dreams. The Psalmist discusses three basic things that affect our lives –the things we say, the things we do and our relationships with other people.

To enjoy this transient life on earth and the eternal one promised by God, we are admonished to keep our tongues from evil and our lips from telling lies. Men cannot spit forth poison without feeling some of the venom burning their own flesh. Deceit must earnestly be avoided by the man who desires happiness. Clean and honest conversation, by keeping the conscience at ease, promotes happiness. Lying and wicked talk stuffs our pillows with thorns, and makes life a constant whirl of fear and shame. Jesus admonishes us in Matthew 12:37 that- "For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned". Let us value our speech towards ourselves, our fellow workmates and children as it can mar the enjoyment of our lives. In Ephesians 4:29, we are once again advised to protect our tongues with diligence. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

From verse 14 of Psalm 34, we are entreated to shun evil. This denotes that evil is immediate to us; it keeps close to us, and should be declined and shunned. In order to see many good days, we must avoid all sorts of evil: - evil men and their evil company, evil things, evil words and works, and all appearances of evil (Gal. 5:19-21). In departing from evil, we are implored to do good. Negative goodness is not sufficient to entitle us to heaven. There are some of us who live upon negatives; we are not drunkards, we are not swearers, we are not fornicators, we do not lie and for this we pride ourselves. That’s how the Pharisee was living in Luke 18:11, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector". We are bid, not only to cease from evil, but to do good. In this year, let us not become weary in doing good; we should do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers, as often as we have the opportunity (Gal. 6:9-10).

The final part of verse 14 of Psalm 34, entreats us to seek peace. Not merely prefer it, but with zeal and care we should endeavour to seek peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, we should seek Him and He will put His peace in our hearts. In John 16:33, Jesus comforted the disciples with these words: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Only God can grant the calmness in our hearts to face the challenges in this world. When we get hold of this stillness in our hearts, we are admonished to promote it to our fellow men. Nothing can more effectively promote our own happiness than the peace we seek with others. Strife awakens passions which eat into the heart with corroding power. Although peace may soon be lost between us and others, we must do our best to retain it. The word of God continues to beseech us that, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Rom. 12: 18). The peace which we thus promote will be returned into our own bosom, and be a perpetual spring of comfort to us.

The man who abounds with blessings || More