from MSNBC's year in pictures

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life,

nor angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future,

nor any powers,

neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

"Don't ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you aren't willing to move your feet."

One of my best friends in the world goes to college at a school in Florida. Last year, when she was home on Christmas break, she and I were sitting on a couch at my parents' house, and she looked over at me and said, "Kelsi, I really need to tell you about an experience I had. I wanted to wait until we were in person to tell you about this, but I really feel like you should know about this." She proceeded to tell me about how one night, she was asleep in bed in her dorm room, when she woke up because she heard someone whispering in her ear. It wasn't a language she understood, but she did understand that the message was pure evil. She knew that there was a demon targeting her. She left her dorm room and slept elsewhere for the night. Afterwards, she spoke with a counselor who advised her that, indeed, this was a demon, and guided her in what she should do about this situation.

A man who helped out with my youth group when I was in junior high was raised in a non-Christian home. When he was about 9 years old, though, he had a Christian friend from school who invited him to his house. This friend's mom was an associate pastor at a local church, and she stopped by the church, with the boys in tow, to pick something up. The boys waited for her in the sanctuary, and in the few minutes they were sitting in the sanctuary, the boy from the non-Christian home saw shadows on the wall of two figures wrestling. He mentioned the shadows to his friend's mom, and she realized that he had witnessed an angel and a demon wrestling over whose side he would be on. When this boy didn't know anything about God, God was already fighting to win him to His side.



Spiritual warfare is real. God and Satan wrestle for your soul constantly, whether or not you feel them pulling. Even if you aren't a Christian, God is still fighting for your soul. He wants you to join His side. The tricky part, though, is that Satan wants your soul, too. He's the other player in this wrestling match for your soul.

The question is: who's winning the fight?

"God is not a Christian; He is a God for everyone."
--Desmond Tutu

When I consider Your heavens,

the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars
which You have set in place,

what is man that You are mindful of him,

the son of man that You care for him?

Psalm 8:3-4