Happy Thursday!

Feeling pretty sad about my dear Emily, having to work @ Kohls from 5:30am till 4:30pm today. She has to be the worse morning person I’ve ever known! Really, I must do something about this SOON. God be with Emily today, please give her strength… and a happy HEART and smiley FACE all day long!

Last night after church, my daughter Heaven and I went to Baskin Robins, for their 31 cents per scoop promotional! As you can imagine, my hyper Heaven ordered a 16 scoop waffle cone! The Baskin Robins employees said it was the biggest waffle cone they’ve ever made! People were whippin out their cell phones and taking pictures, and making weird sounds, and cheering her on like she was competing for gold in the world Olympics!

She actually downed about 9 scoops before we phoned up an ambulance! What a disgusting PIG, Heaven Balsamo! lol

You guys can check out the facebook thread from the photo we posted last night… the last time I checked, there were something like 30 (hilarious) comments!

Here’s the video we made from that memorable late night ice cream run! Warning: this video may cause excessive salivation! haha

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SI42_2w7WM

That’s it for today… nothing super spiritual, just something to make you smile! If you were hoping for a spiritual message, please enjoy the 528 blog archive! Use the search feature… and find the exact message for your moment! I love you all…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a super weekend! Mine was fantastic… although I ate too much yesterday… and went through some kind of bizarre spiritual storm yesterday afternoon. The clouds rolled in at about 9:30am… and the skies became darker and darker all day long. It almost felt as if someone was praying curses over my life. 

No matter how much I tried to focus on the beauties of my life, all I could see were the negative things… and I ATE everything I could get my hands on, then felt worse. Could this have been a spiritual counter attack for the amazing service we had in Pikeville, KY? I’m still not sure where this came from, but it was FIERCE… and it was NOT of a natural origin!

Some things are NATURAL and others are SPIRITUAL.

NATURAL: When we put 30,ooo miles on a set of tires without rotating them a few times… and we get a flat tire in the most inconvenient place, at the most inconvenient time… this is not an attack of the devil! Our flat tire is classified as a trial of NATURAL ORIGIN. 

SPIRITUAL: Then, there are times when we’re doing everything right… and out of nowhere, BOOM! We are smacked to the floor with a sucker punch! And nothing we do naturally seems to help the situation at all, but only make things worse. Our sucker punch is classified as a trial of SPIRITUAL ORIGIN. 

Ephesians 6:11-13 NLT Put on all of God’s armor so that YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STAND FIRM against all STRATEGIES of the devil. For we are fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so YOU WILL BE ABLE TO RESIST the enemy IN THE TIME OF EVIL. Then after the battle YOU WILL STILL BE STANDING FIRM.

Notice from these verses, that the devil STRATEGIZES his attacks on our lives. He studies us to locate our weaknesses… and he attacks us strategically. 

Many times, these attacks come when we are doing the most good with our lives. This is one of the answers to that age old question, “Why do bad things happen to GOOD people?” 

John 10:10 AMP The thief (the devil) comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

1 Peter 5:8 AMP Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.

Time proven techniques for winning over an attack of spiritual origin:

1. Obviously, pray far more than usual. As soon as you detect a bizarre spiritual storm… find a place where you can be alone, turn on some really good worship music, and pray with FAITH believing that God is far bigger than anything coming against your beautiful life!
2. Think back over your past few months… and confess any sins that have crept up in your life. Ask God to forgive you and heal you… and give you NEW grace to live holy through the gift of righteousness. (Romans 3:21)
3. Focus on the LOVE and MERCY of God. Confess out loud, how much God loves you and does not wish for your demise. Doing this will counter the accusing spirit of the devil… and give you the faith to believe that God is FOR YOU and he will NOT LET THIS DESTROY YOU. 
4. Once you are SUBMITTED to God in prayerfulness… and you have repented of any rogue sins… and you have meditated over how much God LOVES you and has abundant mercy for you… and once you are standing TALL in a POSTURE OF FAITH… RESIST THIS ATTACK OF SPIRITUAL ORIGIN and the devil behind it will FLEE FROM YOU! (James 4:7) 
5. Celebrate the victory as it rises… letting go of the darkness as it leaves your life. Refuse to stay in a trial any longer that you have to. Praise God, believing that he is working out ALL THINGS for your advantage… EVEN THIS ATTACK OF SPIRITUAL ORIGIN! (Romans 8:28)

Long blog today… but useful I hope! Have super day everyone… don’t get stuck in a funk this week… walk in GREAT VICTORY! It’s my PLEASURE serving you with this daily blog. Please leave your comments… I love to read them all!

Written by Jonathan Woodard,  guest blogger for Pastor Chuck during temporary break.

Rarely do I have dreams. Don’t know why; guess I’m too busy sleeping. But this morning, I had a preposterous dream. In it, my wife asked about a sorceress standing in the distance, wanting to know if she could use the sorceress’ services. So I, being a helpful and guarding person, went up to the sorceress and first prefaced our conversation with a greeting, and then cautiously asked about what would be involved in my wife using her services.

“On a scale of 1-10, I’m an 11 in this not applying to me,” I told her, “but I was just wanting to know times, what occurs, etc.” She was offended at that statement, but still gave me a short pitch of her services, then leaving me with the phrase, “let this be a seed in your mind.” Well, I didn’t want anything in my mind from her, but somehow, she convinced me to demonstrate.

I let her lay her hand on my shoulder as she closed her eyes. Suddenly, my spirit reacted to the Holy Spirit battle inside me, and shot my hand in the air, and violently praised the Lord, swaying and thrashing back and forth, with her hand still on me. “Praise the Lord, glory to God in the highest, Holy is the Lord” I yelled.That went on for at least 20-30 seconds, but I don’t know because the dream ended.

Waking with the obvious thought that I’d never let someone working for the enemy like that lay their hands on me, I thought of the verse in Timothy about “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourselves pure.” I felt guilty even after the dream for letting myself allow the ends (simply getting information) to justify the means (allowing myself to closely interact with demons in a vulnerable position).

Several Wednesday nights ago,  Pastor Chuck individually and briefly prayed for each of us, then asked us to gather around him to pray for him, his family, his ministry, etc. During that, I had the distinct feeling that in the days ahead, there were going to arise a few mighty male body guards around Pastor Chuck, guarding him from the press of the enemy, kind of like David’s mighty men. This would be like intercessors, a band of brothers, holding him up in prayer. (I don’t mean to be sexist, and woman are more than welcome to do that too; I’m just reporting)

I’m feeling impressed that we need to very careful to guard ourselves and our leaders in prayer and action. Pastor Chuck may not be your pastor, but right now please apply this to your own situation personally and with your leaders.  Not only guard who lays hands on them and you, but also guard what we see and hear. “Lord, deliver us from evil. Help us to not be foolish in what we allow to get close to them. Help us to be wise and skillful armorbearers…”