As a man purifies his heart, temptation ceases, for when a certain unlawful desire has been taken out of the heart, the object which formerly appealed to it can no longer do so, but becomes dead and powerless, for there is nothing left in the heart that can respond to it.

God also puts His people in the middle of things for the same reason that He put the tree of temptation in the middle of the garden--so that our choice to follow Him would be a conscious, daily one. Every time we publicly choose to live for Christ, He is glorified.

It was easy to rise up in faith and heroism when we faced a clear-cut enemy. Its much harder to resist the enemy of gradualism and assimilation, much harder to maintain a passion for God when we are bogged down in the daily routine of life

God has His reasons for allowing this great upheaval. Maybe He's asking us to join the fight against evil and help redeem this fallen world." "I don't have enough faith for this, Papa." "None of us do. All we can do is ask Him each day what He wants us to do." She nodded, keeping her tears at bay.

I need to stay continually watchful, prepared with the whole armor of God if I want to combat the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

It was easy to rise up in faith and heroism when we faced a clear-cut enemy. It's much harder to resist the enemy of gradualism and assimilation, much harder to maintain a passion for God when we're bogged down in the daily routine of life.

The Devil is vicious, but he's not victorious.

Living loved is sourced in your quiet daily surrender to the One who made you.

If the enemy can isolate us, he can influence us. And his favorite entry point of all is through our disappointments

Submission is 'ducking low enough so God can touch your husband.

In the quiet, unexpressed, unwrestled-through disappointments, Satan is handcrafting his most damning weapons against us and those we love. It's his subtle seduction to get us alone with our thoughts so he can slip in whispers that will develop our disappointments into destructive choices.

I don't know all the details entangled in this issue. But You know all. Therefore, You, God, are the only One who can handle all. There are a lot of things my flesh is tempted to seek—fairness, my right to be right, proof of her wrongdoing, to make her see things from my vantage point—but at this point, the only thing healthy for me to seek is You. You alone. I'm going to be obedient to You and let You handle everything else.