We are in the midst of a war between good and bad. The war has raged for centuries and will continue to rage until the final hour when the earth is eventually destroyed and a new earth is created. This war consists of a series of battles.

Our war that we fight is not a physical war, but rather a spiritual war. It takes place mainly in the mind. On one side you know what is right and what is good. You know what Jesus would like you to do. On the other side, you have the Tempter - Satan, edging you and tempting you to do that which you do not wish to do.

Paul said in Romans 7:15 " For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practise; but what I hate, that I do."

Until the day that you die, Satan will continue to place temptations before you. It is his sole purpose to try and deceive you and lead you off the narrow track which is the way to life. Satan wants to see you fail and be destroyed.

Yes, you will fall and fail on Occasions.

Any person that tells me that they never fall and never fail is simply a liar in my eyes. If you are involved in the constant battles of life, you will at some stage become a casualty. You will get hurt and you will fall short of the Glory that God has set aside for you.

Jesus attaches no importance to how many times you fall and fail. Jesus will not judge you because you have fallen. He will not condemn you because you gave into temptation. You see Jesus is not the same as we are. We are quick to judge and condemn. Jesus is Pure Love.

It is not important to Jesus how many times you fall, but rather what is important to Him is how many times you get back up. In getting back up after a fall, comes the real victory in Jesus. Every time that you fall, Jesus is there right next to you, holding out his hands to pick you up and to nurse your wounds with His Love. As soon as you sincerely ask Him to forgive you, He forgives you.

Jesus not only knows that in every war there are casualties, but He also knows that in the end you will succeed and overcome through the strength that He gives to you. That is why you will receive the crown of life, for you will eventually be proved and will overcome temptation.

In humans there is the emotion of shame. With Jesus this emotion does not exist. Jesus is pure loved and He will never be ashamed of you.

The next time that you fall, instead of hanging your head in shame and hiding away from Jesus, rather lift your head up high and take the hand that Jesus is holding out to you and say proudly, " Jesus, forgive me for falling, but do not worry about me for I am getting back up with your help. We will carry on and win this war." 

Do not judge your brother or sister when they fall, but rather be like Jesus wants you to be and hold out your hand, lift them up and encourage them to carry on with the good fight.

God Bless and may your day be filled with victory.

I bumped into a little elderly lady the other day ( approx 60 years old). I know her fairly well from a church that we both "once" attended. This little lady has always been totally on fire for the Lord and does really great work going out and ministering to the poor areas. She is involved in running medical clinics and uses this to reach out to the poor and hurting. She has always been a real shining example of the true love of Jesus to all around her.

The lady started to relate to me how she was recently at a night meeting in one of the poor area's. She had been attending these meetings, aimed at improving conditions in these slums, for the past 26 years. This particular meeting started to get out of hand and soon the fighting began. She left the meeting.

On going to her car outside she was cornered by two black men and her horror ordeal started where she was gang raped.

Instead of being met with the love of Jesus shining through her brothers and sisters in Christ, whom she had so lovingly helped and loved for many years, she was rather met with accusations of  "having been looking for it" and even deserving the rape because she was in bad area's. The pastor prayed once for her and she was expected to have been healed from this horror.

How sad! A hurt and ordeal like this does not simply go away with one little prayer. You don't get over it just like that. Where is that love of Jesus that is supposed to shine out from the brothers in Christ. Instead of love there is condemnation.

The little lady shared how she rejected the church and became bitter and filled with hate. This lasted for months until one little young girl who was filled with the real love of Jesus, noticed the change in the little old lady who had led her to the Lord. The little girl alerted another sister in Christ, from another denomination, who was filled with love of Jesus and this lady came and ministered and loved continually until the hurts of the ordeal were healed by Christ.

Unfortunately the hurts of the rape were healed eventually, but the hurts caused by the unloving and uncaring "Christian" brothers are not healed.

I can recount hundreds of stories like this one. When you are sick or in trouble it is often those who you have ministered to for hours on end and those that you have served lovingly for years, who are the first to turn their back on you. Real christians are unfortuantely a scarce commodity in today's times.

It is sad that many of our churches have become money making machines that are too busy to deal with and help those that are really in need. The love of Christ has often been replaced by a love of money.  Brothers and sisters are too involved in themselves to be worried about others, and the love that is suppossed to radiate out to others is lost and instead attending church has become more about social status than spreading the love of Jesus.

Bring back the love of Jesus into your lives. Spend time to love those who are hurting. Help them and lift them up. Ask yourself what would Jesus do in this situation. Would He turn His back on them or would He hold out His arms and lovingly embrace them?

Love those who are hurting and nurse them back into spritual health. Bring back the love into our churches.