paravanes:meditations

  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.   Is there an "evil one"? According the Jesus, there is an evil one. In fact, Jesus speaks clearly and directly of who the "evil one" is. We'll get to that in a minute. Jesus lived the among regular, everyday people of his time. He saw the injustice, pain, and suffering experienced by the regular people of his day. Jesus was and is God, and Jesus knew the plan and purpose of creation was not suffering or injustice. Jesus explained evil and the evil one in many ways. During a confrontation with the religious leaders of his time, Jesus said this: "If God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and am now here. I have not come on my own but he sent me....

Many of us know people who, meaning well, and trying to explain so much of the confusion they experience, often say "the devil is busy." Maybe you are one of the people who say "the devil is busy>" While this statement is factually correct, it is not the truth for those who are saved, who live in the kingdom of God, who have been redeemed from death, who live looking forward to spending time and eternity with God. So, even though on some level the statement "the devil is busy" is a fact, saying this often (or at all) when encountering something that's painful, confusing, or fear-making is a very bad idea. Why is it a bad idea? Because energy follows focus. From Ephesians, Chapter 1, verses 3 through 10: 3 " Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless i...