From the Home Place

Yesterday was a very unusual day as there was this watery stuff falling from the sky, something we haven’t seen for many months in this area. The weather man is predicting that this strange event will occur again today! Thank you Lord for sending some rain, we greatly appreciate Your kindness.

I remember the Spring of 1964, we had been in a three-year drought, and then God opened the skies. He sent us several wet Spring snows which made calving a bit tough, but we sure enough were grateful for the moisture.

One day it would snow an inch or two and the next day we would receive a nice rain. By the middle of May we had green grass everywhere. I can remember digging post holes with just a spade, no pry-bar needed. The ground was damp all the way to the bottom of each posthole! The amazing part was that the rains continued almost weekly through July, which made cutting hay difficult. Speaking of hay, after finishing the hay fields, we mowed pasture grass and baled it. By the end of August, I was sick and tired of haying, but God knew what we needed.

With all of the rain, our cows spent the summer, belly-deep in grass, and then that next winter they lived belly-deep in snow, all winter long. Us kids didn’t attend much for school that winter because all of the county roads around our place were closed most of the time due to the wind and the snow. All of a sudden, the “great” moisture had become a sever threat to every rancher in our area!

Tonight I am to meet with the young men I am mentoring. We have enjoyed seven weeks of God’s great blessing! You might say, He has broken the spiritual drought of those attending our studies by allowing His Holy Spirit to send us plentiful spiritual rain. Now tonight, we will enter into our second week of the deep snow and cold as we talk about spiritual warfare.

As we gathered last week, our first week of dealing with said topic, each man shared stories of how the enemy had attacked his life the previous week. I had warned my young friends that when we started our study of dealing with our spiritual enemy, that Satan and his demons would do their best to keep us discouraged and defeated. A warning that each man experienced the following week.

Last week we studied Ephesians 6:10-20 and learned how to put on “The Full Armor of God.” I’m looking forward to tonight’s gathering. Please pray that each of our young men are able to be present and that this week we will hear stories of victory over “the spiritual forces of wickedness!”

Please be praying for this group of men as we join together in Spirit to continue our lesson of Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

This verse would remind each of us about the necessity of being ready for battle with our spiritual enemy. We must do “everything” that we can do to keep our lives pure before the Lord. Sin confessed, cleansing applied, focus upon Jesus – His blood applied and His word obeyed – along with putting on “the full armor.”

You see my friends, when doing battle with “the spiritual forces of darkness,” we dare not focus upon them, we are to focus upon Jesus and His victory upon the cross of Calvary. The evil forces are always around us as Christians, so we need not look for them, nor should we pay them much attention. We are to “fix your eyes upon the Author and the Perfector of faith.”

For you see, much like aiming a gun, you tend to hit that which you keep your focus upon. That is why we must keep our focus upon Jesus Christ, even during the dark winters of life. We praise God for the moisture He is sending (spiritual blessings), yet we must all know that as those blessing continue, we should expect our enemy to attempt to cripple us spiritually, just like the winter of 64 crippled many ranchers. Yet, much like those old boys who made their way through the long, hard winter, we too will make it through our spiritual winter as long as we keep our focus upon Jesus, wearing our “full armor of God.”

One of the greatest blessings of every spiritual journey is knowing without any doubt, God’s team wins! So today, and each day, may we keep our focus upon Jesus (our part), knowing that He has won the war, even though the battle continues. Remember, we are to “not grow weary of doing good.”

Today we proclaim: “Reign Jesus reign; as You send us rain.” Praise be to God! Right now, may I encourage you to study and apply 1 Peter 5:6-11.

Standing firm with you, Neal