Spiritual Warfare Part II

Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The items I bring up today are once again derived from Matt's message at Grace Family last Sunday night. It's not really the second part. I just split it up into two days so it made more sense as I relay all this to you in the best way I can.

How many times have you heard me say to do everything you do so that it will glorify God? Probably at least a few. Matt literally played devil's advocate and asked something like, "Sometimes we glorify God, but don't we also glorify the devil (instead of God) when we give into fleshly things? We think about the things in the flesh and not in the spirit." He also gave us an example and said "that guy that you ran into yesterday may have been a complete jerk, but instead look at the situation from a spiritual standpoint. That calls for looking at the challenges this individual is facing in their life."

That led Matt to tell us to pray for those suffering and struggling to get through anything. If you see someone encountering such pain, go up to them and ask "Can I pray for you?" They'll probably say yes. It will be very likely to make a difference and I'm sure they will find peace in their lives. The person might be baffled as to why you would do such an unworldly thing, but I challenge you to do it anyway. We all need to take a step out of our comfort zones. In fact, it's much easier to glorify God that way than worrying about if the things we do everyday glorify him. If we step out of our normal realm and do something that is good, and it comes from the heart, surely it must make God happy. Remember, what part of the scripture reading said yesterday..."Keep praying for the saints."

Matt said an amazing quote at the end of his message and it went like this... "Are we asked to represent God? Yes, but we also need to RE - PRESENT God in a loving way to others!" Isn't that great? I love it!

The world is a dark place. Those in the dark don't know the truth about God's love and authority (like we talked about yesterday). The devil hates God and can easily steal you from receiving any Godly love. Live for God all the time as you show it to others.

However, I tell you don't let anything get between you and God, including you-know-who. Give everything to God and let him "Take It All" so that you can live for him and be the truth that everyone else needs to see. "Take It All" is the song we sang by Hillsong United at the youth group Sunday night. I hadn't heard that song in years, but I do love it. Take a listen!



P.S. If you have trouble with the video stopping and starting, keep the video paused, and let it "buffer" (load) as it's called for a while. You will see the red bar along the bottom advance (speed depends on your Internet connection). Wait until that bar gets pretty far along (I'd say more than halfway) before you play the video and it shouldn't pause.

GOD BLESS YOU MATT!!! I'm so glad I was able to get so much from your message. Keep up the good work :)