Whenever you hear the Word of God speaks to you, Satan comes immediately to steal that word. Commonly this is done by distraction so subtle that most of the time you don’t even realize what happened. You were reading the Scripture and then the next thing you know, you are at the end of the chapter and you have no idea what you just read.

While reading, your mind was flooded with suddenly important reminders of what you must do that day or perhaps an unresolved argument from the night before. The devil comes to steal that word because he is afraid you might actually believe what you read, gain faith and thus be saved from your trial.

If he can’t distract you, he will attempt to confuse you and block your understanding of the word. Satan can’t physically stop you from picking up the Bible and reading, but he will try to distract you, confuse you or make you not understand what you just read.

When you find this happening, stop reading for a moment, ask the Holy Spirit to help you and declare out loud if necessary, that today you will read and you will hear and you will understand the Word of God. Furthermore, you will not be a forgetful hearer, but an obedient hearer who does what the Word instructs. Let faith arise and give the devil
an aneurism today!

_Back in the 1950s, there was a lot of talk about the future. There seemed to be a utopian dream here in America in which we thought things in the future would be better and that technology would solve our problems. Well, we have lived long enough to know that this is not going to happen. Technology won't save us. No manmade solution will deliver the answers we are looking for.

As Christians, we are here on this earth for a mission. We have tasks from heaven that we need to fulfill. So how should we be living in light of that fact? What all of us should desire to be doing is to live our lives well.

If you had one year left to live, how would you live? Would you live your life any differently than you did the year before? This is something we have to come to grips with because we want to deal with reality of life in the future. It isn't morbid to think about death; it is realistic. The tragic thing is that many today are living shallow, wasted lives. Are you?

What have you done with your life the past 20, 30, or 40 years? Most spend their lives for themselves... this is a wasted life. At the end of the day, the only thing that count is what have you done to serve the purpose of God in your life.

Friends, don't waste your life anymore. Don't waste your year. Don't waste today. Make every day count. Make this year count!!

_Sometimes people on road crews are not very popular. It seems they always do things at the worst time, like during rush hour. They block off the entire freeway, while, they are way over on the other side doing their work. Some people get rather angry with them.

John the Baptist was on God's road crew. He was described as "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight... "(Luke 3:4-5). The word for "crying" could be translated "howling." He had a job to do, and he realized that he had a relatively short period of time to do it. His job was much like that of a herald who went ahead of a royal procession.

John was there to prepare the way for the Lord. He was on God's road crew, leveling the mountains, bringing up the low places. It was his task to prepare the nation for the Messiah and then to present the Messiah to them—and he wasn't very popular for it.

In a sense, that is our job as Christians as well. We need to realize that like John, our time is limited. We have to make every moment count. We don't want to waste time. And like John, we should be doing what we have been called to do.

_There are people today who say, "I am a Christian," but they are out getting drunk. They say, "I am a Christian," but they are having premarital sex or being unfaithful to their husband or wife. They say, "I am a Christian," but in their business, they lie to people every single day. They distort things. There are a lot of people today who think they are Christians but are not, because they have not really changed. They are not living according to what the Bible teaches.

I am not saying that a Christian cannot sin. I am not saying that a Christian won't slip up.  But I am saying that there is a big difference between a person who slips up, sins, is sorry for it, and wants to change and a person who lives in continual, willful, habitual sin.

The Bible says that if you live that way, you don't know God. They think being a Christian is just having Jesus along for the ride. They don't realize that He wants to be their Lord and wants to lead and guide them. Jesus Christ wants to be the Lord of every aspect of your life. He wants to be the Lord of all. And if He is not Lord of all of your life then He is not your Lord at all.

_Remember the group Milli Vanilli? They enjoyed great success until it was revealed that they did not sing on their own records. Everyone found out that Milli Vanilli didn't really do what they said they did. Milli Vanilli had to "face the music".

The phrase, "face the music," originated in Japan. A man was a part of the Imperial Orchestra, but he could not play a note. But because he was a man of great wealth, he demanded a place in the group. The conductor gave him a seat in the second row of the orchestra, and he was given a little flute. During the concert, he would raise his instrument and move his fingers as though he were playing. But he never made a sound.

This deception went on for two years until a new conductor took over and wanted to personally audition every player. One by one, the musicians performed in his presence. Then came the flautist's turn, and he had to admit he was a fake. He couldn't "face the music."

None of us can live this life flawlessly. But there is a difference between a person who seeks to live a godly life and a person who tries to appear to be more spiritual than he or she really is. It has been said that you can fool all of the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool God any of the time. Are you living godly before the Lord?

_Today people are thinking about what to do to prolong their lives, whether it is through stem cell research, cloning, cryonics, or the latest potion or lotion. People can eat all the tofu and wheat germ they want, but their lives will end when they are going to end.

According to a LIFE magazine cover story, there are some scientists who suggest that we can and will stop aging. Is it really true? But the article went on to ask whether we would really want to stop aging. In other words, do we really want to live forever? I guess it comes down to what kind of life you are living. Medical science can seek to add years to your life, but only God can add life to your years and give you a life that is worth living.

Our objective as Christians should not be to merely live long lives; our objective should be to live full lives, meaningful lives, and purposeful lives. Seek not a long life, but a full one, like Lord Jesus. Life is not a matter of years; it is a matter of what we do with them. What are you doing with the years God has given you?

_If you haven't felt the joy of the Lord in your life, if you have been feeling spiritually dry, or if your faith doesn't feel all that real to you right now, then let yourself this, "When is the last time I shared my faith with someone? When is the last time you had a conversation with someone about what you believe?"

Christian life is not meant to be hoarded; it is meant to be shared. You have been blessed to be a blessing to others, not to keep it to yourself. Do you want a generous soul?

Here is what it comes down to: as you start declaring what God has done for you, in some ways it will become more real to you as you make it real to others. As you are taking in truth and growing in your faith, you need to share it with someone else. Every believer needs to do this. This is how we grow in our passion to what we believe.

As you continue your fast, ask the Lord to continue to open your eyes to be witness for others. The purpose of your fasting is to make you to become more sensitive to God and His voice. And it is always the heart of God to see people come to His salvation.

_The Bible compares the Christian life not to only running a race, but also to walking a walk. Isaiah 40:31 says, "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

The Book of Genesis tells us about a man named Enoch, who walked with God for three hundred years. Enoch teaches us the importance of pacing ourselves in the spiritual race. I bring this up because there are people who have a yo-yo relationship with God (either they are fully backslidden or they are passionate about God).They haven't learned to pace themselves.

Doesn't matter if you had a lot of energy at the beginning on 25 mile bike ride. If you don't maintain your stamina, you will have no strength left in the middle of the road. The same is true in the spiritual race. The objective is not to just run fast. It is to run long. Finish. That is the objective.

If you want to grow up spiritually, then you need to pace yourself in this race of life--because you are in it for the long haul. Fasting can help to maintain the spiritual stamina of your life.

_One day Jesus told a story of two men who built two homes. They may have been at the same time and might even had the same floor plan. One of the builders erected his home on shifting sand, while the other built on a stable rock foundation.

Then the storms came hitting both of those houses--hard! The house that had been built on sand collapsed while the one built on the rock stood firm. The obvious moral of the story is to build your life on a foundation that will last. But here's something we often miss. The storm came to both lives and the rain poured on both building sites!! No one is exempt from the storm.

Friends, we will all experience storms in life. Good things will happen to us, as well as tragic and inexplicable things. As much as we would like to believe otherwise, none of us can take an extended vacation beyond the reach of human suffering and tragedy. But we most not forget that God is in control of the life of the Christian and can actually bring good out of bad.

Life is a process and, as finite beings who live moment to moment, we can't see around the bend. But we can know this: He is watching and caring, in control and loving us with an everlasting love.

_To most people, math is no fun. Most think of it as the subject in school that was just there to bring our GPA down. But did you know that math is important-especially in God's equation for our lives. He uses math principle in our lives to work out his supernatural equation.

When it comes to applying God's math, most of us don't mind adding. We love to add new things because it can make life exciting and new. But we tend to balk at applying subtraction to life.

What we need to understand is that subtraction is just as important in God's math as addition is. God does not always ask us, "What are you doing?" Many times he asks us, "What are you not doing that you were doing before?" He wants us to subtract those things from our lives that are hurtful or unproductive. God tells us that subtraction is vital for our growth.

What is God telling you to subtract from your life? Is it a harmful habit or a draining relationship? Whatever it is, God wants you to subtract it from your life so that you can grow. This week, evaluate your life and apply his mathematical equation. Don't just focus addition-remember that subtraction is just as important.