Jeremiah 24:7 - And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Lord, give me a heart to know You! I want to turn to You with my whole heart! Why don't we as Christians pray this prayer? It's often because we know something the world doesn't, the closer you grow to God the more upset the devil becomes. HE FIGHTS! He attacks your mind, your family, your peace, so sometimes we are afraid.
Many came into the Christian life thinking that once they became a Christian life would be easy. Jesus saved them so it should be smooth sailing from there on out. But the truth is, if you fully commit to Him, you are going to be in a battle. Now if you sit down and do nothing, he doesn't fight that hard. But your heart is miserable because you can't have God's joy if you are not fellowshipping with Him and doing His will.
There is nothing the devil can throw at us that our God cannot handle. Now believe me there are days that you feel you can't handle it. There are days you feel overwhelmed and just buried in the chaos. That is satan at work. He is the master of confusion and chaos. He is the father of all lies.
He does not want you praying, witnessing, serving. He wants you 'busy' with other things. He doesn't want our heart to be focused on Jesus. It is hard to battle him, I'm not going to sugar-coat it. It is tiring and it frustrating. It's dangerous, he pulls no punches and there is nothing he will not stoop to.
Yet my God said He would supply all my needs. That includes the needs I have to prepare me to find the devil! A few weeks ago a good godly man made a statement that I've been thinking about a lot. He said 'you don't challenge the devil, he will throw everything he has at you if you do'. I've thought about that a LOT.
I respectfully disagree. Now, having said that, you better be sure that God is the one putting you in that fight before you go in. You better be prayed up and have on the whole armor of God before you STAND YOUR GROUND. I don't think that God would give us so many examples in the Bible of Israel going into battle, if He did not expect us as Christians to do the same thing.
Now I understand sometimes the battle comes just because of things you are doing for God. But at are times that there is ground we must tell the devil 'YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR MY GOD! YOU CAN'T HAVE THIS!' Now you know when you do that, the devil is going to unload both barrels your way, but you know that the God that cannot lie said he is our fortress, our protector, our shield. The fire will be hot, the darts will hurt but we are to stand.
We are told in Eph. 6:13 - Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. That is not idle talk or something that is a suggestion! We are to put on the whole armor and we are to stand. We may be staring the devil straight in the face, we may feel the earth is crumbling beneath us but we are to stand.
I've been there, in fact in the last few weeks, I've faced mind numbing discouragement. A friend last night called it FEELING FOG, I like that because it so describes where I've been. But I thank God that He reminded me, none of this happened when you were complacent. None of these things were happening when you were satisfied with a short prayer that had not depth or passion. Things were going easy in many ways until you met with God on a mountain and saw chains broken and demons from the past thrown out.
But I thank God for that mountain experience and for the creek experience that finished the cleaning process two months later. I can take the devil back to those 2 spots and say 'God took this, right here, He knows and He has forgiven' and 'Right here I learned that not only did I need God's forgiveness, I needed to forgive myself'. Having those places to go back to are as important to me as having that little Sunday School room in Grace Baptist Church in Simpsonville, that I can say Nov. 21 1969, God saved me. Oh, I've failed Him, I've hidden from Him, I've run from Him but just like the prodigal's father, He was there waiting on me.
Today is another day I'm going to look back on. Today I declare to the devil, YOU CANNOT HAVE MY FAMILY! You may win some battles, you may cause distress and anger, frustration and hurt but you will not win this war. My daughter, my granddaughter, they are not yours, you cannot have them. My God said if we ask anything in His name that He will do it. I've said this to myself a few time, I even said it in church a time or two. But today I'm saying with every ounce of strength my God will give me. They are not up for grabs. You may tempt, you may seduce, you may throw trials and troubles our way but I will stand with God at my side. You are not match for Him. Me, you can toss me about, if God allows but my God is my source and my very present help in time of danger. Today I'm MAD (Motivated Against the Devil) and my family is too important for this war to be lost. You may have some victories but I know the end of the Book, you lose the war.
Today, ask yourself, where is your fight? Do you have fight? Or have you allowed satan to discourage and control the circumstances around you to the point that you can't fight? The greatest thing you can every realize is that 'you can't but HE can!' Give Him your whole heart, get into the Word and come to know Him in his strength and power. Learn to trust His love and His grace. Then stand, no matter what happens, just stand!
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