Jeremiah 29:11-13

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Ever see yourself in a place in life where you are struggling with just about everything you put your hand to! You look around and most of the people you were accustomed to having around you seem to have faded out. The phone has stopped ringing like it used to, the texts has all but faded , your facebook page doesn’t get the likes it used to, and if there is anything you need there are very few people you can rely on!

Every step you take to progress, it seems as if it causes you to fall a few steps further behind. You have sat back and watched everyone around you move forward, and the blows are still coming at you! You think you have positioned yourself to miss the next one but, POW; it hits you again! Some questions that come to mind in many cases are; “God why is this all happening to me?” “What did I do to deserve this?” “How long is this going to last?”

The problem in many believers lives is that they are trying to fix everything themselves! They apply their know how to every situation and by doing so it only causes more havoc in their lives!  Many people believe that as a believer you will not experience hardships in their lives; or at least you are not supposed to! Jesus said you shall have tribulation; it is clear believers will go through a season of heat! When you are going through this season look at it this way: God has simply mixed His ingredients together in you (Christ in you the Hope of glory) and has placed them in the oven!  

When baking a cake it requires all the ingredients to be mixed together in a large bowl (all the issues of life), then it is placed in the pan (God’s Hands) and placed in the oven to bake (trying of your faith)! While in the heat be reminded that God said I know the plan I have for you; stop trying to do things your way and seek God for His way or plan for your life! Remember Jesus said; be of good cheer, I have overcome the world! In the oven is where His plans began to come into fruition! This is the place when our prayers and faith must be activated if we are going to make it through the heat!

Although it can be difficult at times in his place remember that God does have a plan for you! His thoughts for you are not evil toward you! Yes I know you may want to say: “God please stop thinking about me so much!” but know that even in the heat He is working it out for your good!

When the heat (tribulations) come, it is designed to activate all the ingredients that was placed in the pan (God’s Hands).  Once activated they began take on a New shape, and when they come out of the oven people can’t recognize what has come out! 

God is the Creator and knows exactly what He is doing with each individual believer. He knows what it will take to make you come out of the heat your best. Once you come out He will adorn you and show you to the world. Oh taste and see what the Lord has done….will be your cry! No it does not feel good while going through, but go through it praying and seeking God at every turn no matter how bad it may look! This is God’s desire, that you would seek Him. When you call on Him, His promise is that He will answer; the time is up to Him when He’ll answer!

Hold on don’t you dare give up your help is there, call it in and He will come on your behalf! Don’t try to fix this yourself, pray to the Father and get direction. The heat in your life is just designed to perfect you and to allow God to put you on display for His Glory! Meditate on is word day and night, seek His face and pray without ceasing, praying in the Spirit; for praying in the Spirit completes your armor! Wear it for the rest of your life and when trails come you will endure until the end!

Jesus always withdrew Himself to pray to perform many of the miracles. Prayer releases God to do the work!  Remember you are only a prayer away from your breakthrough!  PRAY PRAY PRAY!

 By
David N. Taylor (The Storehouse Church)

 Three hundred years before Jesus was born, a civilization of people called the Celtics lived throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Western Europe. They were a common group, much like many segments of society today, but they were controlled by a secret society of priests and pagans called the Druids.

The Druids were satanists who worshipped and served the demonic god of death – Samhain (pronounced Sa-man). These satanic priests literally controlled people’s lives through the mechanism of fear, and much death, disease, and destruction came upon the Celtics as a result of the Druids and their practices.

Each year on October 31, the Druids celebrated the eve of the Celtic new year in honor of their pagan god, Samhain. The “Festival of Samhain,” more assuredly called “The Festival of Death,” was officially known, and is still recognized today by all satanists, occultists, and devil worshippers as the eve of the new year for witchcrafts.

Anton Lavey, author of “The Satanic Bible” and high priest of The Church of Satan, says there are three important days to satanists: 1) their birthday, 2) April 30, and 3) THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY –HALLOWEEN.

Lavey says it is on this night that satanic, occult, and witchcraft powers are at their highest potency level, and any witch or occultist who has been having difficulty with a spell or curse can usually achieve success on October 31st because Satan and his powers are at their best that night. October 31st, Halloween, is the eve of the new year for witchcraft. The World Book Encyclopedia says it is the beginning of all that is “cold, dark, and dead!” When you send your little children out to go “trick-or-treating”, you’re actually telling them to celebrate all that is cold,
dark, and dead!

Trick-or-Treat

The Druid priests would go from house to house demanding all sorts of strange foods for their own consumption and to offer later to “Lord Samhain” at The Festival of Death. If the village people would not give them the foods emanded, they would speak a demonic curse over the home, and history claims that someone in that family would die within the year. Thus you have “trick-or-treat”!

The Druids would carry with them a large turnip, which they had hollowed out on the inside and carved a face on the front, to represent the demonic spirit they depended upon for their power and knowledge. This spirit is called “a familiar spirit”. (See Acts 16:16-18) The turnip, lighted by a candle from within, was used as a lantern for the Druids as they went from house to house at night. Now, it was believed by the Druids that their familiar spirit would inhabit these turnips and assist them in carrying out the spells spoken over the homes and lives of those refusing the Druids’ demands.

When this practice came to America in the 8th and 19th centuries, turnips weren’t that prominent, but we did have a vegetable native to this country that was soon substituted for the turnips. That’s right –the pumpkin. The name given to the spirit which inhabited the turnip was “Jock,” and upon arriving in America it became “Jack, who lives in the lantern” or “Jack-O Lantern”.

 As you can clearly see, there is NOTHING Christian about Halloween. It is today what it has always been – a day dedicated to the devil.

What Should Our Position as A Christian Be?

The most common complaints about anyone taking a stand against Halloween is (#1) – “You’re trying to take all the fun out of little children’s lives,” and (#2) – “You’re trying to make something out of nothing, because we don’t believe in that stuff.”
Now listen! Just because you don’t believe in something does not mean that it’s not real. I know some people who don’t believe we’ve ever landed a spaceship on the moon. They believe that those television pictures are just made up. But, tell me something. Does that change the fact that man has walked on the surface of the moon? Of course not! Facts are facts regardless of what some people choose to believe. Just because you don’t visualize Halloween as “really” demonic and as something dangerous to your life, does not keep you or your children from Satan’s intended desire which is to instill FEAR!, DEATH!, and DESTRUCTION! into people’s minds.

Think about it. What is Halloween besides fear, horror, ghosts, witches, goblins, and devils? Just because you don’t “worship Satan,” does that give you the right to train your children to serve him one night out of the year in the name of fun? That’s what we do if we allow our families to participate in common Halloween practices.

The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) How can we righteously instruct our children in the ways of Halloween when everything about Halloween is of the devil? The Bible says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) It further states, “Perfect love casteth out fear.” (I John 4:18) Does Halloween cause our children to be at peace, or does it cause them to become terribly afraid? Remember going through the “house of horror” at the Halloween carnival at our school or church when we were growing up and the fear that gripped us as we felt and heard all kinds of mysterious things? As adults today, maybe it’s funny, but to a little child it’s terror that causes nightmares and very unpleasant memories when alone or in the darkness of night.

The Bible says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a Believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are temples of the Living God. As God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord, ‘touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord
Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

Why should Christians not honor Halloween?
Because it is paying homage to the devil. It’s the spirit behind Halloween which makes it wrong.

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them”. (Ephesians 5:11)

“Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. (Psalm 139:21-24)

“Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17)

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

If we really desire to honor the Lord in our lives and family, then we must teach our children concerning the truth about
Halloween, and provide them with an alternative to “trick-or treating”. Don’t just take away the bad, give them something to take it’s place that will honor the Lord instead of honoring the devil.

God desires for children of all ages to have fun, but fun at the expense of serving the devil is not fun at all.

How Did It Get Into The Church?

When Constantine became Emperor of Rome, he made a law declaring Christianity (which was Catholicism at this particular time in history) to be the official state religion. Having been recently converted by a tremendous martyr of that time, Constantine was zealous in his new- found faith and demanded as emperor that everyone become a Christian or face the penalty of death. This was the old “throw them to the lions” that the Christians had been facing for years. Well, you can imagine what happened. The church was flooded with pagans. Not converts, but rather pagan people forced to join the Catholic Church or lose their lives for defying the Emperor. As this happened, the priests and especially the Pope faced some serious problems. These people were bringing all their pagan practices and ideas into the church including “The Festival of Samhain”. They wanted – no, demanded – that this festival remain a part of their lives.

Since the church was unsuccessful in getting the pagan practices out of the people, it was decided to sanctify some of them. Especially this October 31st ritual called “The Festival of Samhain”. In the 9th century, the Pope declared a new day to be celebrated by the church on November 1st, called All Saint’s Day. This day is in honor of all the martyred
  saints of the church, and October 31st became the eve of All Saint’s Day. Now, the church contended, the people could still have festival on October 31st because November 1st was a holy day.

The Mass said on All Saint’s Day is the “All hallowmas” and over the years the evening before became known as “All Hallow’s Eve – All Hallowed Eve – All Hallow E’en – and finally Halloween. But, the problem was that nothing changed. The people didn’t lay down their pagan rites and worship of devils for this “new eve” established by the church. They didn’t have prayer meetings or worship services to thank Almighty God for the saints already gone. What it was in the beginning, it now still is. Halloween is a day that honors and promotes all that is cold, dark, and dead. When you start making preparations for a “Halloween Party,” you don’t go to the store and purchase pictures of Joan of Arc, the disciples of Jesus, or any other Christian saint. You look for ghosts, witches, black cats, ghouls, etc. Halloween is a day for devils – not saints. What the Pope attempted to do in the AD 800’s backfired, because in making “All hallowmas” holy, Halloween became recognized by the church as a religious holiday, and nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, all Halloween is and ever will be is “The Festival of Samhain,” the Lord of Death. Halloween has no roots in the Church, but is firmly rooted in the occult, witchcraft, and satanism.

Doreen Irving, who was the ruling witch of Western Europe and the British Isles and was the mistress of the high priest of Satan over that same area, is now a born-again, spirit-filled Christian. She says, “If Christian parents had any idea of what Halloween really is, they wouldn’t even mention the word around their children.”

EVEN SO AMEN!

1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.                   

Surrender is a battle term. It implies giving up all rights to the conqueror. When an opposing army surrenders, they lay down their arms, and the winners take control of everything. Surrendering to God works the same way, but the battle happens between the Spirit (indwelling gift from God) and the flesh (the natural man)!

Surrendering all to God means to yield ownership, to relinquish control over what we consider ours: our property, our time, our rights our will, our affections, our bodies, and our lives.  Our own pleasures and happiness can no longer be primary goals. God demands a "total cling" to Him---not anyone else. He doesn't want us to depend on anyone or anything but Him!    

Full surrender of everything to God requires you to convey your desire to be free from the worry and the cares of this life. You must verbalize to Him what you are committing to Him. Communicate to God in prayer all that you want to surrender.

Surrendering all to God after you have conveyed your cares to Him means entrusting all that you are to Him. Entrusting something to someone means you have placed that person in a legal position of guardianship over something that belongs to you. God becomes your trustee. You can believe He will look out for your best interests as He carefully guards your cares and concerns. He'll protect your interests and do whatever is best for you. The key to entrusting is leaving the cares with God and allowing Him to remain the trustee.

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden." The word "labor" means you are under the inward effort of trying to overcome either a thought or feeling, or trying to deal with a certain environment. That is you laboring, not the work of Christ in you. There is a standard in your mind of what you know you should be, and then there is the real you. When you start comparing the real you with the standard, you immediately begin toiling and laboring over your condition and you can’t get the real you to meet the higher standard. This can only happen when you give up your personal quest and allow “Christ in you the hope of Glory” to bring you up to the standard of God!

"Heavy laden" means this is a state or chronic condition that one lives with. Jesus is saying, "Come to Me, all you who are in the middle of a chronic condition." You are living in a state of being weighed down because of the accumulation of cares, anxieties, and accusations that have piled up on you under your system. It is a system that relies upon itself, that is expecting something from itself that it cannot produce. It is expecting a better performance or a better track record. When you do not meet up to your expectations, you are disappointed, and the result is that you are weighed down. It weighs you down because you are operating in a system of self-expectation.

This happens because we take our personal background issues and filter it through a system that is designed to fail. This failing system accumulates all our waste such as; failures, hurts, disappointments, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness and anything that doesn’t produce the fruits of the Spirit.

Bottom Line; we cannot surrender to God until we are completely ready to give up all that we are for Christ’s sake. Galatians 2:20 says: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Such a life of surrender is pleasing to God. When we surrender, it results in the greatest of life’s fulfillment, and it allows you to reap ultimate rewards here on earth and for all eternity!