Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 1 Thessalonians 5:6.
I was shown Satan as he once was, a happy, exalted angel. Then I was shown him as he now is. He still bears a kingly form. His features are still noble, for he is an angel fallen. But the expression of his countenance is full of anxiety, care, unhappiness, malice, hate, mischief, deceit, and every evil. That brow which was once so noble, I particularly noticed. His forehead commenced from his eyes to recede. I saw that he had so long bent himself to evil that every good quality was debased, and every evil trait was developed. His eyes were cunning, sly, and showed great penetration. His frame was large, but the flesh hung loosely about his hands and face. As I beheld him, his chin was resting upon his left hand. He appeared to be in deep thought. A smile was upon his countenance, which made me tremble, it was so full of evil and satanic slyness. This smile is the one he wears just before he makes sure of his victim, and as he fastens the victim in his snare, this smile grows horrible.
The people of God must be prepared to withstand the wily foe. It is this resistance that Satan dreads. He knows better than we do the limit of his power and how easily he can be overcome if we resist and face him. Through divine strength the weakest saint is more than a match for him and all his angels, and if brought to the test he [the weakest saint] would be able to prove his superior power. Therefore Satan’s step is noiseless, his movements stealthy, and his batteries masked….
Man is Satan’s captive and is naturally inclined to follow his suggestions and do his bidding. He has in himself no power to oppose effectual resistance to evil. It is only as Christ abides in him by living faith, influencing his desires and strengthening him with strength from above, that man may venture to face so terrible a foe. Every other means of defense is utterly vain.
The Faith I Live By p.318
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Prayer Requests
—-Prayer request for Maxine who fell and they think she broke her hip. she is in her 80’s. M.
—-Please pray for me and one of my four sons. I have been in the hospital for 4 days now with pancreatitis and a bad gallbladder. Then my blood sugar dropped very low and my heart went into severe tachycardia and I have been moved into the heart unit. PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL HEAL ME AND THAT I WILL NOT HAVE TO HAVE A GALLBLADDER SURGERY. ALSO ONE OF MY FOUR SONS IS IN A VERY BAD WAY. HE HAS 3 BEAUTIFUL LITTLE KIDS WITH HIS WIFE AND HE HAS JUST FOUND OUT THAT SHE HAS BEEN MESSING AROUND ON HIM MORE THAN ONCE. HE IS JUST DEVASTATED!!! Connie
—-Please pray for George. He has just been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia in his left lung. Shirley
—-My great grandson Patrick who is a month old will be going into surgery this morning I am asking for prayer from everyone. Kristine
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Dear Friends
When I was four, my mother and I traveled to Detroit, Michigan to visit her Aunt Bessie. I thought Auntie Bessie was very old, but she was probably about my age. She had no children, although she and her husband had always wanted some. When we came to visit she was delighted. She enjoyed having a little girl around the house.
In the middle of the night, I became very thirsty. I awakened my mother, who went to the kitchen to get me a glass of water. I followed. Auntie Bessie, hearing us, got up also. When she found that I needed a drink, she fixed me lemonade instead of the water because Detroit’s water tasted so bad. Now making lemonade in those days was a lot harder than it is today. She had to squeeze the lemons and mix in sugar. She did not have the instant powered kind. It was a lot of work for her, but she was happy to do it because she loved me.
Just as my great-aunt had to go to extra work to give me something better than Detroit’s water, so we must look for opportunities and take the extra time to bring the water of life to those around us. We might have to set aside some of our needs and desires to bring them what they need, but it is worth it. It is truly a life or death situation for them even though they may not recognize it as such..
In John chapter four we find that Jesus made a special trip to bring the water of life to a Samaritan village. “Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” John 5:5-42
Let us follow the example of our Loving Saviour. Let us “preach the word; be instant in season, out of season” (1 Tim 4:2) as opportunities open before us. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will so control us that we will recognize those opportunities and be an ever-flowing channel to bring the water of life to others.
Rose
Safety in Vigilance