What best describes my current situation in spiritual battle? Explain your answer.

• In basic training
• In the mess hall
• Running from the battle
• Running to the battle
• In communication with Headquarters
• In the latrine
• Dedicated to my mission
• A prisoner of war (P.O.W.)

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.” The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, “You have seen Hell.”

Description
Youth will look at a series of common situations, struggles, temptations, etc and determine which piece of spiritual armor would be most useful in the given situation.

Preparation
Make a list of activities/ situations:
Examples

• A close family member just passed away
• Someone has done something to hurt your feelings

There is a difference between a Christian home and a religious home. A religious home focuses upon the requirements of being a Christian, whereas a Christian home focuses on the relationship with God. Here are some of the characteristics of a Christian home:

(c) Copyright 2007 by Ken Sapp

Broken, incomplete,
shattered, rough edges,
cutting, scattered.

Different shapes,
reflecting different colors.

But the Master takes them,
fits them together according to His pattern and vision,
and from the broken pieces,
creates a masterpiece of color and light.

“Courage is the power to do well when the air is turbulent and the going gets tough. It is having the character to do well when things are tempting, when things are painful.

It is easy to be a mother when a baby is cooing and gurgling over breakfast; it takes courage to be a mother when the child suffers from a terrible and incurable handicap.

Dear Heavenly Father, Make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say and to answer all their questions kindly.

Keep me from interrupting them, talking back to them and contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.

Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.

Introduction
Freedom of worship is not available in many nations. In fact, like the early church there are many places where the church is persecuted and Christians are not allowed to meet together publicly. Sometimes called “Communist church”, I prefer to call it persecuted church because communist countries are not the only places where the church is persecuted!