Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
Joshua 1:9
These are the last days and the devil is stepping up his attacks. He is all too well aware that his limited time is getting shorter and shorter. Soon enough he'll be cast into the lake of fire with his cohorts. So now he is pulling out all the stops. He is going all out to destroy God's people, to get as many in a hellish eternity with him as possible. "Big" men and women are falling. Why? Because when one "big" person falls, the devil is able to reach hundreds more, even thousands. So, for all those who have fallen, it wasn't necessarily about them, it wasn't necessarily personal. It's an excellent strategy to destroy many through one because as they fall, those who look up to them (some, not all) could easily get discouraged and fall themselves. If they were relying on that person to stay delivered in an area in which they too might be struggling, that person falling could weaken them and cause them to give up, even give in. It's an individual thing. You have to rely on God not on man. A person's success story can encourage and motivate you but it should not be responsible for your victory... that's God's job. That person's deliverance should help you see that if God could do it for them, He can and will do it for you too. Put your confidence in God, not man. Realistically, if someone falls, especially someone you look up to, a certain fear can grip you that if it happened to them it could happen to you too. NO!!! It does not have to! And IT WILL NOT!!! God is well able to keep what we commit to Him, including ourselves. It is about TRUST! Trust in God, not in man not in self. Man can't do it; you can't do it but God can. Maybe that's the key to being delivered and staying delivered - knowing that it's God who has to do it not us! As I said before, the devil is stepping up his attacks. One of the key things he does is he attacks over and over. In other words, it's like hammering on a nail. You hammer on it over and over until it finally goes in. It's the same with the devil. He hammers on us ruthlessly and mercilessly over and over until finally we become so weary or we just simply let out guard down and we give in. His strategy is to weary us with the same temptation over and over until we finally give in. When we don't give in, we should never become so happy that we let our guard down and think it's over. Never let your guard down, even when the temptation is past because that may be the doorway the devil will use to come at us again and this time he may succeed. Keep your guard up! Be alert! Be watchful and sober because the devil is walking about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Maybe this is why we need to be alert. The devil is always on the alert looking for opportunities to destroy. We therefore, need to always be alert, always be on the defensive. Just as the devil pummels us over and over not even giving us a break we have to steadfastly resist him not in our own strength but with God's help. Speak God's Word. Speak into being those things which are not as though they were. Speak it in faith and be obedient to the Holy Spirit's instructions and leading. Ultimately all of this trial, temptation, suffering is for purpose. This struggle produces or develops qualities in us that God wants developed. Verse 10 says, "after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you." (1 Peter 5:10) Through this struggle God will perfect in us what He wants to perfect. He will also establish, strengthen and settle us. (Establish - to place in a firm or good position.) In other words, God will bring us to the point where the struggle does finally come to an end and we can say, "It's over!" " It's finished!" Note, at the point where Jesus said, "It is finished", He still had to go and put certain things in place to bring those words to pass. In the spirit realm it was finished, but in the natural things still had to be done and then it was finished in the natural too. Once done in the spiritual it's only a matter of time in the natural. God then strengthens you enabling you to resist at any cost, even without the struggle. Then He settles you and gives you a peace. This peace replaces fear: the fear of falling, the fear of giving in. No longer are you afraid of giving in. No longer will you give in, in thought, word or deed. Job's greatest fear came upon him. The devil preys on our fears using them to destroy us. But when the fear is removed and replaced with God's peace, there is no chance of giving in. There is no chance of the devil winning. There is only the reality of our victory in Christ Jesus over the situation, struggle, battle. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). It all means the same thing! God gives us His strength because our own strength, our resolve will weaken. We need God's strength to resist the devil. It's not a physical battle, it's a spiritual one. Ask God for His strength because that's one of the weapons we're going to need for this battle. We have to put on God's armor not our own. We can't fight the devil with our weapons, we have to use God's weapons, the ones He has given us: prayer, fasting, praise, His Word, speaking forth those things that are not as though they were. The devil may be walking around like a roaring lion because his purpose is to scare and thus weaken us with all his loud roaring. However, God created all things . . . even the roaring lion, We therefore need not be afraid of anything or anyone but God Himself. Do you know why you're in this position? Because you chose to be . . . by giving in to FEAR. But you can choose to get out. There is always a choice! Make the right one! Either stay and cower in fear and be destroyed OR get out! God is right there, near, waiting to guide you out. You don't have to do it on your own. You're not alone. Even when you can't turn to another or don't know who to turn to . . . God is there 24/7. Turn to Him, He's the only one to get you out. Two is better than one (Ecclesiastes 4:9). If another human being is not present, remember, God is ALWAYS there. Go to Him!
1 Comment
|
Archives
October 2024
AuthorThis blog provides inspirational nuggets inspired by the Word of God and serves to encourage and motivate Christians in their Christian walk. |