awaken.

Please pray for Erin (wife/mom), Morgan, Claudia and Graham. Their husband/father, Thomas Young, who was the pastor of an Acts 29 church in Texas ended his own life last Friday. GENESIS, the church I am a part of here in Boston, is a part of the Acts 29 network. My heart grieves for these sisters and brother in Christ of whom I have never met. I can not imagine what they are going through.

This story is so sad, however it is also a wake up call. It is a reminder that we are all only one step away from the pit of any sin. We can all fall into any temptation at any moment. The father of lies is prowling around this Earth like a lion trying to devour those who believe! Why do we forget this and live in complacency? Why do we judge those who have fallen instead of be the one to help them back to Jesus? A good person does not walk on by thinking the bad will rub off on their good. A good person carries the one who can not walk for themselves. We are all in times the one who has fallen. If we think we are not we fool ourselves and need to look in the mirror of the Word for a fresh view of who we really are. I saw this happen in my own life last year. I fell in a way I never thought or even imagined I would. My spiritual armor was off and Satan's lies overpowered me and I was down. Praise can only go to God for coming to rescue me as I was helpless to do anything on my own!

How is your armor today? (For checklist, see Eph. 6:10-20) Satan is looking for easy targets as well as for men and women who God desires to use mightily. Look at the life of Job. Satan will use any means to try to cripple an individual or the Church, Jesus' bride. He goes after individuals as a means to get ahold of a community. This is what I believe he is doing with leading Thomas to take his own life. His church, The Sanctuary, is going to go through the hardest time they ever have and we need to continually uplift them in prayer as well.

The good thing we can be aware of is that through testing we come out with perseverance. Through perseverance we look more like Christ. (2 Pet. 5-8) When I look back at my biggest failure and God's deliverance of me from it I see two things. How much God loves me and how strong the enemy is. Let us not forget either of these things!

Wake up, O Sleeper! And put on your armor! We want to STAND at the end, not limp away!!!

If this story touches you at all please pray for his wife, children and extended family (The Sanctuary - the church he pastored) AND sharpen your Sword, put on your armor and be ready so when the devil goes after you you can fight hard and remain standing.