In case you haven't noticed, there is a war being waged for your mind and your attention.  The enemy of your soul is bombarding you with wickedness and temptation everywhere you turn and he's doing so with ferocity and purpose.   He wants to stake claim in the valuable territory that is your mind.  He is working tirelessly to subtly convince you that the Word of God doesn't really teach what you have always believed (see Genesis 3:1-6).  Much energy is being spent to deceive you so that you can be manipulated by evil and be led away from God.  Sadly, droves are being led away from truth because they didn't give enough effort to protecting their minds.  

So, what are you doing to protect your mind?  What weapons are you wielding to keep your mind out of the hands of the enemy?  What are you feeding your mind each day?  Below are some stats about media consumption that might (or might not) surprise you.

• According to statista.com, the average daily amount of media consumption in the U.S. in 2015 was 12 hours per day!
• Nearly two-thirds of American adults (65%) use social networking sites.
• Every day 500 million Facebook users see an average of 8 billion videos.
• Snapchat users watch 6 billion videos every day.
• Adults in the U.S. spend an average of 1 hour and 16 minutes each day watching video on digital devices.
• 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
• 250 million photos are uploaded every day.

​If you are going to win the battle of your mind, it is imperative that you assess your media habits and the content of the media you consume.  Take an audit of the time spent viewing and listening to media as well as what kind of media you are ingesting.  Are you spending an adequate amount of time in the Word and in prayer?  Will you be able to hear God's voice over the many other noises in your life?  

There's a battle raging and we must ensure that we are not giving the enemy any advantages.  I Peter 5:8-9 give us wise instruction: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world."

Take action today to protect your mind.  Turn off the screen and open the Word.  Unplug your devices and plug into prayer.  Tap into the invaluable resources available to you and you will win the battle of your mind.

In Christ,
Patrick A. Thomson

In 19th chapter of Matthew we are introduced to a man known as the rich young ruler and his question for Jesus is "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?".  Jesus' answer is something this young man is not prepared to do and the bible says "when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions."

This young man was a fan, but chose not to be a follower!  A fan will give only a little time, a little effort, a little money, whereas a follower chooses to be fully committed to following, no matter the cost.

Listen to Luke 9:23, (Jesus) “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  There is a very challenging phrase in there that says “deny himself".  In this portion of scripture Jesus makes it clear that if we are going to follow Him, we cannot have a "non-committed” arrangement.

You don’t hear that much about denying ourselves, because we live in a culture that stresses independence & fulfilling ourselves.  It is not appealing to talk about denying ourselves.

What about you, today?  Where are you with all this?  Are you willing to bet your soul on just knowing about God?

Are you a fan or a follower?
Pastor R. Hoffman

The Lord gave me a message at the beginning of this year entitled "Don't get lost in the process".  In that message I talked a lot about the Apostle Paul's conversion and life.  Saul (Paul's name before his conversion) was struck with blindness as he traveled to Damascus and God began to speak to him about a great change in his life.

The process wasn't just:
- For Saul to be surrounded by God's presence
- For Saul to hear God's voice
- To receive direction from God
- To be blinded to what he used to be

It was never God's intent to just blind Saul away from the world.  It was God's intent for Saul to start seeing what God could really do with his life.  The devil would love for you to have the thought, "I'm closer to God than I've ever been" and be happy with that one place in the process.

Don't get lost in the process!

There is no stopping place in the process that God has allowed into our lives.  God has more for you and I than we ever imagined was possible.  Paul said 28 years after his conversion "I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be." (Philippians 3:12, Living Bible Translation) 

What is the process making out of you?
Pastor R. Hoffman