The Journey: Plan B

Here is a very basic thing that we all need to understand. When the Lord told gives you a promise and shows you something, what He is likely showing you is the outcome. Then our minds take over and we plow full speed ahead on Plan A, all the while assuming this is what God meant. We have His word after all and He showed us some things. Then all of a sudden it goes terribly wrong and we think, did I miss God? Did I do something wrong? What happened?

All the while, what God told us and showed us required a journey of faith, testing and trial, and very possibly many years, in order to reach the outcome He showed to us at the outset. We were not mistaken in what we heard; we were mistaken in how the goal was to be reached, what was required to enter into His promise.

It is just like Joseph, Abraham, Moses and so many other saints over the ages past. They were given a dream to hang onto while they walked a long, difficult journey with the Lord before they would finally receive the prize. And many never fully received all that they were shown because the fullness was meant for generations later. So we should never be discouraged at what appear to be long delays and many obstacles to overcome. He has given us the outcome, now we must walk a journey that tests our faith, endurance and determination. A journey that does not do that is probably not from the hand of the Lord. But all the while He keeps encouraging us to trust Him and to continue holding on to the dream.

He wants overcomers, men and women who have learned how to walk thro’ the trials and testings of life to enter into Victory with Him, to finish the race more than conquerors.

Nettles and Other Weeds

Here is a picture of a nettle, a noxious weed with little redemptive value. Now why am I putting a picture here of something so worthless. Read on.

The world is fond of promoting lies. One of the most common and prevalent ones, that I am sure everyone has heard is this: Experience is the best teacher.

Oh is it really? Think of the time you were excluded from a play group during recess at school. How about all the times you were the last one picked for a sports team? Now remember the times when you saw a parent favor one of your siblings in seeming preference to you. How about going for a job interview, knowing you are highly skilled and more than qualified, yet someone else gets picked time after time? Now how did all of these scenarios and others by the thousands make you feel? They made you feel worthless, rejected, ashamed, afraid, determined not to try again, etc ad infinitum.

Is experience really the best teacher if you are learning to avoid situations and people, having a framework built inside of you that gives you such a low opinion of yourself? This is your emotional skeleton that is being built. It is a framework of lies, subtle manipulations by the whispering, destructive spirits that surround us, feeding from our vital forces while robbing us of health both emotionally and physically. It is all calculated to keep us from becoming the wondrous creation that Almighty God created us to be, the sons and daughters who will destroy the kingdom of darkness. But as long as we are held in bondage to all of these lies we are nothing but slaves of the corrupt spirits manipulating us like so many puppets.

Ah, but there is an answer. His name is Jesus Christ! He came to save us spirit, soul and body. He came to heal all the parts of our being. He came to bring abundant Life in place of the death that has been our mainstay. The soul of man is where all the battles take place. This is the battleground where wars more violent than WWII are being fought daily. And we must be victorious! Victory has already been assured for us if only we will put our hands in the Savior's and trust Him to lead us to that safe place He has already provided. There is a green pasture with quiet waters where He wants to take all of us, a place of rest from the onslaughts of this enemy we cannot even see.

Rise up, mighty warriors of God! It is time to take back the territories that have been stolen from us and our generations. Victory in Jesus!

Rites of Passage

I believe the terrible things that we endure in our lives are meant to be like rites of passage for us. There are things we must undergo so that we may enter in to the places that God has prepared for us. Destiny.

Rites of passage in tribal cultures are a means of qualifying the young and inexperienced to become full-fledged members of their culture, to be considered members of full age, fully equipped and ready to assume the greater tasks of their society.

But until we endure the hardship of these rites which are administered by the enemy of our souls, we are not qualified to enter in. We need to begin to look on all of these trials and hardships as the qualifying instruments the Lord means them to be in our lives. Consider for a moment that the devil has one purpose: to make us shine like the Son!

We take on the polish of Heaven when we learn to violently take the Victory that God has already assured is ours!  " 'Victory in Jesus!' my Holy warriors cry. 'Victory in Jesus!' is the battle cry."

Forward march!