Hope in Winning our Battles

Life is full of temptations - small and large - to make wrong choices.  Unpleasant consequences result - sometimes later  --if not sooner!

So where is my hope to improve in this?

I was so encouraged this morning to ponder how Jesus vs Eve resisted temptation.

Satan used Scripture - words of God - to tempt  both Eve and Jesus.
  But Eve fell for the lies of Satan.   Satan mixed lies with God's truth.  He still does that today to us.

  Jesus quoted back additional Scriptures to  Satan's twisted use of Scripture.    Jesus did the right thing instead of giving into what Satan tried to get him to do.   Jesus used the "whole council of God".

  The more I meditate, study, and memorize Scripture the more hope I will  have in winning the battles of life.

Feel free to  leave a comment to let me know you've visited here.
Even just a "hello" is fine!


Hope filled,
Patty

P S --I am thankful  to www.ttb.org for this morning's section of reading through the Bible in 5 years.
  Dr.  J Vernon McGee -Matthew 3:10-4:11

 www.ttb.org

Hope In "Clothing Battles" with Kids

Does your teen - give or take a few years - dress "odd" and in a  manner that annoys you?

Have you wished they would conform to your own desires in how they dress and groom? in  how they    eat?


The peer pressure - from our own "other parents peer group"- can be strong for our teens to look, dress, eat, etc a certain way.  We can feel judged or even  ostracized in certain circles if our teen grooms himself/herself  different from certain societal "norms".  In our own insecurities  do we sadly, put too much emphasis on this?  Do we look to other parents' approval of us more than  looking at God's approval of ourselves and our kids?

I wonder how the parents of John the Baptist felt.   Matthew 2:4  says he had clothing of camel's hair and a leather belt.  And that he ate locusts and wild honey for his diet.  He also lived and worked in the wilderness.  These seem to say that he was definitely "different"

He had a special mission!  Evidently his amazing parents did not get in the way of what God had called him to do or how he looked etc.  Seems they looked at his heart and not his outward appearance, just as God does.

I long to  do the same. Though my own children are now grown,  I want to  remember this for  other families  I know and the precious children they are raising.