When It Seems to Be Slipping Away

 

What would you say is the greatest obstacle standing in the way of your happiness right now? Just about every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ would probably answer this question the same way. Jesus tells us in John 10:10(NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” From the Words of our Lord and Savior, we know that he came to the earth to make a more than abundant life available to us. Jesus also tells us that the devil is in the earth to steal, kill, and destroy us and everything we hold precious. The Good News is that Jesus Christ did not come in vain. We can have the prosperous existence that he sacrificed his life to give us. The question we must ask ourselves is what more can we do to reach out and grab what our Redeemer has so freely given, because many of us feel as though we’re losing the battle of an abundant life.

God’s Word tells us in Ephesians 6:11-13(NLT), “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.” Truth is our greatest armor, and our Heavenly Father never leaves His children without the knowledge and wisdom they need to conquer any obstacle or adversity in the earth. Romans 8:37 declares that we are more than conquerors through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. From this, we can be confident that God has supplied all we need to resist the devil and stand firm according to His Word.

Not by your might
If this season has taught us nothing else, it has revealed the spiritual wickedness and satanism in the world and all its systems. We cannot win a spiritual battle using physical weapons, and we cannot walk in the victory Jesus Christ has won over satan using our own strength. It just will not do. We must be strengthened in the Lord and in the power of HIS might. The whole armor of God must be put on to stand against the methodologies of the devil. The enemies around us today are demonic spirits, and they are working through people and the situations they cause. It would be a waste of time to take up the practice of warring against a person. God has commanded us to put on His WHOLE armor and stand against satan. We don’t have to fight because the battle has been won by our Lord and Savior. We must, however, stand on the solid foundation of God’s Word.

A Prayer Plan
God doesn’t want us ignorant of the devil’s devices. Heavenly Father wants us to be aware that the enemy has methods; he has spiritual darts, and missiles too. God has called upon us to have a dart-and-missile-proof system. That’s the system He’s provided through Jesus Christ. If a life of peace, fulfillment, and abundance in the Spirit feels to be slipping away, it almost certainly can be linked to not spending enough time with God. His armor is fail-proof. He tells us to put on the belt of truth, the body armor of righteousness, the shoes of peace, and to hold up the shield of faith. He tells us that our heads must be guarded by the helmet of salvation. This means we ought to think like Christ as we put on his mind and thoughts continually. Then, in Ephesians 6:18, God tells us to pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. This is the glue that binds everything together beautifully.

One of our downfalls as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is to underestimate the potency and necessity of a solid prayer life. Because we do not have a plan in which we’re disciplined to pray daily, the devil seeks to destroy our prayer lives even before they begin. Many seasoned believers refer to themselves as Warriors in the faith, but it takes more than a label to wear this responsibility. It requires the discipline of consistent, earnest, and quality time in prayer. Typically, we define a warrior as a soldier that doesn’t give up easily. This is the mental and emotional resolve of a quality prayer life. We’re prayer warriors when we are relentless to a consistent prayer life, and we won’t give it up no matter how enticing the temptation.

It’s not a Chore, It’s A Privilege
Human beings are creatures of habit. We only do habitually those things from which we believe we derive some benefit. And we only focus our time and energy on those things we deem worthy of our attention. Given these truths, we can easily see how the devil has stolen one of our greatest treasures. This treasure is effective prayer, and it happens to be the thing that strikes a mighty blow against him. Understand that whatever you and I place before prayer will then relegate prayer to a place beneath it—to third or fourth place if that; and the enemy relishes this because he succeeds at getting us to abandon our post. We are then in disobedience, because God has commanded us to stay on guard.

In many cases, it’s not things like putting our needs first, being selfish, or indulging meaningless entertainment that the enemy uses; he knows spiritually mature believers won’t fall for those as easily. It’s stuff like chores, family, work, responsibilities, and other meaningful stuff that pulls at our time and resources. These are the things the devil uses to divert our attention away from prayer. We have to change this because forfeiting our time with the Lord is depleting our reservoirs. It’s causing us to feel as though we’re losing the battle because we are refusing a vital piece of God’s armor.

God has given us prayer because of His unfathomable grace and mercy. We can talk to Him and share our hearts with Him. We cannot, as responsible believers, put our communication and communion with God in second place; not ever. He must always hold the number one spot, and prayer is the privilege of access He’s provided to His children. How is it that we ask Him for His treasures in our times of dire need, but not use the very instrument that prevents much of our complaints? Prayer to God in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, allows our tanks to remain full. We, as sinners, cannot place a perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing God in a place of ‘get to you when I can’. We might do this with other folk, but it cannot be done with Heavenly Father. We cannot live the abundant life that Jesus Christ made available without acknowledging that prayer is the ultimate privilege. It’s not a chore. It is the most important practice of life, and a gift of joy and fellowship with God. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“When It Seems to be Slipping Away”, written for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Understanding Real Love

 

Learning the Difference Between Love and Dependence 

Derek had one of the most tender hearts I had ever encountered in a man. I say that because life had already pushed him past what most people would consider a breaking point, yet he never lashed out in anger or spoke with bitterness. Even when he was hurting, there was a gentleness about him that never seemed to leave. But sometimes the greatest lessons about love are not learned in peaceful moments—they are revealed when a relationship begins to fall apart.

By the time Ashley entered his life, Derek was already a man who had learned how to carry pain quietly. He was strikingly handsome in a way that made people look twice—clear eyes, smooth skin that seemed almost unreal in its perfection—but he carried himself with a kind of humility that made it obvious he had never built his identity around his looks. After completing four years in the Army, he had joined the National Guard and was attending training in a nearby town when he met Ashley.

Ashley owned a small hair salon there. She was ambitious, outgoing, and deeply taken with Derek almost from the moment they met. Before long the two of them looked like the kind of couple people admire from a distance—attractive, warm, and seemingly well matched. It was easy to picture a future for them: a home filled with laughter and beautiful children who carried the kindness and humility both of them seemed to possess.

But life has a way of revealing truths we are not always prepared to face. An opportunity came to Derek that could advance his military career in ways he had never expected. It was the kind of opportunity that doesn’t come around twice. Accepting it meant relocating to another state and beginning a completely new chapter of life.

And somewhere in the quiet space where serious decisions are made, Derek realized something that unsettled him deeply. As much as he cared about Ashley, he did not see her as his wife. He did not see their future together. The opportunity stirred hope in him, but telling Ashley the truth felt like the hardest conversation he had ever faced.

The conversation was every bit as painful as he feared it would be. Ashley cried uncontrollably, but in that moment she appeared to accept what he had said. When Derek walked away that evening, he believed he had handled the situation the best way he knew how—honestly and with as much care as possible.

But weeks passed, and it became clear that Ashley was not recovering from the breakup the way Derek had hoped. She called him constantly. She showed up at his job during the day, pleading with him to reconsider. At times she even tried to interfere with the opportunity that required him to move away.

Ashley was asleep to something within herself and didn’t know it. In her mind there was no replacing Derek. Every waking moment felt like sheer panic, and the discomfort was overwhelming. She didn’t realize that her sense of worth had become tangled with Derek’s love, and that losing him felt like losing herself. In her mind, there was no replacing Derek. No other man’s love could be as kind and tender, she thought. Rationalizing that it was worth it, she placed her business in jeopardy and almost lost everything she owned to try and get Derek back.

If we’re honest, many of us have faced moments where our hearts leaned too heavily on another person. When someone walks away and our peace disappears with them, it reveals something important about what we believed that relationship meant to our lives. Those painful moments can become an invitation from God to look deeper within and ask whether we have placed expectations on a person that only the love of Christ was meant to fulfill.

Ashley was desperate for love, but desperation is often the result of not fully knowing God’s love. When the heart does not rest in the love of God, it will look for someone else to fill that space. Ashley believed Derek was her everything, and this is a dangerous lie many people quietly accept. No human being was ever meant to carry that weight. Only Jesus Christ can occupy that place in our hearts. The apostle John reminds us in 1 John 4:19 (NLT), “We love each other because he loved us first.” When we understand that Christ’s love for us is complete and unshakable, we are no longer driven by fear, desperation, or the need for another person to validate our worth.

God looks far deeper than the surface of our emotions. He looks directly at the heart. Jeremiah 17:10 (NLT) tells us, “But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives.” The truth is that our responses in painful moments reveal what we truly believe. When someone walks away from us, it exposes whether our security rests in God or in another person. The Lord sees every motive and every hidden attachment, and He desires to heal the places in our hearts that have been leaning on something other than Him.

Real love is not obsession, desperation, or the fear of losing someone. Real love begins with God and flows through a life that trusts Him completely. Scripture tells us in Galatians 5:6 (NLT), “What is important is faith expressing itself in love.” When our hearts are rooted in Christ, we are no longer controlled by jealousy, panic, or emotional turmoil. Instead, we are free to love others in a healthy and genuine way—because our identity, our peace, and our worth are already secure in the love of Jesus Christ.

Until God’s love becomes enough for us, we will keep asking people to fill a place that only Christ was meant to occupy. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Understanding Real Love: Learning the Difference Between Love and Dependence”, written for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

The Freedom of Living by God’s Standard

 

 

Galatians 5:19-21(NLT)

“19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Most people read a passage like this and immediately feel a little uncomfortable. To them, it may sound like a list of things that God doesn’t like but makes their life enjoyable. Our Heavenly Father isn’t trying to restrict our freedom or limit out happiness. That isn’t what this passage is about at all.

God wants us to have joy. Romans 14:17 (NLT) says, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” We can be assured that He isn’t trying to take the joy out of our lives. He’s giving us the path to it by showing us the behaviors and attitudes that are not aligned with the example of Christ. He’s revealing things that slowly drain peace from our lives and damage the relationships that matter most.

When we really think about it, most of the pain people experience in life can be traced back to something listed in Galatians 5:19-21. Relationships fall apart because of dishonesty, envy, or selfishness. Friendships are strained by gossip and jealousy. Families are wounded by uncontrolled tempers and pride. These things may seem small at first, but over time they leave a trail of broken trust and emotional exhaustion behind them. They create chaos in places where God intended there to be peace.

This is why God speaks so plainly about these patterns. He’s not trying to take away our fun—He’s trying to protect the quality of our lives.

Scripture reminds us in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. So when our lives start feeling like they are full of tension, drama, and disorder, it’s usually a sign that something has slipped out of alignment with the way God designed life to work.

And here’s the good news: God never points these things out to shame us. He reveals them so we can bring them before Him and allow His Spirit to help us grow past them.

Walking with Christ isn’t about living under a heavy list of rules. It’s about learning to live in a way that protects our peace, strengthens our character, and brings stability into our lives. Sometimes that means holding ourselves to a higher standard than the world around us. It’s recognizing that as His children, we can’t achieve life in the Spirit with a “I’ll do it if it feels good” attitude. This can’t be our motivation if we want to please God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to trust that His standard isn’t there to restrict us. It’s there to protect the life He wants us to have.

1 Corinthians 6:12 (NLT) tells us: “You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’—but not everything is good for you. And even though ‘I am allowed to do anything,’ I must not become a slave to anything.” God has given every one of us the gift of free will, and we exercise that freedom every day. But freedom in Christ was never meant to lead us away from His wisdom. It was meant to draw us closer to trusting His guidance.

When we surrender our decisions to the Lord Jesus Christ, we’re not losing control of our lives. We’re placing our lives into the hands of the One who loves us most and sees the full path ahead. His standards lead to an abundant reality in every aspect of our lives, and when we hold ourselves to them, our relationships are built on something solid. We honor God first, and from that place of obedience, the right relationships can truly flourish. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“The Freedom of Living by God’s Standard”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Don’t Give Up, Trust in God!

 

The Apostle Paul was a man who walked through more trouble than most of us could imagine. He faced danger, betrayal, prison cells, and even death more than once. If anybody had a reason to step back, shut down, and call it quits, it was Paul. But he refused to give up—because his faith in God held him steady. His words to Timothy, and to us, in 2 Timothy 4:5 (NLT) still hit hard today: “But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.” What kept Paul going wasn’t willpower or pride. It was God’s strength. A strength that doesn’t run out… doesn’t weaken… and doesn’t disappear when life gets hard. Paul understood that this was his Source—his direct connection to the power he needed to teach, endure, overcome, and walk in victory.

Paul’s transformation happened on the road to Damascus—a moment that changed everything. He started that journey with destruction in his heart, ready to harm the very people he would soon be teaching and strengthening. But one encounter with Jesus Christ shifted his entire direction. In just a matter of days, he went from persecutor to preacher, from causing pain to carrying the message of Christ with boldness.

For some of us, recognizing our purpose takes a little longer. Our hearts may need time to soften, and our minds may need time to fully align with God’s Will. But once Paul encountered the truth, he didn’t drag his feet or second-guess God. He surrendered and began to pursue the Lord with real diligence. And that diligence became the source of his strength and growth. Hebrews 11:6 (NLT) confirms this for us: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

No matter what you're facing right now, that same truth still stands: victory is already yours in Christ. Life can hit hard—marriage struggles, financial pressure, family tension, or feeling like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. And when things feel heavy, giving up can start to look like an option. But just like Paul, we don’t endure by our own strength. We endure because God is faithful. The Lord is always the answer to our problems, and He invites us to bring every worry, every burden, every tear straight to Him. We don’t have to be perfect to get His attention—we just have to believe that He hears us, loves us, and rewards the ones who seek Him with their whole hearts.

Many of us have been feeling like we’re either at our limits or being pushed right up against them. We wake up tired in our souls, carrying a sense of dread before the day even starts. Maybe you feel like you’re not showing up the way your family needs… or your children… or your friends… or that significant person in your life. Maybe the demands at work are more than you feel you can hold. It’s like there’s not enough of you to meet everything coming at you. But you don’t have to throw in the towel. Before you surrender to the pressure, take a moment to surrender to God. Set aside intentional time, be still, breathe, and center your heart on Him and His love.

And don’t forget this truth: you carry God’s strength within you because the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. Philippians 2:13 (NLT) reminds us, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” God is not distant—He is actively working, shaping, strengthening, guiding. He’s simply waiting for your invitation to move more fully in your life.

Through Jesus Christ, you are equipped to handle everything this world tries to send your way. As 1 John 4:4 (NLT) tells us, “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory… because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” This is not just a nice thought—this is your reality. And you can trust it because God Himself said it is so.

I encourage you to pray often. Don’t speak sadness over your life—speak God’s truth over your mind. Don’t speak defeat—declare the victory He’s already given you. And whatever you do, don’t give up. Don’t quit. If there is anyone you can depend on to stand with you, fight for you, and never walk away, it is your Heavenly Father. Our Almighty God will never leave you or forsake you. His love is everlasting—unmatched by anything or anyone on this earth. No human being can compare to what God is able and willing to do in your life through Jesus Christ. So lean on Him. Trust Him with all your heart. He will carry you through. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Don’t Give Up, Trust in God!”, written for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.