Building on the Foundation

  If you’re shooting a rifle at a target a thousand yards away, you’ll never hit that target if you’ve got your sights or crosshairs on something else that’s only a hundred yards away and far off to your right or left. And if you’re driving a car down a narrow, one-lane road, you’ll drift off the road if you fix your gaze on everything off to either side and not on the road. So it is in our walk with God. We can’t stay on the narrow path or reach the goal of His Kingdom if our focus is elsewhere. Yeshua/Jesus told us not to worry about the things of this life, even the daily necessities, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mat. 6:31-34). This is the number one priority. As Nathan Griffith has written previously , we must not be distracted. No matter the cost, no matter what’s going on around us, we must keep our eyes on the prize. When the storms of life are raging all around us, we must keep our eyes on the Messiah...

  Satan’s Weapon—Distractions   The Devil has many weapons at his disposal that he uses to try to destroy us. Some are bold and blatant; others are discreet and cunning. Often he will use multiple at the same time to wear us down until a seamlessly unimportant thing slips through and causes us to stumble. One of the devil’s most effective weapons that every one of us has been hit with is distractions. Remember, he will use everything he can against us. Even though he knows he cannot win, he will try to score as many points against us as possible, trying to take us with him. As Rev. 12:10 calls him “the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night…” King David, (who has a testimony from Yah as being a man after His own heart— Acts 13:22 ), wrote Ps.63 along with many others in which he expressed his attitude towards Yah with statements like: Ps. 63:1 “…O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for ...

  You are being watched. Every hour, every day, every second. There’s a creature crouching, waiting, stalking, watching you with hate-filled eyes piercing through the darkness. You never see him, yet he’s always there, looking for a chink in your armor, searching for an opportunity to strike. Yes, this adversary is Satan the Devil. The apostle Peter wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). “Know your enemy” is the famed maxim uttered by Sun Tzu, ancient Chinese soldier and author of The Art of War . Indeed, of such a dangerous foe, we cannot afford to be ignorant. After warning the Corinthians of a potential threat, the apostle Paul explained, “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). God’s Word tells us much about Satan’s attacks. He is “more cunning than any beast of the field,” more cunning than a slithering snake or a stalking l...