We had the blessing of hearing Dave Patten, a full-time worker from Ontario, in ministry on Sunday. His message was convicting and very timely. He spoke about how Satan's sole purpose is to kill and destroy and how Christians cannot let him get a 'launching pad' from which he can do his work in their lives.
He spoke about the different things that Satan will use to minimize a Christian's impact for God. The main topic that he spoke on was a bitter spirit. He spoke about how bitterness can enter a believer's life and they aren't even aware that it is Satan doing his work....through them!! He wants to paralyze us and keep us from being of use to God so he works on our minds and our spirits to deflate and cripple our effectiveness.
He warned us that bitterness will take over our lives, if we let it. Bitterness toward other Christians that affects our fellowship and our work together for Him. He also cautioned us not to think "well, I am glad that so and so is here to hear this message" or "too bad so and so is missing this...they really need to hear it". WE are the ones who need to hear the message. WE are the ones who need to examine our thoughts and pray for help to purge bitterness from our lives. Everyone I talked to said that this was a convicting message and came at the perfect time!
God knows what we need and He gives it to us. Dave and his wife were not supposed to be here but they ran into some issues that caused them to stop in Moncton overnight. This was no coincidence! God used Dave's exercise to impart some timely wisdom to us...to me...and I should not let it fall by the wayside without learning something from it.
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