Kathy,

     I well remember when I was pastoring my own church here in
Denver that had been handed over to me.   I had no idea we were
over two months behind in everything and that included the rent
which was 2500 dollars a month and the owner wanted to raise it to
3500 a month.  Thanks Lord.  Are you watching me down here, Lord,
or am I doing this all by myself?  Not only did I have the
finances of the church to worry about but I had my own finances to
worry about and that is something I have always been very good at.
It's wrong, in fact, I'm pretty sure it is sin, but that's another
debate for Keith and I to take up at a later time.  By the way, we
did not have enough members left in the church to ever get caught
up again.  Kathy, please believe me when I say, I well understand
all those feelings you and your husband have right now.  You've
already begun trying to solve the problems yourself.  You said you
thought about going out and finding a job for yourself to help
out?  Wrong thinking, my sister.  You cannot fix this problem nor
can your husband nor your church members.  This is God's line of
work; fixing such problems I mean.  What if the Lord doesn't fix
it, you ask?  What if He does?  What if we get further and further
behind at the church, you ask?  What if you don't.  What are we
going to do with Chris, you ask?  You mean, what is the Lord going
to do with Chris, don't you?  What if things go down the drain and
we don't get our new house we have worked so hard for, you ask?
What if you do?  The Enemy has you trying to do two things right
now, Kathy.  First, he is trying to get you to look sideways or
backwards.  He's already convinced you to try and save the
situation yourself.  Impossible.  Even if you did get a job, it
would have to be a mighty good one to really help out and you
already know that.  Do you feel helpless about now?  Please don't
take this wrong, Kathy, but you haven't reached the bottom yet.
Now, wait just a minute.  I never said you do have to reach bottom
before you come back up.  That is just a nice little saying stupid
Christians, pastors being the worst about it, have taught and said
and confessed for years; me included.  Wrong and it isn't even
Biblical but the Enemy is mighty good at twisting God's Word just
enough to get us to think a little differently about God.
Secondly, the Enemy is trying to keep you in place, spinning your
wheels, and going no where.  Kathy, tell the Devil to bring his
lunch.  If he thinks he can stop you or Greg or the church, he
best be bringing his lunch because it is going to take him all
day.  Kathy, I know that you know this already but Jesus did not
just cut the devil off at the knees.  Jesus totally and utterly
defeated him in every way.  You now have Covenant with God
through the shed blood of Christ.  Lay claim to what is already
yours.  Confess and claim the blood of Christ because it is your
birth right.  Kathy, if the Enemy walked into your home, knocked
you off a chair with a baseball bat, then kicked and beat you at
his pleasure, you wouldn't be down for five seconds.  You'd be on
your feet, not your knees, taking the bat away from him and
beating him senseless and dumping his worthless stinking carcass
in the street for everybody to see.  If the Enemy walked into your
home while you all were seated at the supper table eating together
and grabbed Chris by the arm, slapped him around, and punched him
in the stomach so he barfed his supper up all over the table, and
then began dragging him across the floor to the front door, you
would be all over the worthless son of a suer pipe.  He'd never
make it out the door alive, would he Kathy?  Listen sister, the
Enemy is just that real but we just can't see him.  So what
happens when he attacks our family or our finances or our church?
We ring our hands and cast dust in the air and rend our clothes
and then standing around in our underwear we complain to god we
don't have anything to wear or that it's too cold.  Then we start
praying for clothes or for a warm spell in the weather when
neither one of those things is the problem.  Kathy, take your
Bible and take your husband and his Bible, go down to the church,
and standing in the middle of the church with an open Bible begin
confessing the promises of His eternal Word about your church, I
mean His church, your finances, I mean His finances, and your
family, I mean His family.  How long should we do this, you ask?
Until victory comes.  Sure, take breaks to go to the bathroom and
to eat and to work and to sleep but keep confessing the Words of
your Covenant with God until victory comes.  I will promise one
thing.  It will take longer than an hour or a single day.  The
devil doesn't think you or Greg mean business.  He doesn't think I
mean business.  He didn't even think Jesus meant what He said
either.  Jesus did rise from the dead on the third day and the
devil had one roaring fit, too.  He tried killing off all the
apostles and prophets and disciples and every Christian on the
planet but he once again failed.  Kathy, all that is happening to
you right now is that the devil is trying to eat your lunch.  I
remember one day, when my kids were little, we had a 110 pound
golden retriever by the name of Raleigh.  Great kids dog except
they want you to pet them 24 hours a day.  Otherwise, they are
wonderful.  We had ordered pizza with our last dollar.  Just
joking but it was normally that close.  There was one piece of
pizza left and I was going to eat it.  I pulled it out of the box,
put it on a plate, and turned to get a glass of water.  Raleigh
walked by, his nose was almost the level of the kitchen counters,
snatched my pizza, which I had claimed for myself, and the kids
all began yelling, Dad, Raleigh has your pizza.  I was basically
full and didn't need the pizza but what did I do?  I chaced that
dumb dog out of the kitchen, down the stairs, and into my office,
yelling at the top of my lungs, I'm going to kill you, you dumb
dog.  I scared Raleigh so badly, he literally dropped the slice of
pizza on the floor in my office.  I picked it up and said, now
Scovell?  What are you going to do with the pizza with dog
slobbers all over it and dirt and hair.  I felt stupid but dad gum
it, Kathy, I still got it back.  Kathy, the devil is afraid of you
and Greg and your little pip squeak church.  He thinks you don't
know how much authority and power and righteousness and holiness
you really have.  You keep agreeing with him instead of with the
Words of the Covenant and he is going to deceive you into
thinking he is the smartest person in the universe and you'll end
up believing him instead of the one who died and arose for you.
Don't get on your knees and start balling about like I normally
do.  Learn from me.  Get on your feet, sister, start saying, Thus
Saith the Lord by confessing and quoting the Word of God into your
church and family and finances.  Speak life; not death.  Confess,
loudly, I choose life rather than death.  Command the devil and
the demons coming against you to listen.  Oh, do they hate that.
Man!  I mean, they hate being forced to listen to the Words of
the Covenant.  Stand, don't kneel, and lift the name of Chris to
the Lord and quote and confess God's Word in behalf of your son.
Make commands and demands on the Enemy by the authority of God's
Holy Word.  Don't be quite about it either.  Yell, scream, pound
your fists, clap your hands, spit on him, curse his works in the
name of Jesus Christ and tell him to get the hell out.  That's
right, get the hell out because that's exactly what he is bringing
into your life, your family, your finances, and your church.  If
you don't think so, keep going the way you are and you will learn
the hard way what hell feels like in your own family and church.
God forbid.  Kathy, this is something I know from first hand
experience.  Listen.  Show him the door, Kathy.  Go get him.  He
is trying to beat your son to death.  Stop him with the name of
Jesus.  One more thing.  While you are yelling and screaming, and
I know you think I am kidding but I am not, do two more things.
Laugh at the devil.  You heard me.  Laugh.  Then praise God louder
than you screamed at the devil.  Oh, God Almighty, do they hate it
when we praise our Lord in the midst of problems.  Just remember
this, Kathy, if you think I am just joking around about all this.
Right now the major thing the devil is trying to get you to do is
to exchange his words, the devil's words, for God's eternal,
unchanging Word.  If he can't do that, he will be satisfied with
just your own words confessed over that of God's Word.  He doesn't
care which they are, as long as they aren't God's Words.  You let
this happen, and you might as well kiss everything goodbye because
he will steal and kill and destroy everything you have if you let
God's Words fall to the ground.  One final tip.  How do you know
when the victory has come?  No.  Not when you have seen it.  Any
fool can do that.  That isn't faith.  Continue confessing the
Covenant of God's Words until you feel it.  Did you hear me,
Kathy.  Until you feel it.  I guarantee you will feel it first
before you see it.  If you quit before you feel it, you'll have
nothing to praise God for because the victory will never come.
Once you feel the victory has been won in your heart and spirit,
then begin praising God and what you have confessed will come to
pass and you. will. see. it.  It is done even as the Lord hath
commanded.  Amen.

Phil.

I Flew Kites With Jesus
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com