Monday

Satan Wants Isolated Believers

A church family will help keep you from backsliding.

None of us are immune to temptation. Given the right situation, you and I are capable of any sin. God knows this, so he has assigned us as individuals the responsibility of keeping each other on track.

The Bible says, "Encourage one another daily so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." (Hebrews 3:13 NIV)

We are called and commanded to be involved in each other's lives. If you know someone who is wavering spiritually right now, it is your responsibility to go after that person and bring him/her back into the fellowship.

James tells us, "If you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back." (James 5:19 MSG)

A related benefit of a local church is that it also provides the spiritual protection of godly leaders. God gives the shepherd leader the responsibility to guard, protect, defend, and care for the spiritual welfare of his flock.

We are told, "Their work is to watch over your souls, and they know they are accountable to God." (Hebrews 13:17 NLT)

Satan loves detached believers, unplugged from the life of the Body, isolated from God's family, and unaccountable to spiritual leaders -- because he knows they are defenseless and powerless against his tactics.

Everyday, Satan will tempt us non-stop to do sin. And we cannot resist it by ourselves. We need others to prevent us from getting tempted by the devil. Whenever we are alone from the Christ, we are completely vulnerable to sin. And most of the times, we end up getting caught by it. So if you see others that are separated from the Lord, don't just leave them like that. Help them go back to the word of God, so they can be protected from the curse of Satan. He is always searching for people that have broke their relationships with the Lord. So, help each other out by strengthening the bonds of others and God. Then, we can finally leave a damage onto our enemy.

Its so easy to fall back away from God and just do thongs my way. I feel like I've been slacking off in all areas of my life lately and I need to pray about that.

Oh fantastic. Im on my phone and can't edit that last devo... T__T things guys. I meant things.

Is it weird that I still find it frightnening being alone?
As it said in the devo, we are not immune to attacks. We can't always be strong. Seeking God with support from your brothers and sisters are so important. Why else would there be a church for people to meet up and build a strong group?
When Jesus came to earth, he was here for the broken, sick, poor and lame.

Also, look out for your brothers and sisters who are struggling and be there for both the happy and bad times.
As I grew older, I began to learn that people at the church do not all live happy and perfect lives.
People seek help and if you pay attention and look closely, you'll find that there are a lot.

So remember that in whatever troubles come your way, you don't need to go though it alone. We are a church...

We all need eachother.
~Audrey~

It is actually unbelievable how much we grew in the span of a couple of months. We have all gotten pretty close to each other and I'm just really glad that we have a backbone that is structuring us all. I am relatively comfortable with everyone on PT and i encourage you all including myself to be comfortable with EVERYONE. I remember when i first joined PT i felt like sort of a outsider but not really because the current PT was nice and comforting but i didnt feel close to them. It took me like a year or so to really get close to them and i think the main reason why it took me soo long is because i isolated myself and didnt try to get close. I wanted to get close but i didnt TRY. Wanting to get close is totally different then trying to get close. Companionship is just so very important and it even shows in the bible. God create Eve for Adam because he saw how lonely Adam was. IF someone is alone for too long, they become damaged and looking at this devo, i can think of a couple of people who used to come to church and now i have no clue what their doing. I feel bad and want to help them BUT right now i'm not even putting an effort to succeed that goal and i should change that.

Wow. This devo really hits home for me right now. The truth is we are too weak to do life by ourselves and with our own strength, but God is fully knowing of this and has a plan for us. Along with God we have brothers and sisters in Christ to support us, really just seeing you guys every weekend is such a blessing and an encouragement, I'm so blessed to be a part of this worship team. We all have times when each of us feels alone and struggles with some sort of problem, but I know every one of us has each other's backs, and we always have God even when a situation seems hopeless. To be honest I had a pretty awful day: being told the two classes I need to have for grade 11 are only available in the same slot meaning i will have to take the other in summer school, dentist appointment (mouth still bleeding), and homework/projects keeping me up this late. But God is bigger than my problems, heck they are nothing compared to God and the comfort we can find in Him. We are never truly isolated Christians as we always have God and our brothers and sisters .

Yeah, I was talking to Jeremy (No) yesterday, and it just hit me that-as Patrice said-over the span of 4 months-ish, I've gotten to know you all so much, and I think we're more dependent on each other, more like team members than just individuals doing our respective work individually.
This devotion is basically telling us to keep each other accountable and that, alone we're less immune to temptations and sin, whereas if we have one other person or more, we're more likely to be stronger together and this applies to other situations like team work projects, worship (having several singers, guitarists, etc. as opposed to having only one singer and one guitarist), and so on. Thus, isolation makes us vulnerable and lonely, which affects our worship if we do not have that connection/feeling of belonging.