“Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm” (Ephesians 6:13, NLT).
Greetings to you all in the name of
our Lord, Jesus Christ,
One day, as I looked out the window
at the maple tree, I realized that it is already the fall season because the
colors began to change. However, where was summer? I felt like I lost the whole
year because of COVID 19. Because there were tons of things that we were not
able to do, it seemed like creating a huge void in the year 2020 in my life.
But it does not mean that nothing happened. We just were not able to do things
in the way we loved to as much as before.
Now, is it over yet, I mean the
pandemic? Not really! But it continues. On the top of it, there were more. My
friend Pastor Kerry described this current reality like this: racism has raised
its ugly head; the UMC is irreparably broken; and our nation is greatly
divided! God is certainly calling His church to prayer. So true!
We know there are tons of reasons
why we need to pray apart from those reasons because we always need God in the
midst of our life struggles because He is the ultimate answer for us. So how do
you deal with this reality at this time? Through prayers! We truly believe it
so because God will fully load us with his power as we pray. And it will fight
for us. However, the victory was already ours!
Several weeks ago, I heard a story of someone who had a deep depression but she has been able to overcome it as she has accepted the power of Jesus Christ in her life. However, when the COVID 19 came with some social restrictions, her depression came back. Negative images about herself began to surround her minds and weighed down on her whole being. She became full of unworthiness, despair, and loneliness. But one day, she had a dream of being in a basement full of ugly monkeys annoying her. But suddenly one scripture from the gospel of John came to her mind so she continually spoke it out loud in her dream. In the end, those monkeys gradually disappeared.
“You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, NRSV).
From her dream, God showed her that
all those negative, fearful, heavy, depressed, and empty thoughts and feelings
were all lies from the power of darkness that tried to keep her in the reality
of sin and death. As she woke up, she began to reject all the lies that she had
heard from inside of her mind against her true self that God had created anew.
In other words, she was able to overcome it and became much stronger in God’s
presence.
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
where are you now as we begin our new month? Are you fully loaded and equipped
by the power of God dealing with those unseen enemies around us through
prayers? In the month of October, we will be equipped with the word of God
standing in front of two choices, the truth and the lies. And we will see how
God brought us victory!
Join us again!
Pastor
Kyochul
P.S. By the way, does anyone know what the four words of
Jesus used when he rejected devil in the wilderness?
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