Dear Ones,
  It’s a beautiful sunny day and hope you are enjoying it. This morning I made lasagne and went to Aldi’s before exercise class. This afternoon Al and I will get a walk in on the Paul Bunyan and later we have Bible Study at church. 
 Devotions from Judy’s heart
  The Lord wants us to be wise and discerning and not fall prey to the enemy. Satan is always on the prowl and trying to trip us up and cause us to doubt God’s goodness and mercy and love. We need to be alert of his tactics as Paul warns in Eph. 6:11 (Amplified), “Put on God’s whole armor (the armor of a heavy armed soldier which God supplies), that you may be able to successfully stand up against (all) the strategies and the deceits of the devil).”
  The enemy tries all kinds of strategies and we need to be dressed in our spiritual armor each day and yield to the power of the Holy spirit who lives within us to stand against the enemy. I pray each day to put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the sword of the spirit, the shield of faith and feet shod with gospel of peace. (Eph. 6:14-17
   It’s good to become quickly aware when we have a sense that something is not right; maybe it doesn’t feel like something that would come from the Lord and we try to discern. The enemy tries to keep us from one another for there is great power when 2 or 3 are gathered in Jesus’ name. Just recently we had a situation that seemed strange. Every two weeks or so we get together with another couple for sharing and prayer. This time it was our turn to host and so I texted and invited them over but I got no response. That was unusual as the wife gets back to me within a couple hours. So next I waited a couple days and emailed her and extended the invitation again. I thought maybe they were sick or gone on vacation without our knowledge… so I e-mailed once more. When it got to be the day before they were to come, I called her on her cell phone and got the answering machine. Al and I were both perplexed and so Al called her hubby on his cell phone and don’t you suppose he got through right away. His wife had got none of my other messages and it is a total mystery as they remain in my sent box and on my phone. I’m quite sure the enemy does not want us praying together but that is not going to detour us but cause us to pray more! I should have called there sooner rather than wondering if we had offended them or thinking they were very sick etc. It taught me I need to react and act quicker and not wait.
  Let us be aware when something seems off a bit and fight the battles with our spiritual weapons in His power!
  Challenge for today: Be on the alert and arm yourself with His spiritual weapons.
Blessings on  your day and prayers and love, Judy