1 Sam 2:30 for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
ELUDE THE ENEMY’S TRAPS: There are so many ways he can catch you and fould you up.
- Mentally – guard your thought life
- Spiritually – stay in prayer and in the Word, not in the news
- Temptation – don`t be available to be tempted
- Physically – stay healthy. Diet, sunshine and exercise
There is a problem with the name of the Army S.E.R.E. course. Although extremely tough and thorough, it is grammatically incorrect. The school is called survival, evasion, resistance and escape. But teaches you five, instead of four things. You see, the word evasion isn’t complete. It should say elude too.
Soldiers are sent to this school because they and the Army esteem other soldiers. A part of esteeming others is to protect someone. You do not want them to get hurt or to be compromised when you get captured and tortured for sensitive information.
I esteem my wife so I do whatever is possible to keep her safe. Part of that protection process is not saying things that expose her to danger. God esteems me, I esteem Him. When we esteem God, we esteem others, by protecting them. We do things ,or elude compromising situations, to prevent others from getting hurt.
Here are the next 3 `E’s of esteeming God. Elude, Evade and Escape.
Elude : avoid a danger, enemy, or pursuer
Evade : avoid dealing with or accepting something unpleasant
Escape : breaking free from confinement or control
Christians have an enemy. The enemy wants to hurt God. The enemy wants to hurt us or our fellow Christian soldiers. When we esteem God, we esteem all others. We want to bless others, not hurt them. We do not ever want to be seen as a mean, weird, Old Testament prophet. Prophecy in the New Testament is for edifying and exhorting, to comfort our fellow brothers. 1 Cor 14:3 (and coincidentally the next 2 Es)
Remember, how we esteem God is revealed by how we esteem man. All men, no matter what their opinions are, how they vote, what they stick or don’t stick on their faces, are to be esteemed. If we are Christians, we are esteemers of God, and esteemers of our fellow man. In this day and age, to be a Christian is to be a soldier of Christ. Not to hurt, but to save others from tyranny (the true intention of the United States Army btw). There is no greater tyrant than Satan. You are at war if you are following Christ. Soldiers are vigilant, and sober. Soldiers aren’t pot heads as TV would have you to believe. The best way to get killed on patrol is to not be sober and vigilant, because soldiers have an enemy that desperately wants to kill them.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
The enemy can only torture to get information about your friends, and leadership, only if he catches you in a compromised state (the ´trap´). To keep from getting caught is to be elusive, or to elude. That is the best way to protect God and others. Be diligent, alert, astute and sober with every waking moment. Be led by God, He´ll never lead you into a trap. God never leads by fear, anger, money, savings, He leads by His Spirit. St. Augustine says it best when asked how to be led by God. He said ´Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and then do whatever you want. God will stop you if you´re going in the wrong direction as long as you do the first three things`. So the first step to eluding the enemy is to be a son of God.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
I am always surprised at how many Bible believing, born again Christians really don’t believe in being led by the Spirit of God. Very few people, not even many pastors and missionaries, understand why we do the feeding centers, for example in the dump. It’s filthy, disorganized, the kids are perfect (in my opinion) but the parents are savages for the most part… (some moms are saints there, but not many). We are constrained (led) by Christ to do this.
2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us;
I´ve had pastors (even Nicaraguan) as well as Christian missionaries come up to me and ask me why we still do this, obviously without much success. Naked children, little girls with miniskirts, eye shadow, pumps and lipstick, vulgarity, pushy and aggressive moms, fist fighting etc…..
I can’t answer them. I just know that if we don’t do this we would be in sin. ,, with a sheepish reply I say ‘I dunno, cause I love ‘em and so does Jesus I guess?’ They shake their heads in religious disgust and walk away. Then I see the dreaded facebook posts about how they have a real church or Bible school, they just don’t fatten kids up to burn hell… (true story,, more than once). I try to elude the vile satanic trap of spiritual pride and religion. I just try to be obedient….. 3 decades now with no end in sight.
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Other than being led by the Spirit, how else do we elude Satan? In my old denomination, about 20 years ago, a pastor was raising up his son to take his place in ministry. The kid was doing bad stuff on the internet, and was reported to the police as being a pedophile. The kid tried to commit suicide by driving off of a peer. He hit a person as he was driving recklessly towards the ocean and committed vehicular homicide. He was in a seeming hopeless trap within a trap, compromising everyone, because he wasn’t listening to what the Word said. The Holy Spirit was warning him (without a doubt) but He didn’t listen. The kid wasn’t eluding Satan, he was eluding the Holy Spirit.
1 Thess 4:7-8 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
If we spent half as much time eluding Satan as we do eluding the Holy Spirit, we would all be in much better shape. We as a rule don’t even think about eluding Satan or his wiles. We don’t try to honor and esteem God either during these evil days. If we’re not esteeming God and not eluding Satan, we automatically go to the dark side. Unhealthy thoughts and reactions lead us right into Satan`s traps. We blow our testimony. We hurt and disrespect others. Situational awareness is a practice and learned art. It’s called being deliberate and intentional.
Eluding Satan and His traps IS esteeming God, because the very act of trying to honor God is eluding the enemy. IF we want to elude God’s verdict, we have to elude Satan first. We elude God’s verdict by accepting Jesus into our hearts. When you truly accept Jesus you won’t be a phony.
Romans 2:3 But do you think this, O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things, and yet do the same yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude His verdict?
WhatistheloveofGod.com
WHAT’S NEW AT PUREHEART?
COVID 19 UPDATE- STILL NOT ONE CASE OF COVID AMONG THE 300+ FAMILIES WE SERVE (APPROX 6000 PEOPLE, NOR AMONG OUR STAFF, NOR FRIENDS OF PUREHEART AND FAMILY DOWN HERE WHERE WE SERVE). SCHOOL IS ON SUMMER VACATION. FEEDING CENTERS GOING ON AS USUAL. PSALM 91
PRAYER REQUESTS.
- We have paid all taxes, lawyers, fines and CPA, resubmitted all our packets, waiting for the next step.
- FOR OUR OWN HOME APART FROM THE MINISTRY. IT WILL BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO DIRECT AND OVERSEE EVERYTHING, BUT NOT INSIDE THE MINISTRY’S WALLS. IT’S NON STOP HERE AND WINNIE’S NOT WELL. SHE NEEDS A HAVE. I FOUND A HOUSE FOR 29K, we have almost 10k towards it.
- FOR THE ORPHANAGE THAT I KNOW IS IN OUR FUTURE. NOT ONLY AN ORPHANAGE, BUT AN OLD FOLKS HOME AS WELL. I THINK THE TWO CAN BE SIDE BY SIDE ON THE SAME PROPERTY, IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF MONEY. IT WOULD BE A BLESSING TO THE OLD FOLKS TO HEAR KIDS PLAYING, AND IT WOULD BE A BLESSING FOR THE KIDS TO HAVE ABUELAS AND ABUELOS.
- AMERICA!
- WINNIE`S HEALTH.
PRAISE REPORTS
- Summer vacation is here, much needed. Everyone is getting to relax. Winnie and I are only doing the feeding center in the dump until school starts again in Feb
- Since I have started tithing my retirement I have had no stress about finances.
- A much lighter atmosphere. We have been oppressed for a long time. Even though we have more problems and ever growing dynamics, there isn’t that horrible pressure. I think it was spiritual and your prayers are working. I feel victory.
- We are relaxing, just doing the feeding centers right now, summer vacation ends in a month
- Personally, I am healthy. Haven’t had so much as a cold in the past three years. When I hurt myself, I heal almost immediately. That’s good because I have to take care of Winnie. Please pray for her healing.
PLEASE KEEP ON DOING WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU`RE DOING, IT’S WORKING!! pray, donate, and spread the word about us, what we are doing and the needs here!
Please share this letter on FB and with your friends, churches & civic groups! Thank you!!!
Dean and Winnie Peters
[email protected]
Joyfully serving the ‘least of these’ in Nicaragua for the glory of God