Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, “We can’t keep the Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from holding godly values. But, we can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relational experience with Jesus Christ. This is the most critical for our cause, for if they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken”.

“So let them go to their churches; let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can’t gain that relationship with Jesus Christ and with each other. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection with Him throughout their day or each other during the week!” “How shall we do this?” shouted his angels. “Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince them to work 6 and 7 days a week with both husbands and wives working 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles”.

“Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, their home will soon offer no escape from the pressures of the outside world! Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear God’s still, small voice. Flood their mail and email boxes with “stuff”; and steal their time with trivial information and stories that they pass back and forth to each other. Entice them to keep their TVs, DVDs, CDs, PCs, texting, Facebook, and their iPods going constantly. This will jam their minds, discourage meaningful relationships, and break that union with Christ.”

“Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards, signage, food, and talking on their phones. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, magazines, mail order catalogs, and every kind of promotional – offering free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what’s important, and hopefully, become dissatisfied with their wives. That will fragment those families quickly!”

“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don’t let them go out in nature to reflect on God’s wonders. Instead, overwhelm their vacations with amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies. Keep them busy, busy, busy! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions. And, don’t forget to crowd their lives with ‘causes’ and events that are ‘good and acceptable’ that God never necessarily called them to in the first place. Again, our strategy is to exhaust them so much that they have no time to feed their souls, or to cultivate love for their Lord or each other. Our goal, for them, is to not have any spiritual power over temptations, over habits, over wrong attitudes, and so much more. They will have less and less discernment as to what is right or wrong; what is good, and what is evil. And, the best part? They won’t even suspect us!”

It was quite a convention! The evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get exceedingly busy, more rushed and exhausted, going here and there; Christians who have knowledge about many things, but have precious little time to sit at Jesus’ feet, and who are fast losing their grip on peace and holiness and love and purity and forgiveness. Christians who have less and less time and heart for “the eternal” or for the souls of others (even their own children) because their minds and hearts are jammed with the things of this world.

Of course, the key words in the above story are “overwhelm”, “flood”, “crowd”, etc. Many of these activities are not necessarily bad, in and of themselves, but we’ve become a society of excess, and much can be learned from the above story. Wouldn’t you agree, it’s a timely warning?

Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.

Check back later today for new posts to Coffee Cup Friends. We’ll share the exciting changes coming to CCF down the road. Our TARGET date for the new reveal will be in an April / May timeframe, maybe sooner. So, stay tuned…

We’re taking a bit of time off so hang in there with us a little longer. In the meantime, enjoy all the other areas of the website you might have missed before. We’ve included some fun recipes in OUR KITCHEN for St. Patrick’s day. Also, check out Kirsten’s Devos – #9 and #10 in our Outstanding Articles page.

Peg has three new Feathered Pen short writings in our OUTSTANDING ARTICLES that we know you will enjoy reading.  Hugs and blessings  … the CCF team

EXCITING CHANGES ARE ON THE HORIZON!!!

Stuffed French Toast with Strawberry Sauce
10-12 Servings

1 loaf French bread, cubed (with crust)
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into small chunks
12 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 stick butter, melted

Spread cubed French bread in greased 9×13 bakeware dish. Scatter cream cheese over top. In blender, combine remaining ingredients well. Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 50-60 minutes.

Strawberry sauce:
2 cups strawberries or 10 ounces frozen strawberries
2 cups strawberry preserves

Combine ingredients in small saucepan and stir constantly until preserves melt and sauce is hot. Serve warm with stuffed French toast.

CCF

CCF

They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words!” We don’t normally share email pics, but this one was too good to pass up.

Joshua 1:8-9

(New American Standard Bible)
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

(New Living Translation)
“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

I think you would agree that most of us desire to change, sometimes out of great desperation. We want to grow and mature in most every area of our lives, often believing that if we do everything we can, others AND God will be more pleased with us! And because of this, we can understand why New Year’s resolutions are so popular. We step into each new year with the best of intentions, only to realize a short time later, that those resolutions we made with great enthusiasm and earnestness are, once again, broken. Why? There can be many reasons, but the sad reality is that shattered hopes and unfulfilled dreams can often lead to resulting guilt and frustration. With each passing year, this becomes a vicious cycle. I can’t tell you how often this has been true in my own life! The harder I try, the harder I fall. And, every time I fall, the more frustrated I become. God spoke directly to me when the apostle Paul proclaimed, “For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do!” (Romans 7:15) Misery loves company!

After an honest heart-examination, God slowly revealed to me that my focus was on “ME”, not Him. Self-centered, tunnel vision, inner absorption, no matter the name, it masked itself under the guise of “time-honored resolutions”. I learned that true, lasting change would not come until I turned the focus off of me and totally on to Him; to become less absorbed over the “stuff” in my life, and become more absorbed in the everlasting substance of God. It’s interesting to read on, after Paul’s admission and agonizing over his weaknesses and shortcomings in Chapter 7 of Romans, that victory reigned in Paul’s life when he focused no longer on himself, but on God and His amazing, unconditional love. (*See below.)

One of my favorite authors is Ruth Harms Calkins and she expresses it so well: “Lord, for so long I thought Your love demanded that I change. At last I am beginning to understand that Your love changes me.”

Wouldn’t you agree that this is freeing? Let me quickly add, there is nothing wrong in striving to take care of yourself and live as healthy as you possibly can, but it all begins by knowing God, truly knowing Him, and understanding His infinite love and care for us. Begin today to allow God, the One who holds the power and creativity to change you (transforming you as only He can), to become the person He wants you to be. Be in continuous prayer and discover the truth of His Word. The more you come to know the character of God, the more you are willing to yield to His ways and perfect will. There is no one who will love you more, and He wants you to be conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. For it’s in Jesus, alone, that you will find your true self and realize the abundant life He promises!!!

* Romans 8:5-17 Click on this verse. The New International Version will pop up (good!) but click on the down arrow and go to The Message + Update for a really good and clear paraphrase.

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A schoolteacher was having her very first golf lesson. She asked the instructor, “Is what you’re doing there spelled ‘p-u-t’ or ‘p-u-t-t’?

“‘P-u-t-t’ is correct,” he replied. “P-u-t’ means to place a thing where you want it. ‘P-u-t-t’ means merely a vain attempt to do the same thing.”

… who can hold onto her children while letting them go;

… who puts a tranquil home ahead of an immaculate house;

… who knows a kind act will be remembered longer than an easy word;

… whose sense of humor is alive and well;

… who really believes that prayer changes things;

… whose faith in the future sweetens the present;

… whose Bible never needs dusting!

Yes, “count your blessings, name them one by one” in February? Yes, in February and March, and …

Thanking God for His countless blessings is not something we do just in November at Thanksgiving, but EVERY day! Take a look at Philippians 4:4 (The Message): “Celebrate God all day, every day, I mean, revel in Him!” We can do this because of our relationship with His son, Jesus Christ. He is the Giver of Life to all who seek Him. We must humble ourselves before His Throne of Grace and give thanks for who He is and for all He does in our lives.

There are probably a number of different reasons why many Christians don’t practice this on a regular basis. The two we think of most often are busyness and daily distractions. Both can rob us of our time with Him and our relationship with others. We should continually ask ourselves if we are living a life that is pleasing to God and if we’re modeling right living for our children. Gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving are spiritual disciplines that must be practiced so they become as natural as breathing.

Throughout the remainder of 2010, open your eyes to the blessings God freely and lovingly gives. Sometimes, they get wrapped up in the over-whelming struggles and difficulties of day-to-day living and we tend to miss them. However, keep looking. They’re the serendipities of life! They’re God’s gifts to His children!