{"id":3100,"date":"2022-12-11T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-11T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/?p=3100"},"modified":"2024-01-18T15:46:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T21:46:55","slug":"be-vigilant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/be-vigilant\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Vigilant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He wants you to be weary, friend. Too tired to read the Word. He wants you to be busy, friend.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too busy to pray in the presence of God. He wants you to be distracted, friend. The to-do list is a mile long and it is just the thing to keep your mind off of Christ. We don\u2019t like to talk much about him. We pretend he\u2019s busy with others. But the truth is that he studies you and me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the thief that comes to steal. He wants to steal your peace. He comes to kill. To douse those passionate flames that would give testimony to the goodness of God. He comes to destroy. The battle rages within our homes, our schools and our churches. We don\u2019t like to talk about him much. It\u2019s not pleasant, in fact, it is quite unsettling. The enemy remains and we pretend he\u2019s not knocking on our door. He doesn\u2019t look scary, in fact, he looks like everything we\u2019ve ever wanted. He promises fortune, fame and freedom. But he will leave you broke, alone and bound. I know so many who are heavy with burdens. Life seems wholly broken.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we identify the enemy? He\u2019s the same snake from the Garden of Eden. His tricks are the same. I believe if we are aware of his antics we are more likely to withstand him. God offers rest for the weary, respite for the busy and focus for the distracted. Don\u2019t be afraid of the enemy; be aware of the enemy. He wants your marriage to crumble. Build a brick wall. He wants your schedule to be full. Carve out a spot for Jesus. He wants your mind to race with anxiety. Receive God\u2019s perfect peace. He wants you to feel worthless. God gave his son for you. There is an enemy, friend, but we know how the story will end. For every lie the enemy tells, God has a truth to cling to. I hear the lies in the still of night. Maybe you hear them too. Be careful, friend, to know whose voice you\u2019re listening to.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Jenn Kish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He wants you to be weary, friend. Too tired to read the Word. He wants you to be busy, friend. Too busy to pray in the presence of God. He wants you to be distracted, friend. The to-do list is a mile long and it is just the thing to keep your mind off of… Continue reading Be Vigilant<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[178,179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin","category-marks-messages","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3101,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100\/revisions\/3101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}