Some of the best times I had with my family growing up were spent playing cards. \u00a0My favorite game was Pinochle, one requiring strategy, concentration and anticipation. \u00a0A hand of Pinochle begins when a player leads off by putting a card on the table. Whatever suit they played, everyone else would also have to play. \u00a0When everyone had played a card, the one with the highest card in the suit led, won the trick. \u00a0Unless someone played trump. \u00a0Trump is the suit that rules over all others when taking tricks. \u00a0So I could lead off with an ace of diamonds, pretty confident that I would win the trick, but have it stolen away by a jack of spades, if spades were trump. \u00a0Trump was the disrupter and the overtaker. \u00a0There was often this feeling of suspense as we waited to see who had trump and when would it be used. \u00a0I’ll never forget the way my dad would drop a trump card with a dramatic knock on the table when we weren’t expecting it. \u00a0It was a total, “Ha! \u00a0This one’s mine!” moment.<\/p>\n
In our lives with Jesus we have trump cards. \u00a0They are the Word of God which we can drop on a lie when our hearts are sinking in fear, shame or doubt. \u00a0The Word of God always rules. \u00a0Always. \u00a0No matter how overwhelming your feelings, drop a “made in the image of God” over yourself and the feelings will begin to quiet down inside. \u00a0Cover yourself in “washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus” over and over and the accusations fade further (1Cor 6:11). \u00a0Wrap yourself in “His mercies never end” and your soul will find rest (Lam 3:22).<\/p>\n
In Pinochle, \u00a0saving the right card for the end can make all the difference in whether you win or lose for there is an extra point that comes with taking the last trick. \u00a0Often a player will save a trump card just to ensure he\/she can take that last trick. \u00a0In life, we never run out of trump cards for the Word is overflowing with them. \u00a0But if you only carry around a few they might become rote over time and feel flat. \u00a0In Pinochle, if a player has a hand full of trump, the hand is quite passive for everyone else because the trump card rules. \u00a0Reading the bible regularly, filling your thoughts up with His thoughts, is essential to having a full arsenal in Christ. \u00a0When we are filled up with His Word, satan is ineffective in his schemes to frighten, demean and destroy us (1Peter 5:8-9). \u00a0For the Word of God always trumps, always wins.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of the best times I had with my family growing up were spent playing cards. \u00a0My favorite game was Pinochle, one requiring strategy, concentration and anticipation. \u00a0A hand of Pinochle begins when a player leads off by putting a card on the table. Whatever suit they played, everyone else would also have to play. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deeperricherfuller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}