god

How To Spot A Counterfeit

Posted on by Denise Harper

When I worked in retail one of the things they taught us was how to identify fake currency. You might think that staring at fake bills would help to spot other fakes but this is what they told us: study the real deal. The more familiar we are with the look and feel of authentic currency – the more readily we will recognize the forgery.

And so it is in life. Our enemy, the devil, has a counterfeit for nearly everything. Counterfeit gifts. Counterfeit opportunities. He will even use people to try to throw us off of our pursuit of God and our purpose. The enemy’s goal is to distract us and ultimately destroy us. Some of his counterfeits are so recognizable we will spot them right away. Others are much harder to detect. Revelation 12:9 (ESV)calls him “the deceiver of the whole world”.

Jesus told us in John 10:10 (NLT), “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” The best way to identify a counterfeit in our life is not to study the tactics of the devil because as the deceiver he will attempt to disguise them in a million ways. When we spend our days and give our complete attention to studying the life and ways of Jesus….as we identify and really know the authentic Savior of our soul we WILL detect and resist the enemy of our soul. Jesus’ promise to us who know Him is life…abundant life! Recognizing the authenticity of Christ in and around us will keep us following close after Him all the days of our life and we will be far less likely to fall for the fake.

Talk About It Again

Posted on by Denise Harper

One thing I have come to count on over the years of being married to my husband, Ken, is that if we put something on our calendar, he will bring it up in our conversations nearly every day until it comes to pass! I’ve come to learn it’s not because he’s afraid he will forget. It’s not even that he thinks that I might forget (although I’ve been known to forget a time or two!). While I used to get tired of having that same conversation over and over again I have come to recognize that it’s important to him and he’s looking forward to us doing whatever it is — together!

Have you ever thought – God must get so tired of hearing me pray about this over and over and over again?! Or should we treat our prayer time with God as a one-and-done kind of conversation? Essentially believing that God is God and we only need to bring it to Him one time or we run the risk of insulting Him or giving the impression that we don’t trust Him. When we bring things to God over and over do we come close, at times, to the persistent cries of the Israelites in the desert who certainly had short memories of God’s miraculous power and provision? Remember when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, the Lord descended in a cloud and confirmed, “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people”. Exodus 34:6 (CEV)

God is the same then – as He is now – and will be forever more. His very nature is patience! So when we continue to talk to God about what is on our heart, our repeated prayer is really our admission that we’re not trying to do it on our own. What is it that your heart is crying out to God to handle? Begin to thank Him for hearing your prayer and answering. Be ready. God rarely answers the way we anticipate! But it is not our responsibility to figure out the “how” of the need. It is our responsibility to bring every thing that is concerning us to Him. All of it! When we do, it can actually free us, to anticipate what God will do.