A Summer Thief - Be On Guard!

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into - Luke 12:39

I awoke this morning feeling close to God. Perhaps it was that the last major thing I did last night was pray with a wonderful brother in Christ. Or, perhaps it was that it was how smoothly the morning wen; how refreshed I was by a great nights sleep.

The notion of my serene and peaceful heart got me thinking, "hat are the times when you and I are most vulnerable to being caught off guard by the enemy of our souls?" I was reading through the history of Israel and there it was. Apparently and historically one of those times is just after we've had a great victory. We are doing a study right now at the Church on Rogers on the Life of Christ. It wasn't much of a leap to consider Jesus and His life. When He was baptized and was about to begin His public ministry. He was taken away into the desert to be tempted by satan. First, great victory in the form of obedience to the Father and then comes the trial.

Leisure time is another place in which satan seeks to take us off our normal routine of personal quiet times. I have grown accustomed to recognizing either my sinful nature rising up in me or the enemies attacks on me or my life in the normal routine of everyday living. I am also convinced that if you are growing in the knowledge of God the Father that our senses are tuned to the need to draw upon God's Spirit to see us through the activities of each day.

However, when we get away from our routine and go on vacation, we can often drop these routines. We wrongfully think that we do not need to spend time with the Lord during leisure times. We take a vacation from our communications and times with God.

This is a grave mistake. The vacation becomes a test of character. During vacations we turn freely to what we enjoy and perhaps get least of during the rest of the year. But also, the vacation reveals to us what is at the core of our existence.

A teacher in a large school reportedly said, "The greatest difficulty we encounter is the summer vacation. Just when we have brought a student to a certain discipline and place in their study habits, we lose him; when he comes back we have to begin all over again." It is the same in our spiritual lives. It only takes a small crack in the door of our heart to lose our spiritual focus and take 2 steps backward.

This summer, be on guard when times of retreat are made available to you. Use these times for spiritual refreshment, not just physical refreshment and/or a time to rebuild relationships on earth. Find new ways to walk hand in hand with your God. and in this way you will keep the thief from entering the house which is your soul.

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~