Scripture

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.

~Proverbs 15:13, NIV

Quote

The devil has two master tricks: one is to get us discouraged and the other is to make us doubt.

~George Matheson

An honest preacher will admit that most of the time, he is preaching to himself. I not only preach to myself but I write to myself. Several devotions have really convicted me this past week. I do have a tendency to focus on the darkness, the condition of the world and the supposing triumph of evil over good. I am by nature a very poor loser. To be frankly honest, I am having trouble accepting the current state of affairs–Biden being in the Whitehouse by fraud. The writer of Hebrews encourages us to strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. The weight that slows us down may not be a sin at least in the sense of pure evil. It could be something we are doing that is not necessary or something that has no eternal significance. My friend Joe Holmes says, “We all have befitting sins, even preachers.” I am not going to disagree. One weight that we need to chunk is the HEAVY HEART. Charles Cowman says, “The heavy heart will surely drag us down.” It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, fretting over evil, and questioning God concerning things like the fraudelant election.

A good example of what we are talking about is the ancient Israelites. Three days into the wilderness, they began murmuring and complaining. What is wrong with complaining? It is the seed of rebellion. First they murmured {complained to each other} about their conditions but eventually they rebelled against Moses leadership and God command to take the land. Since we are prone to voice our discontent and dwell on things that make us unhappy; we must constantly fight the war against stinking thinking. It is paramount that we believers stay positive and upbeat. A sad or unhappy countenance is not a good witness. Sadness discolors everything. A gloomy heart has no charm. If we persist on voicing our unhappiness; sooner or later people will begin to avoid us. No one wants to hang out with a complainer. Cowman says that Satan can be offended by a happy heart. We don’t want to hang out with a complainer and he doesn’t want to hang out with a praiser. I don’t know about you, but Satan is the one person I very much want to offend.

EXTRA

There was some frost on the pumpkin this morning and I had to turn on the heat at the Eastern Gate Headquarters. Happy Monday to all and happy birthday to Big Mama who is 37 today. PTL for a great weekend and good attendance at both GP and DBC. I hope you have a great week and thanks for reading the blog.