Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! We start our weekend here with the January Birthday party. Soon Al and I will go to Costco and get the cake and set up for the party. We have 18 with birthdays this month. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  We often need reminders of how important it is to arm ourselves with spiritual weapons. We are in a spiritual war and when we fight with our carnal weapons we will lose; but God has given us an arsenal of spiritual weapons that are mighty through God that can defeat our enemy. Kim Potter, a writer who puts out a teaching every day shares the importance of our spiritual weapons, which the enemy would want us to ignore.
   The first one she mentions is the Word of God which is both an offensive and defensive weapon and Jesus often used it to defeat Satan. The Word is living and powerful sharp and active and we should not neglect it. 
   We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit who is the third person of the Trinity and the One who gives us power to stand, to witness, and to overcome.
   Prayer is also very important and as it says in I John 5:14-15 that fervent prayers of a righteous person avails much. I often marvel at how God answers when I bring my concerns first to Him. When we pray prayers of agreement with others we will find even greater power is unleashed. We can also pray in the spirit, especially when we don’t know how to pray in particular situations.
  There is great power in the name of Jesus and Al always told our kids that they just speak the name of Jesus when they are in situations of danger. We are told to ask in His powerful name and He will do it.
  The blood of Jesus is an important weapon for His blood not only cleanses us but sets us free and defeats the enemy. If I feel harassed by the enemy I sing the song, “Oh the blood of Jesus”, over and over and it is not long before my spirit is lifted.
  We are also given protection by angels and I believe my dad had such an encounter where his life was spared when hit by a car. I love to think of angels around us that keep us from unseen dangers.
  We also have the spiritual weapon of praise and the enemy hates that one. Praise seems to silence him and I love to sing praises out loud if I am alone in the car etc. I can just feel my spirit lifted and the enemy takes to flight.
   Kim mentions that we have the armor of God as our protection and I love to pray that at the beginning of very day for our whole family. We need every piece of armor as we go out into the world.
    Let us not feel helpless when faced by the enemy but use our arsenal of powerful weapons and stand strong in His name.
Challenge for today. Read Ephesians 6:13-15 and put on the whole armor of God.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy