Blog

Regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires, and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation]. Ephesians 4:22-24

For so many of us, the Daunters in our lives are there solely because we haven’t ‘put off your old self’. All the things we have even done wrong or failed at or the negative things that have been spoken over us. We hold on to them because for too long they have been our identity. Even if there is evidence of the most amazing change in you those Daunter voices keep you trapped in that mindset.

The enemy would want to keep us tied to our old nature. After all, he has us completely paralyzed by it. He dispatches Fear to make sure our old nature becomes a weapon. That isn’t how God wants us to live.

Who will deliver me from the shackles of this body of death? Romans 7:24

The Romans found the most inhuman ways to punish people. One of the punishments they had was to tie a dead body on the back of the criminal. Now on first thought, it just sounds simply disgusting, the smell and filth of it all. However, there was a more sinister part of this. As the dead body decayed and rotted it would eventually spread to the living man and eat away at his living flesh. Death consumed life.

Paul would have seen this when he wrote Romans and talked about the shackles of this body of death. You see when we don’t let go of our old nature we strap on that death to ourselves. With it strapped to our backs we can’t see it. Sometimes we will get a whiff of the stench but a drop of perfume or essential oil and we can push through. We eventually adjust to the weight of the load we carry. What we don’t see and don’t realize is that it is eating away at us, and our new nature.

Put on the new self.

My boys are difficult when it comes to shoes. If I can get them to wear them in the first place. For any Tolkien fans out there Hobbits are alive and well and living in my house!!! When I do finally find a pair of new shoes that meet their excessive standards the next challenge is getting them to wear them. More often than not I find them in their old tattered torn and fallen apart shoes. Why? Because they are comfortable.

That is how we are. It’s easy to grab hold of the old nature, the old habits, the old mindsets. But this new self is much better for us and offers more protection than the old self ever could.

Not Eligible

I love Lauren Daigle’s song You Say. The line “I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough” is something I battle with every day. When I was 10 years old I had to take a test in school that would decide which school I could go to for my secondary education. I actually found the test fun and my average score was in the 90% bracket. But then on the first day of the two-part test I freaked out. I had never been in the environment before and my immaturity (most kids take this when they are 11 years old) kicked in. I only got to question 75 out of 100. The second part I flew through because things were more familiar.

However, the year I took the test you either got results that said E or NE (Eligible or Not Eligible). I opened the letter to find NE, two letters that I then proceeded to strap onto my back and hold on to. That Sunday in Church the Pastor sang an old gospel chorus about Heaven and on one verse he sang my name to remind me that Heaven was my home because he knew how hard this had hit me.

It’s taken 30 years for me to acknowledge the impact. That this one event had been tied to me like a dead man, eating away at all the life God was giving me. My overwhelming fear of failure had made taking any exam or test a stressful experience and I was never able to perform to my ability. The enemy created a huge Daunter in my life called Not Eligible and that Daunter has hit me in every area.

Eligible through the blood of Jesus

He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but because of His own compassion and mercy, by the cleansing of the new birth (spiritual transformation, regeneration) and renewing by the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5

It is so easy to let failure, mistakes, other’s opinions, and our own opinions brand us with a Not Eligible mark. BUT THAT IS NOT WHO YOU ARE!!! The blood of Jesus made you ELIGIBLE.

This process isn’t a one time deal either. In Titus, the words are cleansING and renewING. ING the present particle, meaning it is happening now. You have not just been renewED in the past but it’s an ongoing process of renewING.

Ephesians says, ‘continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude]’. Continually renewed which means we may have to decide every day which voice to listen to. We have to decide if we want to keep carrying around that dead man and let it become a Daunter that will eventually kill us.

Fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude.

To truly be able to step on the battlefield and be an Undaunted Warrior we have to make sure we have a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude EVERY SINGLE DAY! If you try to go on the battlefield carrying around a dead corpse of your old life then you will never be able to find victory. I know I do it regularly.

Take away the dross (tarnish) from the silver, and there comes out the pure metal for a vessel for the silversmith to shape. Proverbs 4:25

We are a precious metal God is working with for His glory. Dross is part of the metal refining process. This impurity has to be removed in order to make the metal pure. We have to allow God to search us and remove the dross. It’s not an easy process it requires heat to remove it and depending on the type of metal you are it may require a higher heat than others.

Like a common clay vessel covered with the silver dross, making it appear silver when it has no real value, are burning lips [murmuring manipulative words] and a wicked heart. Proverbs 26:23

Dross can give us the appearance of silver but it is worthless. This Proverb really hits hard. How many times is it easy to have burning lips? I had to check my bad mental and spiritual attitude this weekend when someone rubbed me the wrong way. I have this side of me that really needs the hotter temperature applied to get rid of this dross. So please don’t think for a second I have arrived.

What is an untarnished mental and spiritual attitude? That’s a big one!!!!

Again this is a process and some days you will hit the refiners fire and be dross free, those days when it all falls into place perfectly. Then other days our Savior is spooning gallon after gallon of dross off the top of us. We start to wonder if there will be anything left for Him to use.

Every day we have to choose to have the right attitude. What is that attitude? Living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation (Ephesians 4:24). I think we fail at having an untarnished attitude for two reasons. Firstly, we try to create it in our strength. Secondly, we haven’t put our salvation and relationship with God in a place of priority in our lives.

In our own strength, we are that clay vessel with the dross hiding the truth. It’s when we post on social media and pretend we have this great life but behind the scenes, it’s just clay. One phrase in Sunday’s message hit me hard, “you are speaking someone else’s words and someone else’s experience.” If the sermon, bible study, conference, devotional, etc are just words to you then you are missing out on being the craftmanship of the greatest Silversmith!

I love sharing inspiring quotes and scripture, if you check my social media you will see I do. But recently I have found that I want these things to be realities for me. I don’t want to just post ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ and then collapse in a heap when things aren’t going my way. I want to face life from an Undaunted perspective, completely surrendered to the will of God.

Gratitude for our salvation!

Are you grateful for your salvation? Do the people around you know that you are grateful for your salvation? Now I’m not talking about being a Colgate Smile Christian, they drive me nuts. But can you honestly say it is well with my soul? No matter what happens you know that your soul is well and nothing else matters?

When we live in gratitude it’s a lot harder for the Daunters to attack us. Forgiving others becomes easier when we are thankful for our forgiveness. It makes it easier to surrender and say not my will but thine. It makes turning off the tv and praying easier. Telling others about your hope just becomes second nature because you are so thankful you have to share.

You are not your old self!

Sweet sister, I don’t know your history, I only know mine. I sure if you joined me on my porch over coffee or tea I would hear an amazing testimony of how God has saved you and given you this new life. I’m sure in there too there would be the sad notes of your old self. It’s not easy to recognize her when she shows up. Some of the habits and coping mechanisms are so ingrained that it would be like ripping out blood vessels. But you need to let Jesus cut those straps that are shackling her to you.

She was a broken hurt person that through things she had no control over and some she did, she ended up hiding in a cave. Sometimes the things that have happened can’t be put right no matter how much we wish we could. Like everything, we have to leave it at the foot of the Cross.

Jesus is saying He wants you to take up His yoke. It is so much lighter than this load you are carrying now. A load that it’s killing you. It doesn’t mean life will be perfect. He will remove the dross and make you into a pure vessel that He has shaped to be an Undaunted Warrior.

I love it when the Lord speaks to me from different, unconnected sources. So, I had already started planning this week’s devotionals, know who we are in Christ. Then the sermon yesterday was by a visiting Pastor on Who Are You? It was just confirmation how important this is. You can find the link here, I recommend you listen to it.

For we are God’s own handiwork, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand, for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live. Ephesians 2:10

God’s Masterpiece.

So many of us don’t know who we are in Christ. We are saved and we love God. Yet we don’t fully embrace the new life He has for us. The enemy, our Daunters, crowd around us with all the condemnation they can find. It’s so easy to listen to the lies, the accusations, the reminder of mistakes we have made. We need to know who we are in Christ!

You are God’s handiwork created for a purpose that He had prearranged. The path He takes you on has already been prepared ahead of time. Even the paths that are so hard and dangerous. Remember all things work together for good for those that love the Lord. I know you are screaming at me right now, but you don’t understand. There is no way that this can EVER be used for anything good. Everything around me is wrong. I feel forsaken. I’m just going to hide in this cave and hope that I can make it home to Heaven in one piece. Oh, but sweet sister that is not the masterpiece God has for your life.

An Undaunted Hero.

To start I want to visit one of my Undaunted heroes, who was far from undaunted when we meet him. In Judges 6 we meet Gideon. We find him doing the most necessary thing in the most difficult place hiding from the enemy. Similarly, I find myself in this position often.

I don’t like hiding but sometimes you find yourself hiding spiritually because you know how real the threat of the enemy is. You know if you speak up you might lose friends, reputation, jobs, etc. So you keep doing things in a cave, hoping that you can accomplish the task without the enemy seeing you. While you are avoiding the obvious enemy, you opened the door to Spiritual Weariness.

Doing the necessary, the hard way!

You see Gideon was threshing wheat for food in a winepress. Food is essential to life and every time the enemy saw the Israelites had food they would raid them and steal it from them. You know what I’m talking about. You spent a beautiful time in prayer or the Word, or listened to a sermon that just put the fire back into your heart. Then out of nowhere, the Daunter hits you hard and you lose the joy you found.

Back to the threshing wheat process. To do this properly it had to be done in the wide open so that the wind could help in the process. Because the purpose was separating the edible part of the wheat from the chaff. After beating it, they would throw it in the air and the wind would carry the lighter chaff away and the heavier grain would fall to the ground. So a dark, damp cave would not be the place to this.

We all find ourselves in survival mode, in the winepress, but that’s not where you should be. The problem with Gideon is he didn’t know who he was. On the other hand, he definitely knew who his enemy was. However, the key problem for Gideon and most of us is that we don’t know who we are in God.

Know who you are in Christ.

The Angel of the Lord visits Gideon and greets him by saying,

The Lord is with you, you mighty man of fearless courage. Judges 6:12

Gideon’s immediate response shows he has no clue who God is and who he is in God. Immediately he throws out God isn’t with us. Yes in the past He has been great but just look at us now we are a forsaken people. However, I love how the Angel replies.

Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? Judges 6:14

Gideon probably started thinking, “might?” “God has sent me?” I can imagine him completely perplexed thinking the whole situation is insane. And his response shows what is in his heart, his lack of knowledge of who he is in God.

Oh Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold, my clan is the poorest in Manessah, and I am the least in my father’s house. Judges 6:15

Gideon shows two things in this response. Firstly, he has no idea who God is. Secondly, he only looks at his position, talents, and place in this world as qualifications for recruitment to God’s army. Do you do that? You want to serve God but you don’t feel you are equipped. I have a news flash for you, God very rarely uses the equipped to do ANYTHING!

What God sees!

In Gideon’s story, God doesn’t refer to him as who he is right now and even who Gideon claims to be as the least of the least. No God refers to him as the man he is making him into. A man of fearless courage, valor, a brave man, a mighty hero, a strong warrior. When we get to the end of Gideon’s story this is who he is. On the journey God took Gideon on to defeat the Midianites He kept stripping away the layers until Gideon knew it was all God.

So yes I know your life might be upside down, back to front, every which direction but right, but that’s not what God sees. You need to know who you are in Christ. He sees His masterpiece. His beautiful undaunted masterpiece, that He has called. The Lord is with you, you mighty woman of fearless courage. Pick up your sword! You are ready for the battlefield through His might.

Today let us look at spiritual discouragement and lies.

For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands. Nehemiah 6:9

We started looking at Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall in the Spiritual Weariness post. This was such an important task. We see the impossible mission assigned to someone who was not in a position to do it. God’s favor not only allowed him to do the work but also provided the resources. It can be like this when we are serving God. We get the green light and all the resources are provided. Then we notice the mess and what has to be done and spiritual weariness sets in.

We saw in the post about Spiritual Weariness how they overcame the weariness attack. They worked with one hand and had their sword in the other. They became keenly aware that this is war and they would have to be soldiers as well as builders. It was important that they remained alert and vigilant.

Nervous enemies.

Israel’s enemies got nervous when they heard that Nehemiah has been successful in building the wall. They start plotting and scheming. When Nehemiah wouldn’t agree to meet them they sent the fifth messenger with the lies. They accused Nehemiah of planning to set himself up as King and revolt. I have had this happen to me. I was busy working on the mission God had given me. The enemy had tried everything to stop me and make me weary. When God gave me the strength to keep going and not listen to the noise then the lies came.

Nehemiah’s response.

I love how Nehemiah responds to them,

“Such things as you are saying have not been done; you are inventing them in your own mind.” Nehemiah 6:8

I love ‘inventing them in your own mind’. It really does make you wonder about people where they have the time to dream up crazy things. I will admit it is frustrating too. There is a lot of work to be done for the Kingdom. It is hard to watch fellow sisters in Christ waste time on fantasy that turns into a weapon of the enemy.

We all do. So let us all make a huge commitment to stop this nonsense. Next time someone comes to you with gossip about someone don’t engage. If you feel there is a division between you and someone else, just go to them. And here’s a really hard one, honesty. Can we just be honest with each other?

Martha & Mary Conflict

Mary: Have I offended you because you have been acting weird around me? Everyone heard you slam the pots into the sink and even Jesus noticed you are mad.

Martha: Actually there is something. You haven’t been helping me enough. I feel overwhelmed that everything ends up being my responsibility. It really hurts my feelings!

Mary: I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feeling, please forgive me.

Martha: You are forgiven. Will you pray for me that this area won’t be such a sensitive spot for me? I’m really battling with doing the good thing and the better thing.

Not only is this scenario shutting down the issues with the enemy quickly but then everyone around isn’t falling into the mess. You can read the real situation in Luke 10:38-42. Martha made such a big fuss and went to Jesus to get him to make Mary help. She let her emotions stew in her head and then blew up. ‘You are worried and upset about many things’ was Jesus’ response. Hands up who has been there. You play it over and over until the enemy has got into your head and helped you ‘invent’ a weapon to be used against a sister or brother in Christ.

Honesty

There was a rough situation that I went through a few years back. I was approached by some people about a friend who I had noticed was acting weird. So I went to her and just straight out ask “Is everything ok between us?”. It’s not always easy to go to someone so I wanted to open the door and make it easier. But she took the handle and closed the door and lied that everything was ok. As a result, of not addressing the problems it didn’t take long for our friendship to be destroyed.

Spiritual Discouragement!

The purpose of this attack of invented scenarios had one goal – spiritual discouragement. “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done”. There is NOTHING more discouraging than someone’s invented narrative about your life. It is even worse when they twist things that happened to you where you were the victim to make it look like you did something wrong.

When Moses returned to Egypt to free the Israelites they wouldn’t listen to him at first because the hard labor and slavery had left them discouraged. When they did leave and reached the Jordan, ten of the twelve spies that went into the promised land discouraged the people from crossing the Jordan with lies. Nothing kills faith more the invented lies.

Same lies – different authors

Why people invent lies of spiritual discouragement, I don’t really know. I think for some it is immaturity. They haven’t reached the stage in their walk with God where they even have a mustard seed faith. Fear shouts in their ear about all the Daunters that could possibly be in their path. For some, I think it’s the unsurrendered places in our hearts where jealousy and envy can hide. We see a sister flourishing in her calling and instead of cheering her on and praying for God’s continued blessing and favor we allow jealousy to take control.

For some, I think it’s that they haven’t come to the place of realization of who they are in Christ. They see God using someone and want that for themselves. However, they don’t feel they are equipped. They don’t see that she is just as weak and unable but that she is trusting God as her source of strength. Instead of turning to God to equip her equally she has to tarnish her sister so that she shines brighter and hides her own inadequacy.

Testing our own spirits

We need to have moments when these real human emotions hit us where we examine our thoughts and hearts to see what is our true motivation. We are told to test the spirits. However, we better be applying that to ourselves and our own lives too. I can assure you that the Bible is not vague on gossip, slander, lies, and revenge. We are going to give an account for every word that comes out of our mouths.

Slander is sharing information, whether true or not, with the intent to destroy the person’s reputation. Gossip is habitually revealing personal or ‘invented’ information about another person. A lie is “an untrue or inaccurate statement that may or may not be believed true by the speaker or writer“. As for revenge, it belongs to God, not you. Like the meme says “have you prayed about it as much as you have talked about it?”

O God, strengthen my hands.

Every time these attacks of spiritual discouragement come we must respond like Nehemiah. We need to get onto our knees and pray to God, strengthen my hands. Their enemies lost their confidence when they saw the wall was finished in verse 16. If we see the discouraging lies of the enemy for what they truly are and ask God to strengthen our hands then we will see God’s work completed and our enemies silenced.

Spiritual Weariness

Meet our enemy spiritual weariness. Certainly, we know weariness can cause serious harm to your physical health, but spiritual weariness causes serious harm to our soul. If the enemy can make you weary, they can stop you in your tracks. In 2 Thessalonians Paul tells us to not let yourself grow weary or lose heart. To overcome spiritual weariness let us take a closer look at the enemy’s strategy through the struggles that the Israelites faced.

How he did not fear God, but when you were faint and weary he attacked you along the way and cut off the stragglers at your rear. Deuteronomy 25:18

This scripture was about the Amalek army that attacked the Israelites as they left Egypt. I think it reveals a key part of the enemy’s strategy against us. ‘When you were faint and weary he attacked’.

Tiredness will bring us to those moments where we tend to not pray or read the Word as much. As a result, we let the flesh completely take control of our lives and start behaving in every way other than Christlike.

When we are being hit hard with trials and testings it is so easy to get fall into spiritual weariness. Subsequently, like Job, we say, “I am weary of my life and loathe it! I will give free expression of my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” (Job 10:1). Free expression of my complaint! Come on I know you know what this is referring to, I do!

The Crossroads of Spiritual Weariness!

In the difficult times, we come to a moment when you stand at the crossroads of weariness. You have two choices. Weariness Avenue or Perseverance Way. Through Hebrews 12:3 we see that when we grow weary or exhausted we will lose heart, start relaxing and faint in our minds. So, what happens when you lose heart?

• You stop shining your light for Christ.
• You stop sharing what God has done in your life.
• You stop praying for people, after all, why bother you aren’t seeing answers.
• You stop reading the Word to your kids or praying with them.
• You start watching those shows that you know are sin drenched and will pollute your spiritual mind.

Old habits start to creep back in that you had found freedom from. Furthermore, here’s a big warning about returning to old habits.

When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from’. So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation. Matthew 12:43-45

We need to stay in the place of freedom and restoration from sin. Because if we go back to those old man ways we are asking for trouble.

This generation.

While reading verse 45, the last line really hit me this time. “That will be the experience of this evil generation.” Certainly, we have lived in a country were great revivals and outpourings of the Holy Spirit have happened. During these times we have seen moments when the house has been swept clean and everything put in order. However, we let down our guard somewhere. I don’t know if it was weariness or the luxury of a godly culture where laziness set it. If you can’t see the other seven demons coming into the house right now you are blind. This generation is experiencing worse and if we continue to let our weariness handicap us this will be the experience our children have.

Restoring The Walls of Protection

In Nehemiah, we read of the account of the restoration of the wall in Jerusalem. We read that while he was just a slave cupbearer for a foreign king, Nehemiah received the news that his beloved city was in ruins. Because of this, he was deeply grieved. But God gave him favor in the sight of the King. So, he was allowed to return to Jerusalem to restore the protection and given the materials to do it. Although, we will visit that another day!

And the leaders of Judah said, The strength of the burden bearers is weakening, and there is much rubbish; we are not able to work on the wall. Nehemiah 4:10

We see that the damage was so bad that just clearing away the mess was a burden never mind starting to rebuild the wall. To add to this, reports started coming that the enemy was plotting to attack. The people became weary.

Sometimes our service can feel this way sometimes. Because the work isn’t easy, it feels like you are carrying a burden. The endless list of tasks can leave us feeling like we are not even doing what God called us to do. Consequently, the enemy sees our frustration and launches the attack. In short, we find ourselves at the Weariness Crossroads.

Work with one hand. A weapon in the other.

This is the perseverance response. This is the Undaunted Warrior response.

Those who built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves so that everyone worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other hand, and every builder had his sword girded by side, and so worked. And he who sounded the trumpet was at my side. Nehemiah 4:17-18

I’m not sure where the fairy tale of serving God and His Kingdom began. To clarify, the second you said yes to God you stepped onto the Battlefield. However, it doesn’t matter if you think you are a small, insignificant part of the Lord’s army. It means you are wearing the uniform, at some point, you will be engaged with the enemy.

The Israelites in Nehemiah give us a wonderful example of how to overcome spiritual weariness. We will continue to look at their strategy against spiritual weariness tomorrow. Finally, as for today, you must decide to choose which road you will take, Weariness Avenue or Perseverance Way?

There is no fear in love, dread does not exist, but full-grown, complete, perfect love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and so he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love, is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection. 1 John 4:18

Out of all the demons and devices that the enemy uses FEAR is one of the most devastating. If evil is the opposite of good, then fear is the opposite of love because the two can not exist in the same space.

No fear in love

So many places in the Bible you see how trust and love of God cast away fear. The first 5 words of this verse sum it all up, there is NO fear in love. And it goes on to say that not only does it not exist but PERFECT LOVE turns away fear and expels every trace of it.

Do not get me wrong, fear is a strong opponent and knows the weakness of our flesh and our vulnerability. It is easy to feel fear on every level. But do we have to feel it? Why do we feel it? Are we looking at the situation through full-grown, complete, perfect love? Full-grown love is complete surrender to God’s will, and trusting Him for your life. Once worry gains a foothold, fear busts the door wide open. All because we set perfect love aside.

Please understand one thing, I battle anxiety constantly. I could turn worrying into a professional sport I am that good at it now. I have this amazing dreamland in my head where I can take a situation run every possible scenario, even a few completely impossible ones so that I have made myself so full of dread. The images then terrorize me.

Fear is a liar!

We know fear is a liar and this verse explains the crippling power of its attack. The thought of punishment. We classify everything into something that is good or something that is bad. We see things like sickness, job loss, financial crisis, death, suffering, endings, etc. as bad things and then we attribute them into the category of punishment, that we must have done something to deserve this evil to come into our lives. But what if God had another plan for it?

Joseph’s journey.

Full-grown love sees something else. Full-grown love sees eternity and the glory of God. Joseph at every step of his journey could have let fear consume him. God inspires him with a vision and in his youthful arrogance, he boasts about it. We get like that, I have! God is using us or going to use us and we get so excited that we don’t see we are lacking maturity. Then hell sends out the jealousy demons to whisper in ears around us. Soon we have a bunch of people mad at us, plotting against us and scheming how to get rid of us.

They sell us into slavery. False accusations send us to prison. We lie forgotten in prison. Until one day, in God’s appointed time, the moment for redemption comes. Suddenly you are in a position that will be the salvation of the very people that threw you in the pit. The vision God had given you, that if fear had been allowed to destroy, is now unveiling before your eyes. That moment where you say “you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20)

Full-grown love.

Full-grown love doesn’t look at the storm or the circumstances but knows that ‘all things work together for good’ and that if we just trust God there is only love and no room for fear.

The record of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane serves as an example. Jesus had been with God at the foundation of everything, He knew the outcome and the final victory, so why share this with us other than to give us the example.

Saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but always Yours be done. Luke 22:42

He understands that sometimes we stand of the edge (or middle) of situations with fear knocking on the door unsure of how any part of this can work out. But Love’s Complete Perfection is taking the cup because it is God’s will and His will surpasses ours.

Salvation for all was in Christ’s cup. So many have been handed cups too heavy for most to bear. But in those moments God’s perfect love cast out fear and God’s perfect will was followed. Yes, for some there was no fairytale happy ending in this life but an eternal reward awaited them beyond all earthly understanding. When love was allowed control of the situation, fear was cast away.

You are loved!

Fear will do nothing but destroy. Two years ago today I received a phone call that someone very precious to me had allowed fear to persuade them to make a decision to end their life. Fear had held him captive with false thoughts and lies. If we stray away from our Shepherd for any amount of time we will become prey for these lies. When we stay close to our Savior His light will always shine into the lies Fear throws at us. God’s perfect love for us will remove all traces of terror from our minds.

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that you may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). John 10:10

Jesus gives us a clear description here of the enemy, he is a thief. His sole motivation is to steal, kill and destroy. He will steal your joy, kill your hope and destroy every good work the Lord has begun in your life. That is what Daunters do, they try to steal from us all that God has given us and done for us.

This chapter in John is talking about Christ as our good shepherd. It talks about what will happen when the wolves come to attack. It is very interesting how wolves hunt. They are very strategic.

When the wolves come.

They have been studying how they hunt bison in Yellowstone Park, and they found that Elk is their preferred prey to bison as they are more vulnerable. Bison are more aggressive and will fight harder when they are attacked, in fact, you will not see a wolf attack a bison alone but rather in packs.

Their main tactic is to surround their prey from various positions or angles, keeping a safe distance but then taking little jabs at the prey to find the weakest victims and then to wear them down until they are too exhausted to run. The main prey for a wolf is deer, elk, etc. which tend to be animals that can run well. Wolves don’t chase they seek the vulnerable and weak members of a herd and corner then.

Have you ever felt like that? A million things hitting you at once, you find yourself isolated and alone. As our good shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for us. He doesn’t run when the wolves show up.

When we allow the Daunter enemy to whisper those lies at us instead of speaking the Truth of Christ to them, that they are deprived of their ability to harm us, we allow the thief to climb over the fence and attack us.

The Good Shepherd

If we don’t know our Shepherd, we won’t know His voice in those dangerous moments when the enemy attacks. It is so important that we make our relationship with Jesus a priority so that we can have the abundant, overflowing life He wants to give us, free of Daunters.

In verse 9 of the same chapter, Jesus says we will find pasture, a metaphor for spiritual security, the green pastures of Psalm 23. If we are going to live the life that He has called us to, the only place we will find it is at His feet. Then let the thief come because He will find the Good Shepherd stands in his way. Let the Daunters lie and try to steal, kill, and destroy because they can’t destroy what is God’s.

Finally, pay attention to the things that steal your time, your peace, your joy, your sanity and take steps to walk away from them and fill You day with Christ. If the news gets you so mad you start getting in fights with people (hanging my head in shame) TURN IT OFF. If you have a friend who is constantly causing you to fall back into sin that you are fighting so hard to be free from, STOP SPENDING TIME WITH THEM. Remember, it’s not flesh-and-blood we fight it is powers and principalities, so ask for wisdom to identity the Daunters that are thieves and then send them packing!

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

The real enemy

It is so important to know who your enemy is in a battle. In war times it used to be helpful that the armies wore uniforms so with one glance you could tell if you were facing a fellow soldier, the enemy or a civilian. However, the lines have become so blurred by modern warfare, no longer does the military fight wars against other military armies but terrorists, the worst kind of enemy. They lurk in the shadows, disguise themselves as civilizans and it’s no longer clear who you are fighting.

Spiritual Warfare

It’s the same with spiritual warfare. Unfortunately, the enemy of your soul is a terrorist, hell’s army is an evil band of demonic terrorists. Like modern real world warfare, it requires special intelligence to know your enemy. This week we will look at who is our real enemy because believe me it is NOT necessarily who or what you think!

Ephesians 6:12 is a perfect intelligence report from Heaven’s War room. Your Daunter is NOT the flesh-and-blood person or thing that you feel is attacking you. As hurtful as the lies that are coming from that former friend are, as difficult as it is to listen to your boss put you down one more time, as hard as it is to deal with the never ending debt and bills, as hard as it is to see that rebellious child, as frustrating the news and media are to listen to, and on and on, THEY ARE NOT THE ENEMY!!!!

Yes, they are vessels through which the enemy is attacking you, and the enemy would love you to focus on the Daunters. Their goal is to have you so distracted and turned around that you start acting in a way that isn’t Christlike.

Let’s take a look at a possible situation.

You have been informed that someone, whom you once trusted, has said some really ugly things, that are lies, about you. That arrow hits us square in the heart and the blow takes your breath away with pain. You can’t breathe, you can’t think, you can’t speak, all you can do is cry.

Now the time in prayer you were about to spend is gone from your mind, the devotion you were about to read is gone from your mind, that scripture you were going to send to a friend that’s having a hard time is gone from your mind, that Bible story you were going to read to your child is gone from your mind. Do you see the enemy’s initial assault, you are stopped dead in your tracks, lying in the mud and muck of the battlefield.

Suddenly, you get that sudden rush of adrenaline that is that natural fleshly response to pain. You are going to take her down! How dare she say that about you! How cruel can someone be? The things she is saying are not even true and just lies someone else told her. You are going to knock her off her prideful pedestal and you are going to make sure it hurts!!!! Enemy’s tactic part two, you just let your flesh take full control of you, and now you are a tool the enemy can use.

Decision time!

You are now at the crossroads of how this battle with this Daunter will go. In all that rage and hurt you stand posed to take her down. In worldly terms, you would be completely justified. If you counteract the whole situation will turn into a mess beyond comprehension. The enemy will sit back in their recliner with popcorn and watch the show as two sisters in Christ will tear each other to pieces and the enemy didn’t have to lift a finger.

A friendship lies dead on the battlefield, reputations reduced to ashes, others pulled into the destructive mess and wounded.

The real enemy through the whole mess was the powers and principalities behind the lies that caused the hurt. You see that friend isn’t the Daunter you are fighting, she is just as much a victim of the Daunter as you are.

She was the first one that the enemy hit, he sneaked in like the snake in Eden and whispered lies. Sweet sisters, we need to be so careful about how we handle gossip, slander, rumors, and lies. If someone comes to you with an arm long laundry list of things another sister in Christ has done wrong, for starters ask the gossip how much they have prayed for that person. It’s very hard to gossip about someone when you are praying for them.

It is interesting how we categorize sin, oh this is an abomination but this, well, I do it so it’s ok, it’s not really sin, we are ‘sharing’! Listening to lies and slander makes you just as guilty, and to repeat it is even worse.

How do you respond?

When someone comes to you about another person you need to be careful before you engage. If someone is coming to you out of a misguided need to warn you about someone ask them if they dealt with the matter in a Matthew 18 way. Firstly, did they go directly to that person and bring to light what was going on? Secondly, if the person didn’t put it right then did they take a witness and go to them again? Finally, if they still didn’t put it right did they bring it before the congregation? Also, if they haven’t forgiven the person why have they ignored Christ’s words about forgiving seventy times seventy? Basically, if they have not followed this biblical model then shut them down and pray with them. Pray that God will give them wisdom and courage to do the right and responsible thing.

Above all, if you do hear things about another person make sure they are the truth and not rumors. Make sure that there is clear evidence and not just heresay or slander. In addition, the Bible tells us to test the spirits, so make sure that it’s a spirit of truth and not lies you are listening to.

Your response.

Probably the most important thing is, what will you do with these accusations? For instance, if they are true then you are being made aware of someone that is in a world of trouble. Does their soul and eternity matter to you? Jesus told us to love our enemies and bless those that curse us, which includes this person that you have heard all those horrible things about. It’s easy to love the people we like.

Let’s go back to that phone call you just received. I know it hurts. Sometimes, the wounds of a friend are not always faithful when they are not done out of love but at the hands of the enemy’s bidding. Don’t lift your sword against her. Don’t repay evil for evil. Fall to your knees and lift her up in prayer. Ask God to severe the ties that enemies have entrapped her in. You are not fighting her but you need to fight for her!!!!!!

The only way we can fight in heavenly places is to pray.

Take up spiritual weapons. You aren’t fighting your Daunter you are fighting the powers and principalities that are coming against you. By chosen to focus on the real enemy there will be a really powerful thing happen, you will set the other person free too! Remember, God collected all your tears and one day when the war between heaven and hell is over those tears will be poured out on the real enemy.

Knowing your true enemy will save you from wasted fights on battlefields you never belonged on. It’s a heavenly battlefield and you will only fight there on your knees.