Well, lets start with the update from this week since it has been two days since I last blogged. John has been very busy this week working on preparing the church for building. He bought supplies and had them delivered and has been swinging a hammer the rest of the week. Three blisters at least to show for it. We were out there last night for a church service. John of course was asked to preach again. He was preaching on the foundation of our lives which I thought was appropriate for the occasion since right beside us they were working on the building of the foundation on the church. The two fit together quite well. These last two days have been much slower for the kids and I. We have worked on North American school and I have been tending to Kyle's arm scrape. It is taking an extra long time to heal and we are going to have to be more aggressive in getting rid of the infection before it gets worse. I'm sure it will be fine but certainly something I feel needs prayer at this point. We have received some encouraging words from someone in the states about just keeping on regarding the children's home, so we are going to hold our heads up high and trust in the Lord to do what we understand Him to have called us to down here.
Since I am talking about discouragement and the power of Satan I think it is fitting to add a little something here from the Bible. The story of Esther is a fascinating one. One that I think gets looked over a bit too easily because so many people know the basic story. I usually don't put Satan in the story of Esther much but today as I was studying I realized there is a pretty big spiritual battle going on in the story. Haman is the man acting the part of Satan. He comes with many disguises and angles to try and destroy. He uses tactics we as humans so easily get trapped by. For example, Haman is caught up in the materialism of the world, or the power. Haman wanted to be the best of the best. He wanted to be at the top of the ladder and obviously was willing to do whatever it took to get there. This would of course include the killing of the Jews especially Mordecai. He had a plan which Satan also, always has. Satan does not attack with random events. He plans out his attack methodically and knows the exact point of our failure or weakness. Satan like Haman was/is proud, petty, immoral, full of wrath and full of scorn, and basically is a destroyer. Nothing will stop Satan from hurting us and our lives. Remember why Satan fell as an angel? He was proud and desired power. Haman was the same. He wanted no other man to be given honor or authority. We have to always be ready for the attacks. We have to spend time at the different gates of the temple. Hopefully you have accepted my challenge from the last blog and researched some of the different gates in the temple that were being repaired and have spent time at each one. We have to be prepared. No general or leader will go out unprepared. They train for battle, they study the different techniques of attack and they learn about their enemy. It is the same with football. There is no football team that will spend the week just goofing off. Each team that wants to win will take the time to study videos of the other team(enemy), they will runs different plays that will overtake the opposition and they will improve themselves. We as players in a game(that would be the game of life) must also do the same. We need to study the enemy(learning the different tactics of satan from scripture), we need to learn different plays(memorizing scripture so we can defeat the enemy when he attacks) and we need to improve ourselves(reading the bible and praying). God will honor our behavior if it is pleasing and right with what scripture says. We all must realize there is a spiritual battle going on in our lives right now, today, and everyday. As North Americans, it is easy to convince ourselves that the spiritual battles are in other countries and not ours but that is a tactic of Satan. We believe we will not be attacked and so we are not prepared. My challenge to myself and those who read this is to be more prepared. Spend more time in the Word and praying so that when we are attacked God will win and not satan. He promises to help us when we pray and so we should believe.
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