Often as Christians we have a picture of God as the rigid and mean disciplinarian, the unrelenting judge, or the parent who is always punishing, but seldom loving. Let me help you change that picture today. As we quickly glance through Scripture, we read words describing Christ such as Advocate, Anointed One, Author of Life, Counselor, Defender, Faithful and True, Father of Compassion, Lord Who Heals, or Shepherd. Those are loving and nurturing names. Christ loves us. He wants us to return His love just as a parent wants the love of their children. It is Satan who wants us to have negative and foreboding images of God.

Not so long ago, I had a very difficult week. I had spoken many times over the weekend. I came home to see a pile of work on my desk. I didn�t feel like praying; I felt like giving up. I wanted to quit traveling and speaking. I (and Satan) managed to convince me that my speaking wasn�t doing any good anyway. I was sure no one loved me and no one would notice if I quit. I felt locked in a box of performance with little compensation or encouragement. I tried to pray, but all I could do was cry. I did manage however to let God know that I needed some love, attention, and encouragement.

I returned to my house after a brief shopping trip to find someone had left a beautiful little miniature rosebush at my door. The card simply said, �We love you.� Later several people called saying they were just �checking in,� and wanted me to know they loved me. When I finally got to my scripture reading for the day, the verse said, �Will ye also go away?� John 6:67. I felt as though Christ was saying to me personally, �Marilyn, are you going to leave Me, too?� I wept as I realized Christ loved me enough to prompt someone to leave a little rose bush at my door. He loved me enough to have friends call just to say they loved me. Then Christ arranged my devotions so that on the very day I needed to be reminded I mattered to Christ, He would so sweetly ask me, �Are you going to leave Me, too?�

Satan had constricted me and put me in a box of self pity and self-condemnation. But Christ�s love had constrained me, unlocked the box and set me free to bask in His love.

CHRIST CONSTRAINS/SATAN CONSTRICTS

MWH

Have you known someone who stood as the epitome of Christianity for you? They seemed so solid. They appeared to know God�s Word and they influenced many for Christ. Then something happened. First they became very involved in something that seemed to be on the cutting edge of Christianity. Then they seemed to almost be obsessed with their new concepts. You hesitated to even think such a thing about them because they were known for their spiritual leadership. But then you saw more disturbing trends: They became secretive and obsessive and even manipulative concerning their �new� thoughts or �new� understanding. They demanded that others do things their way. They were unbending in their procedures. Soon you saw them pull away from the organized church completely. Sometimes they may start a church, or even a cult, of their own, or they may lose their enthusiasm for Christians and Christian activity completely and become very disillusioned and non-participative.
What happened?
They have become captured by peripheral issues. Those issues became paramount in their minds. They became procedures and rules oriented. They were captured by what in the beginning was a good thing. They were chosen by God, but they were not captured. When we are captured, we are no longer free to let God work in our lives.
Oswald Chambers states: �Satan is as subtle as God is good, and he tries to counterfeit everything God does, and if he cannot counterfeit it, he will limit it. Do not be ignorant of his devices!�

Our prayer should be �That we will come to our senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken us captive to do his will� (2 Timothy 2:26 NIV).

Watch out because:

CHRIST CHOOSES/SATAN CAPTURES

MWH

In recent devotionals I have shared what I have learned about recognizing God�s voice. I believe most people hear various �voices� or �thoughts in their heads. Sometimes we hear good, helpful voices. Other times the voices or thoughts are very discouraging and demeaning. I have found we are so strongly influenced by the negative voices that we begin to believe the worst thoughts about ourselves.
Before I wrote the book, I�m Listening, Lord, I asked God to give me thoughts that would help me teach others how to know the difference between God�s voice and Satan�s voice. Almost immediately I began to write down the thoughts I have been sharing with you. I have already elaborated on Christ Convicts/Satan Condemns; Christ Clarifies/Satan Confuses. Today I want to share the concept Christ Confirms/Satan Contradicts.

Christ confirms our ideas generally through Scripture. When my husband and I were considering joining Campus Crusade for Christ, Glen needed to know that God would take care of those who received Christ through the Four Spiritual Laws, Campus Crusade�s evangelistic tract. As Glen was searching the Scripture for confirmation, God showed him John 15:16, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain.

Glen could have made the decision to join staff just because I was nagging him, but instead he waited until he had received scriptural confirmation from God.

We have become so influenced by our societal standards that we forget to check and confirm our actions with Scripture. The Bible is very clear on its stance regarding marriage, divorce, fidelity, homosexuality, modesty, and most issues we are faced with today. Satan is the one who rearranges and tries to rewrite Scripture. He has been contradicting scripture since Eve. Read Genesis 3 to see how Satan managed to contradict God�s word. To be able to check God�s word before taking any action, it is, of course, best if we have become students of God�s Word. However, we can always check a good concordance or topical Bible to get God�s perspective on the decisions we make.

�Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it� (Mark 16:20).

CHRIST CONFIRMS/SATAN CONTRADICTS

MWH

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DAY TWO

I NEED CLARITY

I walked out of the hospital after our son died as the result of a car crash caused by a drunk driver. I was thinking about the woman who had talked to me on the phone at the hospital. When I told her the doctors said Nathan was dying, the woman commented, “Oh you can’t talk like that. Death comes from Satan. If you talk like that and Nathan dies, it will be your fault because you gave up. My mind was filled with the thought, It’s your fault. It’s your fault!

This lady was a long-time Christian, but she told me a lie. I don’t think she meant to deceive me; she simply didn’t know God’s Word.
Is it possible that someone with good intent can mislead us? It even happened in Scripture. Read 1 Samuel 24:3-7. David�s loyal, faithful men….men dedicated to God, gave David wrong advice. It is possible to get wrong advice from good, Christian people.
As I walked out of the hospital, I knew that lady was wrong, but I asked God to give me a verse to help me. �Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints� (Psalm 116:15). I slowly realized my son�s death was not dependent on how his mother prayed. God called Nathan home that night, and his homecoming was precious to the Lord.

Matthew 24:11 says: �And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.�

How can we find the truth? By devouring God�s word. As we are students of Scripture, it will be clear to us when we are told a lie.

CHRIST CLARIFIES/ SATAN CONFUSES

MWH

Dear Ones,
I have been asked to share with you briefly a message I have often given. This message is included in my book, I�m Listening, Lord. I felt confident I was generally able to discern the difference between God�s voice and Satan�s voice. However, I was stumped as to how to pass this understanding on to others. When I asked God to help me teach others, this comparison/contrast outline emerged just as I am sharing it with you. Many of us are duped by Satan. It is my prayer this series of devotionals will allow you know with a certainty the difference between God�s voice and Satan�s voice.

LEARNING TO KNOW GOD’S VOICE

Have you ever believed a lie? Most of us have and then had to deal with the fact that someone we trusted had purposely deceived us. That sort of betrayal is very difficult to forgive.
But what happens when we believe a lie about ourselves? Have you ever had thoughts, �I can�t do that?� �I�m no good at that.� �They should ask someone who is more qualified and talented than I am.� �With what I have done in my past, God could never use me.� Where have those thoughts come from? Do you really think God put those thoughts in your head? No way. Those thoughts are lies and are words of condemnation. The Bible says �Therefore, there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8: 1-2)
If you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior and confessed your sins, there is NO condemnation for you from God. So where does the condemnation come from? Condemnation comes straight from Satan. Condemnation is Satan�s lies. When I know I am being attacked by Satan, my favorite word is SCRAM. Christ exposes sin; Satan exploits it.
Christ will not condemn. Christ will convict. What can you do with conviction? Conviction calls for action. The action will generally be confession to God and perhaps to someone else. Conviction often requires that we ask for forgiveness. �If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
There is nothing we can do with condemnation except to believe it or reject it. Without Christ in our lives we are powerless to reject condemnation. With Christ in our lives, we can claim the promise of Romans 8:1-2 that there is NO condemnation for us from God.

CHRIST CONVICTS/SATAN CONDEMNS

Marilyn Willett Heavilin

2 Corinthians 3:2-3, �You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.�

Well, by now the children and grandchildren are back to school whether it is public school, homeschool or private school. There are a lot of influences making impressions upon our children. Their teachers and friends can have a positive or negative impact on their lives this year.
Regardless of your children�s ages, your positive, steadfast, faithful walk with Jesus Christ can have a powerful influence on your children in a world vying for their allegiance. Dr. Paul Tripp used to say to his children when they left his door, �There�s a war going on out there and it�s being fought on the turf of your heart.� The same is true for our children, young and old. With all the negative influences surrounding your children, why not be the most positive part of their life? They are watching you. Is your faith real? Is your God worth following? Does being a Christian make a difference in your life? Be a living epistle to your children. I don�t mean to cramming it down their throats, I mean living out your faith before their very eyes. You can be the best teacher they have this year.

No matter what�.Model Christ.

Diane

We all go through all kinds of preparations to meet different people in our lives or to attend a special function. I know that each day I will make preparation for the day based on what the day may bring forth. It should be no different when we prepare to hear from God. The spiritual exercise we can practice to make ourselves fully available to hear from God is the discipline of fasting. Fasting is abstaining from something for the purpose of using that time to seek the Lord, His mind and His will for your life.

Christ addresses the issue of fasting in several ways; first he fasted for forty days in preparation for his ministry (Matt. 4:1,2), then he told us in what manner we will fast in Matt 6:6-18, and he also told us that once he leaves us we will fast again (Matt. 9:14,15). The one thing scripture does not instruct us regarding fasting is when to fast. The Focus is on God and not on those things that draw away our attention from Him and toward ourselves. Common areas we fast: food, activities, sleep and intimate relationships. This puts ourselves in the position that God can work through us and talk to us. We take the time from the activities we are fasting from to spend the time with him.

Check out some examples of fasting in scripture:

Special Revelation: Daniel 9:1-5 ~ Daniel gave ATTENTION to God with prayer and fasting. Neh. 1: 3-7 ~ Nehemiah fasted asking God to do something regarding the state of Jerusalem. In Neh. 2: 1-2 ~ God answers and makes the way for Nehemiah to rebuild the City Walls.

Direction: Acts 13 ~ God answers after the Church fasting and prayer and sends out Paul and Barnabas.

Protection: 2 Chron. 20:3-4 ~ Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast to seek help from the enemy. God answered and destroyed the enemy.

Mourning Sin, repentance and forgiveness: Deut. 9:18 ~ Moses fasted over the sins of the nation. This is the first recorded fast in scripture. Jonah 3:7-9 ~ the entire city of Nineveh was spared from destruction when they all prayed and fasted.

For Sickness: 2 Samuel 12:15-23 and Psalm 35:13 ~ David saw fasting as a way to ask God for physical healing.

Are you Sick? Are you confused? Are you in a storm? Do you need answers? Do not underestimate the power of fasting. Never forget the power of prayer!

LDJ

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Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God our Maker. Psalm 95:6

Now, I will not pretend to be an expert on worship in fact my brother-in-law and sister would be more equipped to write a devotional on this topic. BUT, I am called to worship just as they have been called to worship.

Personal Worship helps us to re-align our focus on God daily: Psalms 34:1-3, Hebrews 13:15. Personal Worship prepares us for corporate worship. Consider this thought: �If you will not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week.� A.W. Tozer God is looking for us to be his worshipers; Jesus declares �The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him� John 4:23. In today�s society we can tend to worship other people and things, scripture tells us that we are only to worship God (Matt. 4:10). Today our focus on worship is not on how we do it, but that we are united spiritually with Him. Our worship must come from the heart, not from ritual or form. Rom. 12:1 clearly tells us that worship is more than singing, praising, and praying.

I am an advocate of service and ministry and fully believe in some way God has called us to serve. �Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Then he says �Love your neighbor as yourself.� Mark 12:30-31. Clearly worship is first, service second. God is calling us back to worship � He is calling us back to focus on Him and not just on what we are doing for Him. Brother Lawrence wrote a wonderful book called �Practicing the Presence of God�. That is worship � placing our daily focus on Him through praise, adoration, and thanksgiving.

So, who do you worship? Where is your focus? Is it on yourself, your things, the world, on others, on what you do for him, or is it on Him?

LDJ

As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray. Martin Luther

Yes, that is what scripture tells us to do. However, I am personally aware of how difficult the discipline of prayer is to form and maintain in our lives. I find quick prayers to be what comes natural for me that constant petition to God when I think of a need, hear a request or am truly amazed at His work. Unfortunately: Spontaneity isn’t an excuse for me to ignore the importance of discipline in my prayer life (Disciplines of a Godly Woman) Not that we should stop our quick prayers, because there is a definite place for them in our lives.

Elizabeth Elliot challenges us to Offer to God the first hour of the day as a token of consecration of all our time.

Why should we pray?
1. Because God tells us to: 1 Tim 2:8; Psalms 145:18; Luke 22:40
2. Because God invites us to: Matt. 11:28, 29; Song of Solomon 2:14
3. Because God answers us: 1 John 5:14; Matt. 21:22; John 14:13-34

Why don’t we pray more?
1. Because we are under spiritual warfare ~ Satan does not want us in communion with God. Ephesians 6:12
2. Because we don’t believe God will answer: James 5:13-18 tells us that the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
3. Because there may be sin in our lives: Romans 8:7 The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.
4. Because we do not care that much: Galatians 6:2 commands us to bear the burdens of others.

Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter to look upon God? A.W. Tozer

What is Prayer? It is a combination of Meditation, Confession, Adoration, Thanksgiving Supplication and Intercession. Begin to practice praying by praying through each of the areas as you meet with God. Just talk to HIM!

�When we remember God�s goodness and acknowledge what He has done for us in the past, we open the door into His presence. When we omit thanksgiving from our prayers, we rob God of an honor due Him, and we render our prayers powerless.� Lehman Strauss

LDJ/JCH

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We have already looked at fasting and prayer, but how about rest. Think about it — you cannot practice either without slowing up our lives. John Ortberg in his book the Life You’ve Always Wanted states that Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.

Jesus was very aware of this kind of lifestyle problem. We see over and over again in scripture where he withdrew from the crowds and activities. In Mark 6:31, he taught his followers to do the same… Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Mark also records that Jesus took his disciples aside to rest in 3:7-9; 6:45; 7:24; 9:30. I don’t know about you, but if Jesus and his disciples needed rest I most certainly need it too. In fact, as I have told you about my physical struggles in the past one thing the doctors have repeated told me is to SLOW down and rest. I am guilty as the next person of trying to do all and cram it all into life. Those of us in ministry also struggle with taking time out to rest. It is not easy with family, jobs, and other demands placed before us.

Just as fasting means to refrain from something, so solitude and rest means to refrain from society. Henri Nouwen wrote, In solitude, I get rid of my scaffolding. Scaffolding is all the stuff we use to keep ourselves propped up. In solitude and rest everyone is truly just as I am.

We need daily solitude and rest � even if in small chunks. Then we need a time of extended solitude for a day (or more) to really recoup. When my body gets physically tired I crash, I mean I literally cannot get out of bed even though I really want to. We need to take solitude from life before we crash so that we can deal with life issues as they come along. We need time to reset our emotional and spiritual clocks. Find your moments of solitude, plan in times of rest. Jesus DID.

Psalms 46:10 �Be Still and know that I am God.�