Potential Power

I know how to love.  I know how to make great choices with love.  I know the reasons to love and how to fight for it.  I know the things I need to do in order to maintain love.  Love is an action and I know the actions that demonstrate love.  I know the wonderful potential of love.  I know how I'd like to be loved.  I know that I will gain nothing from any action if I do not have love in my heart.  I know the patience of love.  I know love's kindness.  I know that love is selfless and takes its time and does not keep score.  I know that love forgives.  And protects.  And hopes, perseveres, and never fails (1 Corinthians 13:1-8).  I know these things and more because I know God.

 

They say knowledge is power.  I do not believe them.  They say that knowing something can take you far.  It is believed that the acquisition of more knowledge will set you free.  It can help you soar among the stars and open you up to wonderful things.  But simply knowing something is incomplete.  Knowing the formulas mean nothing until you apply them on the test or in the lab.  Knowing how to write does not mean a novel will magically appear with your name on it.  Knowing the right things to say may not prevent foul daggers of hate to escape your tongue.  Knowing the right things to eat does not enable you to shed the excess weight.  Knowing that love can conquer all does not empower you to weather the storms of a rocky relationship.  Knowledge is important, but it alone does not provide the power needed to live a life according to your purpose.

 

Knowledge is not power.  It is only potential power.  Knowledge is converted into power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.  And it is multiplied exponentially when that definite end begins with love.  Knowledge can only aid you when you use it.  It can only allow you to overcome your obstacles when you use it to overwhelm your problems with plans that create decisive actions.  God wants us to have knowledge (Hosea 4:6-7).  He desires that we seek it with all of our hearts (Proverbs 18:15).    He wants us to know Him and fear Him out respect that He is the One and true Only God (Hosea 6:6).  God also desires that we apply this knowledge to help us become all that He has intended for us to be.  He wants us to create definite plans of action of love to reach the destination He has planned for our lives.  God gave us the knowledge of His wonderful grace, but left it up to us to empower ourselves to work out our own salvation with actions that please Him (Philippians 2:12). 

 

I want to have a powerful life.  I want to love with power and help empower others to love on purpose and with purpose.  I want the power that God has placed within me to shine through everything that I do.  I want the power of my words to be a reflection of knowledge I have of God.  I want to live out His way with fear and trembling before Him because I have knowledge that He is the source of everything.  He is love.  I know love.  I know how to love because he showed me how to love (John 3:16).  There is no greater application of knowledge being power than when God sent an example for our lives to model. That is why I know love.  I have knowledge that it can do all things and trust all things.  It hopes, forgives, it is kind and unselfish.  I want to seize the opportunity to turn this knowledge into power.  And live each day with the definite end of putting love into action.  It is the potential power of the love I know.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You once again for Your power.  Thank You for knowledge of Your Son Jesus Christ that You sent to empower us with His love.  Thank You for helping us grow in You and providing a way to get to You.  Lord, we need Your help as we travel this journey of life.  We need You to continue to bless us with the knowledge of Your awesome power.  To You alone belongs the glory and praise.  In Your precious and Holy Name I pray.  Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com

Win for Losing

Everyone desires to win.  Not many things in life feel as good.  Winning boosts the ego.  It repairs self-esteem.  Winners get the highest compensation and the utmost praise.  Tickertape parades are reserved for winners only.  Winners surround themselves with other winners.   There is no losers' circle.  No child fanaticizes about being down by one point in the fourth quarter with seconds left on the clock, only to miss and lose the championship.  We dream of winning big.  Winners cross the finish line first.  They run faster, jump higher.  They don't settle for less.  Winners give more.  They are more than enough.  They expect miracles.  Winners defeat giants, slay dragons, win the princess and live out their days in castles.  Everyone wants to win; therefore no one wants to lose.

 

I recently joined a basketball league at one of the local churches to get some exercise, fellowship with Christian brothers, and let off some steam and stress.  Last year our team went undefeated.  We took home two trophies, and had the title of champions.  This year my team isn't so good.  We are really not that good.  Of course I thoroughly enjoy the games, showing off my outdated skills and fellowshipping with men.  But there is a competitive spirit within me that desires nothing more than to win.  And win big.  However, usually it is the team that we are playing that has more points at the end of the game – sometimes ten or even twenty points more.  It is disheartening, not because we didn't win the game, but because a few of my teammates will give up late in the game and feel defeated.  No longer are they hustling to get that loose ball. They will stop playing defense.  They will complain more to the referee.  They will look to get fouled instead of looking for the open man. In essence they make us lose.  We would be five points down late in the game and suddenly it would balloon to fifteen.  They throw their hands in the air and walk off the court in frustration.  I try to never lose (Philippians 3:12-14).

 

God is calling on us to never give up (James 1:2-4).  He wants us to push through to the end and not stop until He gets the glory out of our lives (Hebrews 10:32-36).    God is asking us to trust Him and allow the greatness locked within us to manifest itself in all that we do.  He often will send an oppositional force to test our resolve and ability to call upon Him to get us to the winner's circle (Hebrews 12:7-13).  Life is not a game.  But how you do anything is an indication and a reflection on how you will do everything.  If you stop and allow the enemy to defeat you in little things, the greater forces will decimate you.  If you cannot push past the obstacles in pursuit of small goals, chances are that you will fall short of your larger ones.  God is asking us to fight the temptation to quit.  He is saying that we should not depend on the scoreboard to determine how we feel.  No matter how many points the enemy puts up, we should be consistent in our faith and walk with our heads held high so that we can grow (Romans 15:4-6).

 

The other night we were playing one of the best teams.  The first time we played them they beat us by thirty-eight points.  But this particular night we kept it very close.  We played defense very well.  We passed the balls and communicated better.  We rebounded.  We scored – often.  We kept our spirits high and encouraged one another.  We were determined to come out on top and agreed at the beginning of the game to leave it all on the court.  With only a few seconds left in the game we had the ball and down by only two points.  I had the ball, time was running out.  I passed it to my teammate who was wide open for a three pointer.  He shot it.  Time expired.  Our team erupted in cheers and high fives.  The other team looked puzzled.  They looked up at the scoreboard to confirm what they already knew: they had two more points than we did.  The team captain shouted over, "Hey, what ya'll so happy for? Ya'll lost!"  We fought through to the end.  We never gave up and did our best.  We gained a new respect and brought it down to the wire.  Our time had arrived (Ecclesiastics 9:11).  I smiled. No, we didn't lose.  We just didn't win.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for all things in my life.  Thank You for allowing me to share the gifts that you have given me.  Please use me Lord to spread Your Word throughout this world.  May something I You have given me to say be used as a torch in a darkened tunnel.  Allow Your light to shine within me so that You get the glory out of my life.  Help me to win Your favor so that I could help heal Your flock.  In Your precious and Holy Name I pray.  Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com

Carry On Baggage

If you have lived at all and have had many experiences, as I have had – both good and bad, you begin to become what you have done. You begin living your life based on what has already happened.  You develop certain assumptions and expect certain characteristics out of situations that seem familiar.  You begin to see the world through old eyes.  New experiences feel like old ones and become old experiences in a new way.  After all, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  It would seem that relationships suffer because of this fact.  We bring into them so much history – perceived and real – that we often make the person in the present to be responsible for the experiences in the past.  We have unstated or understated expectations that often have nothing to do with the current situation at hand.  The past experience controls the present.  The past often dictates our moves.  It can command our motivations and tells us how things should be because of what they've been.   It can give us a sense of how things are, even if it is not necessarily based in current reality.  We often hold on to the past no matter how painful or irrelevant it may be.

 

This is not exclusive to bad experiences.  Often when we have experienced something good with another person, we want every person, especially new people, to replicate the bliss that that person brought us.  We begin to filter their actions with that of another.  We want them to act the way the other acted.  We want them to say similar things that the other said.  We want to feel the same way with our new person as we did with the person of our past.  We want to take into our current relationship the best of another and project those feelings with an expectation that we will feel just as happy, cherished, appreciated, and loved.  This, in many ways, is unfair.  It strains a relationship by placing restrictions on one's personality.  It is saying that who you are with is not good enough, and the other is better.  It is communicating that your current relationship cannot have the natural, unique progression that has the potential to exceed the wonderful expectations you had with another.

 

This is equally as damaging a thing when our experiences have not been so favorable in our lives.  We tend to match up new experiences even stronger, and more unforgivingly, when we are reminded of a past that brings about negative thoughts.  For example, our parent's choices in mates that caused them abuse and harm, affect us in a way that has us on constant guard to protect ourselves from that person being reincarnated in our new relationship.  We tend to overanalyze and overreact to the current situation because of our experiences with another – or worse with experiences that others have had or spoken to us about.  There is nothing more unfortunate then to live your life based on what you did not personally experience, but out of fear of what another has told you about theirs.  This limits our ability to live out the purpose that God has intended for our lives.  This places us in perpetual fear of repeating mistakes.  This causes us to be overly cautious about our future. This leads to insecurity and misguidedness.  It leads us to following our heart, the moment, the feeling, instead of leading our hearts with love.  Living in the past enslaves us with an unnatural desire to control everything and everyone in our lives.

 

No, you should not forget the past.  But you should forgive your past.  We grow from the past by being available to it when it was our present.  Every yesterday was once a today and in that moment is the very opportunity to learn and grow.  It is in those moments we become a new creature.  It is when we should call upon God to use our experiences to make us new people (2 Corinthians 5:17).  It is when God is able to unpack the suitcases of our soul so that we can board the flight into our future without excess baggage.  Therefore, our relationships will be better.  We will no longer desire to attract what we want into our lives – which is based on the past.  But we will attract who we are.  And if God is our pilot taking us to our destiny, we will need no baggage, because we will get all that we need when we arrive.  And we will experience life anew – even if it's happen before. Because we have told our baggage to carry on.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your wonderful wisdom that You provide us through Your Word.  Thank You for all of Your blessings that You have placed in my life.  Thank You for the revelation and application of Your Word.  Continue to strip my life of the hold my past has on me.  Continue to shape me into who You want me to be.  Help me to be who You have purposed me to be and allow me to be the instrument to help others get closer to You.  I give my life to You, oh Lord, in Your Holy and precious Name I pray. Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com

Growth of the Mustard Seed

Today is going to a great day!  It has to be.  All the bad ones are gone.  All the dark depressive days that strangled the life out of me are no longer.  Gone are those days that convinced me that I was nothing, could never be anything either.  Gone are those days that suffocated my air of confidence, and depleted the oxygen of opportunity.  No longer will I be forced into frustration.  I will not be stalled into stagnation.  I will not be knocked down or knocked out.  I will not allow fear to consume me.  Today, I will take charge of my time and will fill each and every moment with joy.  Happiness will be my wakeup call because I have left sadness sleeping.  There is no need to be silent because peace makes sounds in the chest that has a beat that you can dance to.  Today I welcome the rain because it helps my flowers blossom.  The storms are here to test the strength of my roots.  Today nothing shall offend me.  I need no one to defend me because I will fear no evil (Psalms 23:4). So come on Satan take your best shot.  I know it's your job to break me down like Job.  So the holes you placed in my soles are nothing because my soul is whole (Job 2:7).  Satan, you cannot kill me, so your torture will only make me stronger.  I choose to live out this day with a smile.

 

The Bible teaches that a little faith, as small as a mustard seed, has the power to make mountains fall and that nothing will be impossible (Matthew 17:20).  If we as believers in Christ were truly to empower ourselves with this knowledge, the "bad" days in our lives would really have already ended.  Often, we cry the same tears over the same things and call out for God's intervention over the same types of issues.  It is a testament to His awesome grace that you have awakened this morning.  It is a fact that He still has His hands on you because He has given you today.  He has provided you with an opportunity to enact your faith that can no longer be accomplished in any yesterday, and may not be extended into tomorrow.  We, as believers, often will not take full advantage to grow our faith.  We often will be satisfied with as little faith as possible.  We have faith that we will not fall when we bend our knees to sit in a chair.  We have faith that the bridge will not crumble into the creek as we drive across it.  We have faith that the elevator will lift us to our desired destination without crashing to the ground.  And we have faith, as we walk across the ceiling on the floor above it, that it will not cave in below our feet.  We are experts, even unconsciously, of having little faith.

 

Although Jesus spoke about this little faith in terms of it can do great things, I believe He intended for us to grow the mustard seed into great faith to do even greater things (Hebrews 11:39).  Therefore, we needn't worry when the wind carries our dream home away during a tornado.  Growing the mustard seed will have you weathering all the storms that come your way.  We would suppress the depression that quickly rises as we witness our spouse shut the door of love during a divorce.  Growing the mustard seed faith will have us turning to God in praise – not doubt – that He will still get the glory from our marriage.  With the growth of our faith we wouldn't turn to alcohol, drugs, or overeating to comfort us during life's most tumultuous moments, such as getting fired, losing a limb or a child, going bankrupt, being a victim of violence, or falsely accused.  That is why today we should shake off what we consider bad and activate our faith to make it a great day.  But when the winds of anguish blow into our lives, when the levies of contentment break to flood our eyes with tears, and when the all-consuming fire of frustration make us white-hot with anger, we have a choice: growth or grief. 

 

I have faith as small as a mustard seed.  Today, I choose to plant it in the fertile soil of life's pain, and grow it.  And it will be a great day – everyday a great day.

 

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for this day.  Thank you for your Word that helps to empower my faith in You.  Thank You for all that You do to turn my grief into growth, and my pain into promise.  Thank You for sending Your Son as an example of trusting You with all of my heart.  Lord, I know the trials that are in my life are meant to bring me closer to You, to purify my faith and rid my life of all doubt and worry.  Please continue to work on me and through me.  In Your Holy Name I pray.  Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com

The Original Me

I believe that God designed us to be awesome.  He has instilled within each of us a spirit that is striving toward fulfillment and enlightenment.  We were created to have a bright future full of hope, positive opportunity, and good (Jeremiah 29:11).  We were destined to be great and to exhibit this greatness in all that we do.  We are meant to serve God through the wonderful things that we put forth in our lives (Isaiah 14:26-27).  We are meant to live according to our highest potential and to seize every moment to show love.  Our lives are meant to find ways to reflect the image by which we were made: God.  Our spirit is continually trying to activate the beauty that is within us.  If you've ever asked a child what aspirations they have in life, they will most always pick something that they consider great.  We were born with an instinct to pursue excellence and greatness.  All of us desire to be important, feel worthy and needed, leave a positive legacy, and win.  Our spirits naturally disdain the negative and impair impatience.  We were made with affirming attitudes and positive personalities.  Each one of us is unique, different in a way that is special.  We were born with laughter in our hearts and joy in our smiles.     Our presence has the potential to be peaceful. We are more powerful then we may ever know.

God is intending for us to unveil our truest selves – our original selves that reflect the best of what He created our spirits to be.  He desires nothing more than for us to revert back to that original being that His designed us to be.  But somewhere along the continuum of life, we somehow have taken the path that has led us astray from the origins of our true spiritual selves.  Our flesh, in many ways, has taken control of our destiny and thrown us off course of the where we should be as wonderful, beautiful spiritual beings.  It would seem that we have spun out of control and moved so far away from who God meant us to be.  Our original nature is one of power; our flesh has made us impotent.  Our original spirit is one of delight and joy, our flesh, however, has made us mean, unhappy and depressed.  We were made for kindness, love and patience, not with a vile and jealous spirit that seeks to destroy.  We are, in our flesh, traveling the road of ungratefulness, instead of taking the path that leads to peace.

We must set out to reclaim the purpose that God has uniquely placed within us all.  We must strengthen our spirits to defeat our flesh.  We must catch up to the "Original Me" that was created for unconditional love and respect.  We must rediscover the spirit that seeks to improve itself and the world around it.  We must activate our God-given spirit that empowers us to do great things.  Our Creator is the only one with the blueprint of our original design and His Word is the source that tells us how we can rebuild our spirits to become who we were purposed to be.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You so much for designing us to be great.  Thank You for showing us the beauty that You have created within our spirits that is the true reflection of You.  Help us to rediscover who we were meant to be and how we can have conquest over our flesh and anything that attacks us.  Please continue to show us how we can turn our trials into to trails that lead us to You.  Lord, we know that we can do all things through You and know that without You nothing shall be possible.  Please allow me to find the Original Me that began life with promise.  Help me to know that I am Your child and only You can save me.  I need You Lord more than ever right now and ask for Your guidance, wisdom, power to secure my future.  I ask this in Your Holy and precious Name.  Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com

More Than Human

I am only human.  I am a flawed, imperfect being that is prone to make mistakes.  I do not have it completely together and I often need help to solve my problems.  I am selfish and rude.  I can be unkind and impatient, stubborn and thoughtless, thus unloving.  I am not a bad person, just not a very good one (Romans 7:18-20).  I understand the things that I need to do to make life easier and better and I fail to do them.  I often do the opposite of what I feel if what I feel is the right thing to do (Romans 7:21-24).  I take others for granted and do not let them know how much I appreciate them.  I ask for my faults to be looked upon through a telescope, all while looking at the faults of others through a microscope.  Hypocrite.  Loser.  Mean.  Ugly.  I am the worst of what people think of me.  I am only human.

 

If being human means the antithesis of what it means to be spirit, then it is no wonder that these characteristics that I have displayed at times rise to the top of my character.  All humans make mistakes and fall short of the power within them to do great things.  When God breathed the breath of life into His first human being, He essentially provided Him life (Genesis 2:7).  Life is not the dust of the earth by which God formed man.  It is not the flesh that houses that breath of life within.  It is not the sin.  Life is not that which caused man to fall (Genesis 3).  It is the very substance that God gave to us: our spirit.  Our flesh is flawed.  It is ugly and defiles, consumes, and destroys all that it encounters (Matthew 15:13-20).  Being human means that you will not be able to be perfect – ever.  Even when we do something that seems good, our flesh is constantly striving to undo anything that we deem worthy.   We are dying.  Humanity is continually embracing death.

 

So how can, in our human state, we reverse this course and undo the curse that has been placed on our lives?  How can we welcome light and life into our being and live with kindness, respect, love, and appreciation?  How can we be more worthwhile and strive to be better than our mistakes?  We are only human, but thank God that He has made us more than that.  Thank God that we are more than the dust of the ground of which He formed us.  The breath that he placed within man is the very being that is motivated to move toward light and life.  This being is the spirit inside us of that is forgiving and honest.  It is loyal and gracious.  It is not selfish or ugly.  It is what makes us beautiful.  It is what God touches each time we call on Him.  It is how we love.  Our spirit is what makes our imperfections perfect, because through them is how we learn and grow.  We may never know how wonderful our spirit can be, until we have experienced how awful our humanity is.  And although we are flawed, destructive, human, we should be thankful to God that we are more than that.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for placing Your spirit within us.  Thank You that we have a power within us to defeat our humanistic ways.  Thank You for all that You have done to help us overcome the mistakes we have made and the lives we have ruined.  Thank You for Your redemptive quality that helps us change and be more like You.  Help us, oh Lord, to continuously turn to You when our flesh has failed us and we are holding on to death.  Thank You for forgiving us when we sin and supplying Your Word so that we can get back to you.  In Your mighty and precious Name I pray.  Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com

Love, Just Because...

A love with purpose must be loved on purpose.  There simply is no other way, method, or technique.  This is a universal law and truth of life and the relationships that govern it.  Love is not a thing we feel – it is something that we do.  Our actions determine love and at the levels in which love exists.  Love must be something that we make a priority in our lives for it to reach its full potential.  And the potential of love can be transformative, translating into transcendental beauty that builds habits of gentle kindness and persistent patience.  Love will bring out the best in a person, but is often embedded in the very worse of situations, because life will test your ability to exhibit true love.  The unwanted and unloved one that continues to display love has passed the test of true love.  Those that can push past the pain, heartache, and destruction caused by a flawed individual and still continue to display love have passed the test of true love.   These people are living out their love in the manner in which God shows His love for us (Romans 5:3-8).  They are reflecting the image by which we were created.

 

True love is a thing we can readily find in the Word of God.  God still patiently loves us even as we sin in His sight.  God still displays love as He maps out the path designed for us to follow that leads to redemption and eternal life (Romans 8:317-39).  His love is found in the kindness He gave a broken world with the sacrifice of His only Son (John 3:16).    True love does not depend on circumstance; it loves in spite of it.  True love is slow to anger because it is patience in practice (Proverbs 19:11).  It does not vacate in times of pressure or trouble, it perseveres until it has conquered all (Galatians 6:9).  True love does not make excuses, and it does not require reasons.  It does because it cares.  It is patient and kind, helpful, gentle, and forgiving.

 

I am learning to love.  I am learning how to no longer be a selfish lover – one that expects something in return for my love.  Often, my actions seem to express love, but the motivation is perhaps so that I could get something out of the deal, causing superficial gestures that do not translate into true love.  I have failed the tests love has presented me.  Love does not grade on a curve, for it marks one's life only Pass or Fail. I have not often enough given myself freely without the burden of expectation arbitrarily placed on others.  I have not been as kind, or patient, or helpful, or caring, gentle, or forgiving with those I have committed to love.  I have loved too verbally instead of loving as a verb.  Too often I have expected love to be a transaction, instead of displaying the action required of me to love.  Perhaps I need to love God enough to trust Him to activate that love He has placed within me, and love myself – unconditionally love myself.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us the way that You do.  Thank You for being our Creator and the infinite source of true love that You freely give, even when we do not deserve it.  Thank You for the revelation You provide in Your Holy Word of the definition of true love and the power that accompanies its application.  Please continue to work on me and help me understand the purposes that You have for my life and how I can bless others with the love You have given me.  Help me to be the instrument of love to activate patience, forgiveness, helpfulness, initiative, gentleness, and kindness. In Your Holy and Precious Name I pray.  Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com

The Gain of Pain

Today is as good a day as any to once again embark upon this journey into myself.  There have been many well-intended starts to this journey that have all concluded incomplete.  For I now realize that the path to self-enlightenment is a lifelong road.  And this journey must not cease!  I am a blessed man.  God has given me a unique perspective to live by and He has equipped me with wonderful gifts and talents.  I am able to quickly grasp ideas and use them to teach others or illuminate their darkened path, even if only for a moment.  God has provided me with the gift to teach, share ideas, and inspire others with a great ability to speak, write, learn, and grow.  However, there are parts of me that certainly need the inspiration, teachings, and application of the very words God has given me for others to hear.  That is why I am here today.  Hopefully my journey here will lead to some real change in my life, and of course, consistent with what God has given me, I hope that others will use this testimony for their own unique journey.

 

Today, I choose to love – intentionally.  I am making a commitment to lead my heart and not merely follow it.  Following my heart has led me into some sinful, lonely, and ungodly situations that were satisfying for the moment, but left me or others with regret and pain.  Although God does not promise that life will be pain free, He does promise that He is able to use any suffering for a higher purpose toward our personal growth (Romans 8:26-30).   So it would seem that a life full of pain should be a life filled with growth and change.   For it is (Biblically) true: No Pain, No Gain!  But the hard part is changing the pain.  When pain is caused by repeated destructive patterns, it is often an indication that growth has yet to take place and therefore we are missing the lesson and blessing that God intended for this pain in the first place.  And I am tired of patterns that reoccur in my life.  I am sick of the same pep talks and false starts I have given myself and begun, of course with the intent of dramatic change, but ended with the same ol' same. 

 

I now know the missing link in my quest for a better me: God.  God, to me, was always the co-pilot in my flight to higher existence, my co-captain on my ship in deep waters, my co-worker as I employed my endeavors, instead of the one in charge of my every move.  Instead of me allowing God to be God I relied upon myself as the greatest source of guidance, power, security and wisdom.  I understand now that I cannot beat God at being God (Proverbs 3:5-8).

 

Dear Heavenly Father, please allow me the strength to carry out Your purposes You have for my life.  Please mold me into a man that submits to Your perfect will and does not lean on my own understanding.  Please equip me with the tools to use my pain and my life as a living sacrifice for Your Kingdom.  Lord, I need You more than ever right now.  I need You to comfort me with your loving hand and hold me in your loving arms.  Lord, I need you to forgive me of all of my sins and help me live a life according to Your Word.  Empower my life to be a testimony to Your greatness and the power that You alone possess.  Please aid me through any and all situations that I face.  Lord, please keep the Devil away from me, for only You have the power to defeat him and remove him from my mind, heart, spirit, and body.  Lord, I need You and I love You so much and I thank you for all that you have done within my life.  Help me also to be a blessing to others as You continue to bless me.  In Your Holy and precious Name I pray.  Amen.

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Derrick S. Slack

www.DSLACK.com