The majority of people who allow their children to dress up as characters and go door-to-door "trick-or-treating" are not thinking of witches and satanic rituals; it is just some fun. Some people decide not to participate in Halloween activities simply because of safety issues. And then there are those who fully understand the spiritual activity behind the celebration of Halloween and thus do not participate.

Halloween originated as a Druid celebration that honored the god of the dead. It was believed that on this day, spirits returned to their homes and demanded a type of worship. This became depicted in the practice of trick-or-treating. Prosperity was promised to the generous donors, and tricks to all who refused, during the Irish, Druid event. It was hoped that a glowing pumpkin placed on the doorstep would keep away the evil spirits. And black cats were considered to be reincarnated beings with the ability to divine the future.

Traditional Halloween symbols, such as witches, black cats, the death's head cut from a pumpkin, candles, masks, and parties appeared in the U.S. during the late 1800s. Occultic groups still celebrate Halloween as a tribute to Satan. And witchcraft practitioners continue to declare October 31st as the best time to practice their arts.

It is necessary that each family determines plans for Halloween based on their own convictions and understanding. This is a responsibility for the parents to undertake. Children can greatly pressure the decision-making process but should not be allowed to do so. The pressure that children face at school and in the neighborhood can keep them from seeing the situation clearly. Some families decide that it is okay for their kids to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating. Others find alternatives like getting involved with a youth group that is organizing a Christian option. Other families completely check out of the whole process and go to a movie or do some other fun thing.

This issue is serious because your decision about whether to participate in Halloween activities sends a strong message to your children about what they should allow in their lives. If you decide to participate, let me encourage you to make it a teaching opportunity. Inform your kids; let them know what the day is all about. Then let them help you think of ways to reach out to other kids. Handing out Gospel tracts with the candy, hosting your own neighborhood party where kids dress up as Bible characters…you get the idea. Try to make every day Christ-centered, especially this day.

You don't know me but I know you, in me you live and move and have you being, for you are my offspring. I am familiar with all your ways, even the very hairs of your head are numbered for you were made in my image, in me you live and move and have your being, you are my offspring, I knew you even before you were conceived, I choose you when I planned creation, you were not a mistake for all your days are written in my book, I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, I knitted you together in your Mothers womb and brought you forth on the day you were born. I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me, I am not distant and angry but am the complete expression of Love, and it is my desire to lavish my Love on you simply because you are my child and I am your Father. I offer you more than your earthly Father ever could, for I am the perfect Father, every good gift that you receive is from my hand, for I am your provider and I meet all your needs. My plan for your future has always been filled with hope because I Love you with an everlasting Love. My thoughts towards you are countless as the sand on the seashore and I rejoice over you with singing, I will never stop doing good to you, for you are my treasured possession. I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul and I want to show you great and marvelous things, if you seek me with all you heart you will find me, delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart for it is I who gave you those desires, I am able to do more for you than you can possibly imagine, for I am your greatest encourager, I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles, when you are brokenhearted I am close to you. As a shepherd carries a lamb I have carried you close to my heart, one day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes and I will take away all your pain you have suffered on this earth, I am you Father and I Love you even as I have Loved my son Jesus, for in Jesus my Love for you is revealed, He is the exact representation of my being and He came to demonstrate that I am for you and to tell you that I 'm not counting your sins, Jesus died so that you and I can be reconsiled, His death was the ultimate expression of my Love for you, I gave up everything I Loved that I might gain your Love, if you receive the gift of my son Jesus you receive me and nothing will ever seperate you from my Love again, come home and I will throw the biggest party Heaven has ever seen, I have always been Father, I will always be Father, my question is will you be my child?

God's Word brings us a comforting promise, along with an insightful command as we face a new year: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Hebrews 13:5-6).

We can live this coming year without fear if we apply these four incredibly wonderful truths to our lives and root them deep into our hearts.

Contentment is not getting what you want, but it is wanting what you already have. 1 Timothy 6:6-8 says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us therewith be content." If you know Jesus Christ, you have contentment. If you've got clothes on your back, something to eat, and Jesus Christ in your heart, you're rich!

Do you know why we have fear? Because we think our needs or the needs of someone we love are not going to be met. Or we fear that the things we think are meeting our needs are going to be taken away from us. The deepest need of your heart can only be met in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don't know what I'm going to face next year. But there's one thing I know, He will never leave me. Are you a child of God? He will never leave you either. Isn't that wonderful!

What's another reason we may fear in the coming year? Because we're afraid we're going to have to face something we don't understand, and we're going to have to face it alone.

When God's Word promises that God will never forsake you, it literally means that He will never abandon you. He will not give up on you. We need to practice the presence of the Lord this coming year. When the devil comes and knocks at you heart's door, you can simply say, "Jesus, please go answer the door."

We're going to zero in on a little phrase in our verses in Hebrews, "He hath said." A promise is no better than the one who makes it. Who says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"? It is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. This is the confidence of His promise.

In the coming year, when you say, "God, I just don't have the strength." The omnipotent God will answer, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." When you say, "God, I'm afraid of what is going to happen." The omnipresent God says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And when you say, "God, I don't know what to do." The omniscient God will respond, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." He himself hath said it.

Hebrews 13:6 promises, "So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." Now, put that with verse 5, which says, "He hath said."

Like I said earlier, I don't know what you're going to go through this coming year. But I know you can boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, so I will not fear what man shall do to me." When you find your contentment, companionship, and confidence in Jesus. Then, you'll find your comfort and courage in Jesus.

In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their Father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two. Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared. Whenever they heard his tyres crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds. He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries. Now that He had decided to leave there would be no more beatings, but no food either.

If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it. I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best home-made dress. I loaded them into the rusty old car and drove off to find a job. The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town. Nothing. The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince whoever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job. Still nothing.

The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old drive-in that had been converted into a truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel. An old lady named Granny owned the place, and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, eleven at night until seven in the morning. She paid 65 cents an hour and I could start that night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street who babysat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pyjamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement for her, so we made a deal.

That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our Prayers we all thanked God for finding Mummy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel.

When I got home in the mornings I woke the babysitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-fully half of what I averaged every night. As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meagre wage. The tyres on the old car had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.

One bleak autumn morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tyres on the back seat. New tyres! There was no note, no anything, just those beautiful brand new tyres. Had angels taken up residence in Indiana, I wondered.

I made a deal with the local service station. In exchange for his mounting the new tyres, I would clean up his office. I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tyres.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough. Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money left for the kids. I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Christmas morning.

Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boy's trousers, and soon they would be too far gone to repair.

On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. These were the truckers, Les, Frank and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and dropping nickels into the pinball machine. The regulars all just sat around and talked until the wee hours of this morning, and then left to get home before the sun came up.

When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, I hurried to the car. I was hoping the kids wouldn't wake up before I had managed to get home, get the presents from the basement and place them under the tree. (We had cut down a small cedar tree by the side of the road down by the dump.)

It was still dark and I couldn't see much, but there appeared to be some dark shadows in the car - or was that just a trick of the light ? Something certainly looked different, but it was hard to tell what.

When I reached the car I peered through warily through one of the side windows. Then my jaw dropped in amazement. My old battered car was filled to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the driver's door, scrambled inside and knelt in the front facing the back seat.

Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: it was full of shirts to go with the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes: there were sweets and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enourmous ham for baking, canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and jelly and biscuits, pie filling and flour. There was a whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful doll.

As I drove back through empty streets while the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.

Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.

After enduring religious persecution in their native England and for twelve years in Holland, the pilgrims sailed for America. They were modest men and women with a great hope and inward zeal. They rested in the providence of God that He was leading them to a land of religious freedom to advance the gospel of the kingdom of Christ.

The voyage of the Mayflower took twice as long as Christopher Columbus' voyage, enduring several wintry storms. After arriving in their new land, they faced disease, famine, bitter cold and many dangers. However, when the Mayflower made its return voyage, none of the pilgrims returned with it.

Their first harvest occurred in the autumn of 1621. Their own seed had barely grown, but the Indians had shown them how to plant corn which yielded a huge harvest. On the first Thanksgiving, they celebrated God's goodness to them with a party of ninety Indians. Their Thanksgiving feast lasted three days and included a festival of sports.

Thanksgiving Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln

"Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may be then, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid, that on the occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust, and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling-place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations."

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving... be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Psalm 100:4

If I could describe the best life there could be, a life of peace, serenity, security, and joy – it would be the Word Filled Life! If I could describe the most joy filled marriage you could ever dream of – it would be the Word Filled Marriage! If I could describe the most harmonious and loving family possible – it would be the Word Filled Family! If I could describe the most satisfying, purposeful, and rewarding employment in the job world for your entire lifetime -- it would be the Word Filled Work Life! If I could describe for you childhood, youth, and college years filled with confidence, purpose, direction, and hope -- it would be the Word Filled Days of Youth! And finally, if I could describe to you how to make your final years and months the "Happy Golden Years" as someone wistfully called them; the way to be fruitful and faithful to the Lord to the end of our earthly pilgrimage as we saw recently in Simeon and Anna; the way to walk through the long valley from Earth to Heaven that is filled with aches, pains, fears, trials, troubles, loneliness, insecurities, unknowns, and death triumphantly -- it would be the Word Filled Life!

No matter who you are, what your past, no matter where you are in life, no matter what age you are today – God describes for you HIS PLAN.

The Lord of Heaven and Earth has much to say about what He has designed for each of us. He has the optimal operating range for us to live within. He has created us and loaded us with all the options that He knows we need to operate and fulfill His plans.

As believers, God says LOVE, GLORIFY, and OBEY Him.

As men, husbands, and dads God says LEAD, MODEL, and LOVE.

As women, wives, and moms God says FOLLOW, MODEL, and LOVE.

As young men, brothers and sons God says OBEY, HONOR, and LOVE.

As young women, sisters and daughters God says OBEY, HONOR, and LOVE.

And where do we find the details on how to do all those things? Of course – in God's Word!

Every year I always like to remind myself why I need to start through God's Word anew and afresh. I’d like to share those reminders I gave myself this year – with you.

God is truly in control. If God is God, then nothing happens apart from His knowledge and permission. While it is difficult to imagine why God allows some painful things to happen, His character, revealed in the Bible and through the testing of generations, leads us to the conclusion that He is willing and able to sustain you during the worst of times. We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead (2 Corinthians 1:8,9).

There is an eternal life to come. What we suffer now is nothing compared to the Glory He will give us later (Romans 8:18). He will keep you strong right up to the end, and He will keep you free from all blame on the great day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns (1 Corinthians 1:8).

The story isnt finished yet. Time after time, the Bible records hopeless situations that ultimately ended in victory. Think of Jobs sickness, Josephs betrayal by his brothers, Davids adultery, and the many who were healed in mind, body, and spirit. But Joseph told them, Dont be afraid of me. Am I God, to judge and punish you? As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil. He brought me to the high position I have today so I could save the lives of many people. (Genesis 50:19,20).

God has not given up on you! Dont give up on Him. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11).

There is likely purpose in your pain. Ask God to reveal His purpose in allowing this difficulty in your life. Thats a legitimate question to ask. Often, the answer comes in the process of dealing with your circumstance. Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything (James 1:2-4).

You are loved! Even the most unlovable person in the world is actually loved so much by God, that He let His Son die a terrible death to restore their relationship. God does love you! He sees your pain and weeps with you. He has sent Me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent Me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lords favor has come, and with it, the day of Gods anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory (Isaiah 61:1-3).

Your prayers are heard. You parents if your children ask you for loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him? (Matt. 7:9,10)

You are not facing this alone. For God has said, I will never fail you. I will never forsake you. That is why we can say with confidence, The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? (Hebrews 13:5,6)

Others have made it through you can too. Try to connect with others who have gone through similar situations. You will find hope, strength and encouragement. A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Reach out to someone else whos struggling. Place your focus on someone else and invest your life in him or her. You may discover that your peace of mind is found in being a source of hope for another. All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us (2 Corinthians 1:3,4).

When we are born again, we are born into a family. We become a child with many brothers and sisters. We belong to each other and we are members of the Body of Christ. Christ is the head of His body and in Him—
The "I" becomes "we"
The "me" becomes "many"
The "one" becomes "one another"

In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us we are to…
Be kind to one another;
Honor one another;
Build up one another;
Be in harmony with one another;
Have sympathy for one another;
Receive one another;
Counsel and instruct one another;
Love one another.

1 Thessalonians

3:12 NKJV

Love Is Our Mark

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.John 13:34-35

Jesus not only told the them to love one another, but that this love would serve as a visible way to identify disciples of Christ.

He left them with a commandment to love that would leave them marked, that should leave us marked.
Marked by compassion for one another.
Marked by a spirit of forgiveness.
Marked by a desire to serve.
Our love for one another is an identifier that marks us as His.

Being a disciple of Jesus marks you: not by the cross around your neck or the songs on your radio or your presence in the pew. You're marked with His love, which left unchecked and unhindered should permeate your life and relationships, His fingerprint upon you.

What you think about will ultimately result in your future. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind.” I want to zero in on that third one –sound mind. God wants you to have a sound mind because your mind is the access point by which Satan gains entrance into your life. He does not gain entrance through your body. He does not gain entrance through your spirit. He does not gain entrance through your finances or sickness. Satan gains entrance or access into your life through the thoughts that you are thinking. The battle that we are facing is the battle in our minds. It’s the battle between our ears, folks! That is where the battle is won – that is where the battle is lost. It is between our ears –it’s in our heads. This is why Satan fights so much in our thought life, and he understands the root to everything in our lives is what we think about. Let me show you how your thoughts will ultimately result in your future. This is the path of progression:

Your thoughts will determine you decisions;
Your decisions will determine your actions;
Your actions will become your habits;
Your habits develop your character; and
Your character will determine your destiny.
Thought life- Decisions- Actions- Habits -Character -Destiny

If you’re at all concerned about your destiny, and I believe every one of us should be, then you need to get a hold of this. Isn’t it important that we fulfill God’s destiny for our life?

Yet, our destiny is not at all what we need to be concerned about. Let me put it to you this way: If you’re concerned about your destiny or your habits or your actions or decisions, you only need to work on one thing – your thought life. Because your thought life is the root of all those other things. Those other things are the fruit.

The devil is trying to get your thought life. We’ve got to take it back. You can control what you think. Every thought needs to be checked in at the registration desk, checked against the image of God, and the Word. You need to be brutal with your thought life.

II Corinthians 10:3-5 is a key verse when dealing with your thoughts. We do not war in the flesh, but we bring every thought into the captivity to the obedience of Christ. We need to have mercy on people, not our thoughts. You need to take that negative thought captive; pursue it with the word of God. “Neither did I turn until it was consumed.” Read Psalm 18:29-38.

Mark 7:21-23: The root to everything sinful starts with evil thoughts. The gateway to every sin starts with a thought. And the gateway to every good thing in our life starts with a thought. If we want to grow in godliness, we’ve got to grow our thought life.

Real quickly, I want to give you Five Wrong Patterns of Thinking and how to change them.

1. The first thought of defeat: You Can’t Do It. The root that empowers: Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me; I CAN DO IT!

2. Second thought: You Have the Wrong Motive. The thought comes to you ‘You just want to be blessed because you’re selfish. Who do you think you are? God says He wants me blessed! God calls me blessed, so that I can be a blessing.

3. Third thought: You’re not worthy –you don’t deserve to be blessed. Look at all the mistakes you made; you don’t deserve it. You say, I’m not worthy through my works; I am worthy through the BLOOD of Jesus. I do deserve it because God is a good God. I’m worthy because of Jesus’ past.

4. Fourth thought: It’s not going to happen for you. It doesn’t work for everybody – You say, you shut up devil, He did it for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so He’s got to do it for me. God is no respecter of persons and He says whosoever believes shall have what they say, and I’m one of those whosoevers who believes!

5. It’s Too Late. You can’t recover. Look at how much ground you’ve lost. Everybody is ahead of you. You say NO! In Jesus’ Name He that began a good work in me is faithful to complete it! Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith. It wasn’t too late for Abraham, Peter, Sarah, or Rahab the harlot. We’re not too discouraged, too broken, or too sick to be healed. BUT JESUS can take every sickness, financial problem or negative situation and restore it.

You have the power to determine your future by deciding to think right thoughts. Begin TODAY taking captive those wrong thoughts and putting God’s thoughts from His Word in your mind. Listen to Cd's on what God thinks of you and how you can be free from wrong thinking. You will see your life change as you begin to put these principles to work in your life!

His shed blood means...
We can live each day in His forgiveness.
His resurrection means...
We can walk constantly in newness of life.
His presence means...
We can know His victory in each situation.
His love means...
We will never face anything alone!
His day of victory makes all our days complete!

Jesus came into this world before we were living in it;
He gave His life before we had ever committed a sin...

If He did that much for us before we were born, think of all He desires to bless us with now that we are here!

May your Easter be a time of fully enjoying His gift,
His blessings, and His love for you!