Head 'em Off at the Pass.....

Did you ever watch an old Western on TV and you heard the bad guys saying
how they were going to head into a little town and rob the bank and then the
scene fades to the Sheriff and his posse hidden up in the rocks above the
town and the Sheriff says to his men, "We will 'head them off at the pass'
and they will never get into town to kill, rob, and destroy our people!"?

As Christians we should be aware of our enemy's tactics. The Bible tell us
that the devil is like a roaring lion who roams about the earth seeking
those he might kill, steal and destroy. (John 10: 10 NKJV) Just as we have
faith and believe in an invisible God, we should be very aware of a very
real enemy of our souls and that is the devil and his demons. They are not
all locked up in hell as some choose to believe. Sadly, most people don't
even believe in the devil and that includes some Christians. I have heard
very prominent men and women in churches today state with great assurance
that once you are "born again" and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
you cannot be plagued by demons. This is just not true. We cannot be
"possessed", but we can be "oppressed" by demons. We, by our own lack of
knowledge, allow demons to set up camp all around us. In our homes, in our
schools and even in our churches. We can allow them in our life. And oh
how they love it when you raise your boney little fist to heaven and blame
God for their handy work. It is time to stop being victims and take in a
few facts that can clean up your spiritual life, clean up your surroundings,
and tuck a few tricks of your own up your sleeve to fight a very real enemy
of us all.

What so many Christians don't know, or choose not to remember is that Jesus,
when He died, He descended into hell and took back the keys to the Kingdom
from Satan. Adam had handed over the precious keys to Satan at the fall of
man in the Garden of Eden. But Jesus bought them back with his shed blood
and death on the cross. Jesus did this before He returned to the Father.
Jesus gave us the Keys. (Matthew 16: 19 NKJV) He gave us great and mighty
power when He did this. When He gave us the Keys, He told us that whatever
we would bind on earth would be bound in heaven and whatever we would loose
on earth would be loosed in heaven. He did not say maybe, or should, or
could be, but He said WOULD. So keep this nugget of truth in your mind as
we go on. Satan hands out assignments to his demons. He wants all on earth
to perish. He hates every human with a hate deeper than we can even
understand. He orders his demons to spread out and reek havoc on all.
Whether you are a born again Christian or not, most of us if we are of sound
mind know right from wrong. Most of us want to be good. We all sin and
fall short of the glory of God because of our flesh. (Romans 3:23 NKJV) But
there is more that we can do. Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and
during that time He was tempted by the devil. But Jesus turned Satan's
words back on him with the word of God. That is why it is so important to
know God's word. It will always lead you on the path of righteousness. You
will be less likely to fall into the devil's snares. When we hear that
little voice in our head telling us to do something that we know is wrong,
we will be prepared to deal with it.

One other thing you can do everyday is to start your day with prayer. We
are in a war everyday for our soul. No soldier goes into battle without his
armor. Put yours on everyday. (Ephesians 6: 11-12 NKJV) Then make sure
that you say, "Today I cancel the assignments of the enemy on my life and on
the lives of my family and friends. I bind the enemy up from my life and
render the assignments useless today in the name of and by the precious
blood of Jesus." That is all there is to it. You have "bound" it on earth
and therefore it IS bound up in heaven. You will have to pray that everyday
because hell hands out new assignments everyday. But by praying this simple
prayer, you can "Head them off at the pass".......Patti