Grieved

 Father my heavy heart is crushed with grief, 

For sins I see in others and myself without relief, 

I see my failures and other's flaws abounding, 

Experiencing Your grace needed - still astounding, 

Our adversary is crafty and evil filled with deceit, 

Tempting, trapping, ensnaring continually on repeat, 

There is a better way - a path leading to salvation, 

A path of praise filled in joyous glorious exultation,

A path where our grief is exchanged for adoration, 

In God exalting worship and unbridled celebration,

Satan searches and targets soldiers each defeated, 

Wounded in the battle victories no more completed, 

Deliverance and healing needed further on ahead, 

Instead of surrender needing perseverance instead, 

Leaning everlastingly on our most holy Savior, 

Who alone has the power to change our behavior. 

Embrace the Grind

 Most people want to be successful. People like to win. Many of those same people do not embrace the grind of what it takes to succeed. Business people find short cuts, compromise convictions, and use people to climb to the top. Some sleep their way to the top trading sexual favors for promotions. Athletes don't always practice hard, but think they can just play hard during games and succeed. They don't understand the grind of working out to improve performance. 

The grind is the day to day mundane things you have to do in order improve. Swimmers have to swim. Sales people have to find new customers. Students have to study. Authors have to keep typing one word, one sentence, one paragraph, and one chapter at a time. Most of those things are not pleasant. It the grind of another shift at work. It is another early morning workout to improve your health when you preferred to stay in bed. It saying no to a short term pleasurable purchase in order to save for a better purchase down the road. It is the grind of cranking out another assignment toward earning that degree. It is the devotional disciplines you do in order to have a vital walk with God. 

The grind is often hard. It is tediously boring at times. The grind is gritting your way through hard stuff in order to arrive at a more preferrable future. Many people say they want to be close to God. Many say they want to know God. That takes time through the grind of things you hear in church all the time. Bible reading. Bible study. Prayer. Scripture meditation. Nobody sees when I get up to pray or read my Bible. Nobody sees when I enter the secret place to intercede. Nobody notices the journal entries I jot down. It is all part of the grind of trying to get to know God. 

When you learn to embrace the grind, you don't mind it so much. I embrace the grind of riding a Peloton. I don't have people in the room cheering me on. Nor do I have a coach. It is the bike, me, and the competitors I ride against at the time listed on the screen. I only see their progress and where each of us ranks during that ride. It is a grind to pedal. To bead up in sweat leaving puddles beneath the handlebars. It is a grind to endure a soar bottom from the seat. It is a grind, but I know it helps my health. That is why I embrace it. I know the benefits. If we could focus on the benefits of the grind more than the effort, boredom, or dislike of the process, it could be more tolerable. Maybe even enjoyed as well as embraced. 

I don't know what your grind is. One of mine is writing these articles. This will make number 1,665 over the past several years. I rarely get feedback if these help anyone. I refuse to let advertisements on here to profit financially. I write because that is what God called me to do. There are days when the inspiration flows freely. There are seasons where I hit writer's block and can't find inspiration anywhere. In those days, I still try to grind. I set a goal of the number of posts I wanted to write in 2026 back in early January. It is now October 2nd. The newness of the year has long ago worn off. It is a grind to stay focused on the goal. During the late spring and summer that goal seemed far out of reach. I renewed the grind and just keep writing. If I embrace the grind, I just might surpass that goal after all. I hope you will embrace your grind as well. 

Targeted

Most people cannot recall much from October of 2002. A reign of terror covered a part of the country. Two men rigged up a Chevy Caprice Classic so that the trunk could be accessed from inside the car. A hole was drilled near the license plate where a gun muzzle was shoved through. People were randomly targeted in parking lots and gas stations where they were shot. 

It was the leading story of the time. Police were baffled and stymied in their investigations. John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo eventually were captured at a road side park. Not before they killed 10 people. Both were arrested and in 2009 Muhammad was executed by lethal injection. Malvo, who was a minor of 17 at the time of the shootings, is still incarcerated. 

Satan hates God and the things of God. He opposes God at every turn. Not that he is more powerful than God. The Devil's days are numbered. Until then he does a lot of damage. He targets both Christians and non-Christians. He deceives, tempts, ensnares, and destroys millions. High on his list of targets are influential Christian people. It was just a little over a year ago when Charlie Kirk was assassinated at one of his rallies. So was Martin Luther King Jr. Satan does not always have people killed. There are other ways to destroy people. 

Have you heard of scandalous behavior by high profile Christian leaders. I am deeply saddened to have learned of the moral failures of some of my spiritual heroes. Some got caught in dishonest financial schemes. Others had sexual misconduct allegations charged against them. In recent years, famous people have been taken down out of ministry due to sinful choices. Wicked evil forces are at work behind the scenes. 

I read the story of a pastor who flew to a preaching engagement. Seated next to him was an attractive woman. He struck up a conversation with her attempting to share Jesus with her. Turned out she was a witch. During their conversation she commented about how witches had banded together to cast curses on several pastors they wanted to take down. She showed him the list. He was shocked to see that many of those on the list were no longer in ministry due to some scandal. 

Preachers live with a target on their backs. Demonic forces are at work all over the world to take out pastors. I heard the story recently of a pastor who was arrested for beating up his wife. Behind the pulpit he seemed to be a man of God. Behind closed doors he was an abusive bully. I can tell you about another pastor who used church money to take elaborate vacations using the pretense that he was taking mission trips. There are too many stories to recount of pastors committing adultery. I was recently told of one pastor who divorced his wife and married the lady he committed adultery with. The shocker is that he is till the pastor of that same church. 

It would be easy to lump all of these fallen into one category as cheats, adulterers, liars, and so forth. I believe that among the many pastors that have fallen there are some who truly loved God, but got caught into the bondage of sin they could not free themselves. When temptation came, they said yes when they should have said no. Before they knew it, they were caught in the jagged iron claws of a bear trap of sin. They felt shame and yet continued in the sinful behavior. Satan truly stole, killed and destroyed many of them. John 10:10

We dare not say that could never happen to me. The Devil is crafty. He deceived Adam and Eve in the garden and has been doing the same things for centuries. Many have fallen who loved God. Take King David for example and his son Solomon. Every time another falls it harms the church. Just look at what sex abuse scandals did to the Catholic church and to the Southern Baptist Convention. We must keep watch. Parishioners must prayerfully keep watch over their ministers. Those ministers are targeted. None of us wants to see another fall. Pray a hedge of protection around them and their families. Pray for your local church. Our adversary is on the prowl looking for who he might devour. I Peter 5:8