The enemy has it in for us. He will fan all false beliefs and all situations to ensure that any feelings of acceptance and self worth are at their lowest ebb. Our experiences when they are bad will appear so that they make us unacceptable to God and man. We feel rejected and think that we must earn our right to be accepted by what we do. Our fears grow beyond proportion and if he can so push things that a family or family members become abusive, then satan thinks he has won.

He will use anything; birth, gender, conception, character just to get us to be sure God does not want us. If he can find and inspire other children who will bully us or who will admire us for bullies we become. If he can find teacher who shouts or push parents to divorce he will do it. if there is illness and he can find a way to make child feel to blame or if there is a sibling to quarrel with ; parents who fall out; poverty or just a sense of being different then there is Satan with a plan to make sure that one thing we never find is father heart of a loving God.

This means our life view has to change. May I say it again? OUR LIFE VIEW HAS TO CHANGE. Until that happens we are going to continue to believe deep down ( whatever we say), father of lies.

The good news is that God actually knew about it all along and is planning if we will let him to make some changes. He was never worried about Father of lies because He knows that he has already defeated him. For every feeling of rejection, lack of self worth, self esteem, self hatred and sheer hurt through Jesus God already provided healing and a way out.

Can you hear me yet? Good.

Two plus two equal four. That will never change, will it? God is unchanging, and in Him you can not lose, no never. Whether a believer lives or dies, she wins for eternity. Wow! That’s powerful but, then again, sometimes less your mind knows better prepared your spirit is to trust God’s deliverance. Can I get an Amen?

Consider this in closing. Two plus two equal four. To verify answer, I must subtract two from it. I learned this procedure when I was in second or third grade at Southside Elementary School in Broken Arrow, OK. It blew me away! Because mathematics is an absolute, I don’t have to guess at my work. I can check and verify answers immediately. In problem above, it’s one of lesser integers that becomes paramount to answer. Is there ever an advantage to lessening sum? Yes, when you have to verify sum.

Now stop me if I’m dreaming, but I’m beginning to see a pattern here. It takes “less” to verify “more?” There’s something to the, “…pressed down shaken together…” There is great benefit in pruning excess. For me, it’s “less” I’ve come to enjoy in life that measures quality of “more.” If adding something to my life affects quality of ‘less” I don’t want it. Say what? I’m saying that my life seems to get better and richer with less I have more than more I have, especially as I get older is this true. For example, I don’t need more suits and ties—I’m retired. I don’t need fancier vehicles—they cost too much to maintain. I don’t need more parties to attend—I’m finding enrichment in being quiet before God. I don’t need more money—I’m enjoying giving away excess to Kingdom of God, and God keeps giving it back to me in greater measure.

I wished I had discovered these principles of living as a young man. But, I didn’t—you guessed it—I was too busy trying to get more.

Keep faith. Jesus is coming again.

Pastor T.