Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Oh The Irony of it All

I've been parousing around blogland momentarily for the first time in awhile, and I have to marvel at the sheer genius of it all: God is up to something. I've felt it for awhile, deep down inside me somewhere... this still, small voice that seemed to be saying, "choose ME or choose death...". I would look around myself and see fellow believers being brought to these defining crossroads in thier lives where they would be forced to choose to lay down thier lives and follow God with everything they had in them, or walk away from Him: enduring the struggle, and potentially losing it all. It's as if God is calling out His faithful ones to an even higher place of committment and righteousness: all to prepare us - to ready us for the battle ahead.

So I would look at these people, in the midst of thier dark struggles and wonder how they could ever choose the struggle over the peace of God - how they even saw that they had a choice: "don't you know how good you had it with Him?! What in the world would posess you to walk in uncertainty, doubt, shame, worry, unecessary pain, regret, etc... over what you had right in front of you?" I would stand on my little "God pedastal" that I had put myself on, looking down on all those in the valley, just knowing that I would never be in that place: I would just never allow it!

What I didn't realize, is that sometimes, we don't willingly choose sin - sin chooses us. The enemy is a cunning, crafty, horrible beast that knows our every weakness: studying us from birth, and laying out his well-laid plans to trip us up at just the right time to take us out (or attempt to take us out anyway) - in hopes to flat-line us and make us completely unuseable for the Kingdom. Read on (an excerpt from a Joyce Meyers Battlefield of the Mind devotional):

"Satan has well-laid out plans to hinder/stop us from having the life that God has promised us. Unlike some of us, the devil is "well" organized. He operates with a strategy in mind. Don't think that this strategy is something new. As long as we have been on this earth the devil has been planning how he will get us to abort the things that God has ordained for us. The devil knows that he alone can not abort the plans for our lives. He realizes that we must be a partaker. This is where the plot thickens; he has to have our cooperation. The devil is patient. He has studied us and it's sad to say, but some times it appears that he knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we like, what we don't like, and what makes the hair stand up on the back of our necks. He is just waiting for the right time and it's on!"

So suffice it to say, I just couldn't believe it when I found myself standing at ground zero surveying the damage (yet again), wondering how in the world I got there. Suddenly, the black veil was lifted from my eyes, and I was standing on a pile of rubble. "What in the world?! But I love Jesus!! What happened here?!?!"

The enemy happened. I realized once God got a hold of me and shook the sin right out me, that while I was confident in my love for Him and my devotion to Him, that I hadn't quite "girded myself up" for the red-hot arrows of the enemy. I hadn't fully put on the armor of God yet: and that while I've been "cleaned up" so to speak, that I hadn't learned how to take cover when the enemy attacks. Read on:

The Armour of God

"10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:10-18).

During this time, I have found that the only peace, the only rest, the only comfort, and the only real joy I have is in the Word of God. Ironically, nothing is out of line as it stands: in fact, everything is as it should be - in obedience, God is restoring all. But spiritually, my only sustenance has been in the Word: and I'm realizing just now, as a 4 year-old committed Christian, called to full-time ministry, that the Word is the only answer. I used to question how God could speak to all of our situations through His Word: our questions, hurts, bondages, pains, even our joys and victories - but He can, and he does!! What an awesome God we have, that He would give us such a tangible gift - a manual for life right at our fingertips: and yet, how terribly sad that so many of us take advantage of it - that we let those answers sit on the shelf and choose the 10 year plan instead of the two year plan, when all we had to do is ask Him and seek His Truth right in His Word.

I'm thankful for the lessons I'm learning in this, and the strength and wisdom I'm gainging through this time. My prayer is that God would begin to "gird me up": that He would strengthen me from the inside out so that the next time the enemy attacks, that I would be ready; that I would be fearless, that I would be ready and willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to stay on the path He has me on, to do the right thing, and most of all, to please the Father.

"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength" (Isaiah 30:15).

"Let the redeemed of the LORD say this - those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men..." (Psalm 107:2-8).

"I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you" (Isaiah 44:22).

"But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one" (2 Thessalonians 3:3).

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

God is truly amazing. I'm glad that you were reminded and your eyes opened again.

It seems I have to be constantly reminded of His goodness... and I am so thankful when a friend reminds me, or my husband does, or when I'm reading my Bible and see it in plain writing... when the Holy Spirit reveals something that I'd never thought about before.

**hugs**

Write more! I miss hearing about your Miscellaneous Musings!

12:12 PM  

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