Friends vs enemies

1 Peter 5:8-9 is really coming alive for me right now.  I’ve always been aware that there is an enemy lurking, waiting to destroy all believers.  Look at the state of the church right now.

I have two people in my life right now who keep telling me that they are my friends. I know that they aren’t.  But they keep insisting.  Yesterday, one of my “friends” gave me a speech, telling me that I shouldn’t be naive, that not everyone is my friend.

The problem with these people is that they look like my friends.  They appear to be doing things to help me.  But the reality is that I know that they are actually working to destroy me.  Not physically.  Not even professionally.  In the small things.  Placing seeds of doubt into the minds of those around me as to my competency.  Attempting to place seeds of doubt in my mind about people that I call friend.

The enemy of the Christian is much the same.  He doesn’t really look like an enemy.  He looks inoccuous.  But I have a question for you?  Who saw the plague infected flea that bit him and ended up killing him?  How many see the malaria in the mosquito that bites their arm, killing them? 

Today, I challenge you to be wary.  Watch out.  Pray.  Fight the enemy friends.  If you stand up against him, he will flee.

 

Taste and see

Psalm 34:8 says, ” 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”  I have quoted that scripture but until this Sunday, I really didn’t know what it meant.

Life’s been tough.  But, I’ve held onto all of the stuff myself.  Not really blaming anyone for my decisions…more like taking the beating in a self-loathing kind of way.  On Sunday, I had the option of taking communion.  It has been a really long time since I’ve taken communion.  I felt a prodding to go forward for communion, but in my head I heard the story of the person who took communion in the New Testament and died.  Finally God said to me, “Deneen, why will you not partake in My feast?”  I started to tear up.  Then I got up and took communion.  Let me tell you something.  Never did communion taste so sweet to my soul.  And never before did I appreciate the magnitude of the sacrifice represented by the bread and juice of which I partook.

I know that the Bible isn’t literal…but for me that scripture was never so vivid as when I took communion.

Last night I fell asleep praying like I’ve not prayed in a long time.  I woke up like any other day.  Only it wasn’t any other day.  I prayed on my way to work this morning.  I dedicated my eyes, my ears, my thoughts, my hands to God.  My circumstances didn’t change.  My view on certain people and things didn’t change.  But something inside me had changed.  I took refuge in the Lord.  When it got to be too much, I read a scripture–Isaiah 40:28-31-which brought me peace. 

Something happens when we partake in communion.  Something that surpasses natural logic.  I cannot point to a specific something that changed.  Empirically I still work for the same company, in the same building.  I still drive the same number of miles and work with the same people.  But something in me changed.

If you are reading this, I challenge you to taste and and see that the Lord is good.