Stay with the Pack!

The Lord always seems to speak to me in terms of subjects, not as in math or history, but the subjects of my life. If you have read my last couple posts you will see that one of the subjects he has been teaching me about is words and their power. Another one he has been speaking to me about is distractions. God is often the teacher and we are the student learning the lessons of his word, his promises, his deliverance and, in turn, having them become life to our bodies, minds, and circumstances. I believe God uses his word to teach us things, to teach us truths, to open our eyes to our own carnality, how much we truly need him, and to prosper us both in the spiritual realm and the physical.

Contrary to popular belief, I do not believe God puts sickness, disease, poverty or anything else on us. God IS love. God IS good. He is our father, our protector, defender, deliverer, provider, and every good and perfect gift comes from him (James 1:17). If, then, God is our father, and he is the very essence of love, why do we believe otherwise? Why would he want, cause, or make anything bad come upon us or happen to us? Matthew 7:11 says "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" We, in our human nature are evil, there's no other way to say it. We are prone to sin, to do or say bad things, hence our need for a savior. There is no part of our flesh that wants to do good. Without God, and apart from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

So then the question becomes if we (who are evil) can love and give good things to our children, why do we think our creator is any different? He created us with those intentions, to love and to do good. Would you as a parent or even a friend put cancer or some other horrible thing onto someone you love to "teach them a lesson," to make them want to be closer to you, or to show them how much they actually need you? Absolutely not, and if you would, I suggest you find the nearest psych ward and check yourself into it! If we wouldn't will that onto someone we love, why in the world do we think, blame, and accuse God of doing the same thing to us or someone we love?

We have a very real enemy who absolutely hates and despises us more than anything. John 10:10 says " The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."  1 Peter 5:8 says "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." These verses clearly state that we have an enemy, and he is always roaming around in search of someone to prey on and devour. He watches us intently, learns our weaknesses and studies us on purpose.

In the wild, the predator always seeks out the weakest, littlest and sometimes youngest animal in a group/herd. Once it has spotted the weaker one, his goal is to first separate it from the pack, and then go for the kill. If the predator can manage to separate if from the pack, then it will be defenseless, an easy target, and an easy kill. The enemy is the same way with us. His goal is to first seek out those who are weak; weak in spirit particularly. If he can find people who not only don't believe in God, but who aren't really standing in, believing on, and relying on God alone, then he has found his target. His next goal is to separate the pack, to draw out those who either don't really believe or who are weak in their spiritual lives. He will use people, circumstances, finances, worry, doubt, fear, hurt feelings, or anything that holds value in our lives to come against us, bring us down, and ultimately cause us to blame God. Once he can get us to blame God, we will then be separated, be weak, weary, not want to fight him, and then he goes in for the kill.

My charge to you (and myself) is to:
1)Stay alert at all times. I have just recently began to see all the many ways the enemy tries to distract me from not only getting into the word, but to become lazy and complacent in other areas of my life. He will use anything he can to distract us; things we feel have to get done now, the tv, music, video games, facebook,  addictions, phone calls that can wait or be returned later, or anything else that seems urgent or important to us. Busyness is a huge one. I once heard before that busyness really stands for Being Under Satans Yolk...ouch!
2)Seek the Lord with all your heart. Ask him to show you His goodness and expect to see it. If we are looking for Him, he will show up and reveal it to us! He is not withholding anything from us, nor is he waiting for us to beg and plead, get 100 people on a prayer chain to pray for us before he decides to move. God is not sitting in Heaven with his arms folded, holding out on us until we do a, b, c, and d. He is also not a schizophrenic one day being nice and good, and the next day being angry and mean. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8). We and our emotions change so often and frequently it's hard to imagine God being any different, but he is!
3) If/when trials and hard times come, stay with the pack! That is when we need each other, and more importantly, we need God the most. Don't allow the enemy to draw you away with his enticements, to make you focus more on the circumstances than God's goodness and his willingness to deliver us from it, and to speak lies to you. Take every thought captive, don't believe just any thought that pops into your head, and surround yourself with people who will lift you up, encourage you, help to sharpen you, and who will cover/protect you should the enemy try and separate you.
4) We, as women in particularly, are lionnesses, strong, majestic, beautiful and fierce! We serve our king, the lion of the tribe of Judah, and just as lionnesses stay together, hunt together, groom together, and take care of each other's young, we need to do the same thing. We are strong, majestic, fierce and need each other to fight against any enemy who tries to come against our pack!

We all need each other. We all need the Lord. We need to know and understand the power and authority he has already given us and that the enemy is a defeated foe! Let's join forces together and help those who are weak, weary and defenseless!

Unpolished Gold...

Anyone who really knows me would probably call me "opinionated," but let the truth be told I am just very passionate about my beliefs. Sometimes, most of the time, it comes across wrong. I seem to always say things at the wrong time, the wrong way, with the wrong tone of voice or somehow manage to stick my foot in my mouth yet again.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always felt different, like the "black sheep" in my family, the odd man (or in this case woman) out. I remember as a little girl committing my life to the Lord, telling him I would go anywhere and do anything for him. I have always been "set apart," never hanging out with the "in crowd," being teased and mocked because of how I looked or simply for reading my bible in school. All the mistreatment not only from my peers, but almost every relationship in my life has made me want to stand up for "the little guy," and to defend those who are defenseless, broken down, worn out and just plain tired of fighting.

I have always been outspoken and stood up for the things, people, and God I truly believe in. I always seem to feel the need to defend God and his word, as if he actually needs to be defended. I appreciate transparency and complete honesty, it's a trait I find most attractive and I myself try to hold fast to. I don't like things to be sugar coated or watered down, just give it to me straight! I know at times my "give it to you straight" thinking can come across as brash, harsh or even judgmental at times. That could be further from the truth. My delivery might not always be right, but my heart almost always is. If you come to me, expect me to give you the truth in love, to talk to you and tell you the things I myself would want to be told, to always pray for you, encourage you and most importantly always, always try and point you back to the word.

I believe God has called each an every one of us to not only be a light to this dark world, but to be the voice of God also. Being used by God to speak life and encouragement into others lives is what I truly feel called to do, no, what I desire to do more than anything. Words have the power of life and death and those who love it will eat of its fruit (Proverbs 18:21). When I speak, may my words be full of life, not death, encouragement not discouragement, be full of Gods word which brings health, healing and wholeness, and know that more than anything my deepest desire is to see every one of you walking in victory and soaring high above life's trials and tribulations. That's my goal. That's my heart. That's the way I want my words to come across now and forever!