“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered;
and let those who hate Him flee before Him.”
(Psalm 68:1)
Dear Friends –
There is such a wishful elegance to those words, that a devout believer can see the possibility of hope escalating when they are pronounced as prayer before Almighty God. As His beloved children, Christians experienced in the extent of 
His powers realize that whatever is prayed for He can do, if we but ask. “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24) Every part of our world is embroiled with evil in some form or another – unchristian behavior dominates. Satan has been working overtime to conquer and divide all peoples, one against another and group against group, especially during this pandemic when tempers are easily ignited. Everyday some new chaos explodes, crime continues to escalate, race conflicts jump to the forefront of every single dispute, overextended police are demoralized by disrespect, corruption is exposed in another iconic institution, and on and on. Enough! you want to shout out at the latest daily evil that dominates the news… senseless, horrific occurrences finally tip our tolerance scale completely off balance and we cry out: Please Dear God, do something!
To relay your frustrations to another will have them telling you to do as they do, and don’t watch the news! Yes, that will alleviate the stress if it affects your health, but, we must stay abreast of the world we live in, and as Christians, we are obligated to take care of this world He gave us, not ignore its’ 
physical and spiritual destruction! He expects us to be His brave champions and fight the good fight to eliminate evil. We start by taking an active part in obliterating wrong and evil when it comes into our scope of existence. We reprove family, friends, and community wrongdoings whenever we can, and when we can’t, we pray to God for His help. Recognize a problem, and if you can’t be the solution, realize God is the solution to all our ills. He most definitely can do what we cannot do, and He wants us to admit that by asking for His help; we profess our need for Him, which acknowledges at the same time, that our faith admires, loves, and praises Him for His many magnificent powers. Prayer is the most powerful tool we have to end all problems, I say that repeatedly I know, but it is nothing more than your talking to Him about whatever bothers you… it’s that easy! That conversation can take any form that is comfortable for you, for God hears all formal prayers to frustrating outbursts, and even the silent sobs from your heart when you can’t speak.
Many times when Jesus miraculously cured someone, He sent them off with the remark, “Your faith has saved you.” And that Dear Reader is the key to eternal life – faith! You must believe that He can do anything, including the impossible, or your prayers are just empty words. Saint Mark beautifully encapsulates the priority of 
faith and prayers when he recounts the episode where a father brings his demon-possessed son to be cured, but the disciples were unable to accomplish that, so the father asks Jesus: “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, " 'If you can!' Everything is possible to one who has faith." Jesus seemed irked by the lack of faith that would ask, “if you can…” so the boy's father cried out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!” Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the boy, which it did, and the amazed disciples asked Jesus in private, "Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "This kind can only come out through prayer." (Mark 9:17-29) We are living in a world populated with a horrendous amount of demonic unclean spirits; we absolutely must believe that He can deliver us from this evil, and we absolutely must ask for His help with prayer that is backed up by perfect faith. In time, faith will be rewarded because we “Let God Arise,” by our request!
FAITHLESS TIMES
When Christians believe in and experience the reality of Almighty God and His powers, they should know with the same certainty the reality and experience of the Devil and his powers. With that knowledge comes the desire as God’s child, to honor Him with obedience while fighting all the evil forces that strive to discredit Him and destroy His Creations. God Almighty is constantly at work to bring His children to earthly peaceful existence with eventual eternal rest in Heaven. 
The Devil in opposition, diligently toils in his hatred for God, to steal away His children and property in his ambitious drive to rob, humiliate and dethrone The Supreme Being. Satan’s evil forces of spiritual demons create a hellish netherworld on earth, doing nothing for their captives except rewarding them with eternal damnation. For a brief moment, the dubious pleasure of sin can dam a soul to hellfire that never ends! That goes for this current increasing crop of cold-hearted thugs who rob stores, homes, and people in broad daylight to satiate their greed; lazy slobs that can’t or won’t qualify for legitimate work. There are the hate-filled hearts that abuse others who don’t look or believe as they do, and while tempers rage they overpower the weak and elderly for a moment of contemptible domination. These continued acts of depravity and others stimulated by the devil, usually escape earthly punishment making them into hardened criminals who will undoubtedly never find their way to God while on the road to hell. Their growing prevalence alongside the increasing murderers, corrupt liars, staunch abortionists, adulterers, and other commandment offenders, creates Faithless Times, which was not God’s original plan for His creation.
Not many of us feel called to evangelize the apparent damned, although some prison conversions occur by the blessed pastors trained in this regard. The usual degenerate appearance of some of the wicked is enough to make anyone back off feeling the task impossible, so a prayer is offered up to God to please handle the 
situation as only He can. In time, experienced Christians learn to recognize the look and acts of evil souls, especially in one’s own family as behavioral changes are observed. We have all recently been given a vivid example of this evil capacity in the tyrannical acts of Vladimir Putin who reflects a dark soul of maniacal power. Such diabolical dictatorships have tried many times before to have a moment of glory, but their time has been limited for God always steps in to see their ruination, for Satan has not, and cannot ever overpower God. How God will work through us to handle this current greedy killing tyrant is not for us to know, but certainly for us to pray for, knowing by our demonstrated faith that He can and will handle the demise of evil.
When evil enters your private life, fight it with all your might, and don’t let it win with God’s help. 
People who have fallen under Satan’s influence will rarely take to your proselyting and may even turn defensively violent like the demon-possessed individuals that saw Jesus approaching, and rebuked Him for His effort. Jesus never failed in expelling these evil monsters… let Him take these lost souls from your life… restore peace to your scope of existence, even if it means hurtful loss.
