“Every one therefore that heareth these words
of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house
upon the rock: 25and the rain descended, and the floods came, and
the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and if fell not: for it was founded
upon the rock. 26And every one that heareth these words of mine,
and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house
upon the sand: 27and the rain descended, and the floods came, and
the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall
thereof. Matt 7:24-27
(The
Lord gave a very clear sign to America about this reality in the one house that
was standing on Mexico beach after Hurricane Michael. The good news is that He will be glorified in these storms. You can read about it on
my blog under that name. He warns and prepares us.)
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you,
that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not;
and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.
The Lord always prepares us for things to come. I had some
divine nudges that December could bring in some challenges, and with the nudge,
the message that I am not alone. He walks with me through every valley. Of
course, fear was there next to me, ready to pounce on the word of the Lord to
twist it into something ugly and oppressive. As I brought the fear to Him, I saw the Lord
transform it into peace, and I was at rest again in His love, in the "bosom of the Father" with Jesus. Those words are the honey and milk of heaven, giving sweet peace and divine calcium to my
spiritual bones.
Everything that can be shaken, will be shaken, so that what cannot be shaken will remain. I may have botched that scripture, but I need to conserve the caffeinated energy that I’m working off of this morning. Things began going a little haywire in October, and once again I was tempted to fear. Oh dear, the devil is attacking me! I began thinking of all of the warfare admonitions about fighting the devil. Do I need to sing high praises to chase the demons away from my life? Bind the demon off of my cell phone, my computer, my car, my health? Those ideas brought more fear.
In time, I began to see that the warfare is not against my things, my job, or any circumstance that Satan might want to destroy. I felt this wisdom dawning on my darkness and fear: "You don't have to worry about any of that. I have all of it. What Satan wants is your faith. He wants the word of the Lord." I saw that the Lord can easily handle all of those circumstances that concern me if I will only trust Him to do it.
I saw how Satan went
after Job, and Peter, and Jesus, and all of the others. In every case, the
warfare was not about the circumstances, but about faith. He is after one thing, and one thing only-God’s word. He may
use pleasure, or pain, or trouble, or sorrow, or distraction, or man’s praise, or even material
wealth. Is He good? Can we trust Him? Can we believe His word? That is what Satan wants to destroy. Everything else is dust in the wind.
I saw Hebrews 11 with fresh eyes. No matter what winds blew against them, those saints were only moved by
the word of the Lord, that which cannot be seen with physical eyes. God has been warning us all of the coming shakings, and with the
warning, He has been
Hold fast to every word and all the revelation that you have ever had. Jesus lived by God's word and was never moved by what he saw with his eyes. Now is our time to reject every idea, belief and thought that we have not heard from God. I like to boil things down to their most essential parts, and it seems that it all comes down to two choices: circumstance or His word. This rings in my spirit: no matter what you see, hear, or feel: HOLD FAST.
"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
Jesus showed us how to gain the victory. He showed us how to watch and pray in the garden. Satan was absolutely attacking Jesus when he entered into Judas and nailed Jesus to the cross-and it went exactly as God had ordained. Checkmate. Always, Divine Checkmate.
Talk about regret. I wonder how often Satan regrets doing that to Jesus? What seemed to be his greatest victory brought God the greatest glory.
Wait for it. Just wait for it! Keep the patience of faith, and the patience of His word. And that is really the crux of it all. In some ways we have been taught to fear Satan, and to battle him and his demonic hoards, but God says to fear Him alone, and expect to see His glory no matter how bad things look. Who has believed the report of the Lord, and to whom is His arm revealed? Isa 53:1
Expect to see the victory. See Me high and lifted up and that I will
boomerang Satan’s worst attacks against him for the kingdom of God to march
forward! We can have peace in the midst of spiritual war.
May God's word grow deep roots in your hearts and minds. As the angel said to Daniel, and to us today when our human strength fails in the face of hard circumstances:
“O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.” Dan 10:19
Such lovely words flowing with the milk and honey of heaven itself. Thank You Father. We love you.
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