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How We Ought To Fight!

How We Ought To Fight!

Something to remember is that we are always at war with the enemy of our souls, the devil. We have to daily be mindful of the fact that our enemy is looking for an oppertunity to devour us. Therefore the most important thing to remember is that how we approach our battles will either make or break us.

The word of God says in 1 Peter 5:8 NLT Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

I had to learn the hard way that it is not up to me to try to sort people out for the wrongs they have done to me or someone I love. Especially for injustice or for an accusation that we were not guilty of. I had to learn that God is the one who will vindicate me and that He is the Righteouss Judge that deals with injustice exactly the way it should be dealt with.

Isaiah 50:8 The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me!

It can be really difficult to stand back and allow God to sort things out for us. The moment we feel threatened by something or someone we go into survival mode where we need to protect ourselves immediately. What do we do? Either we put up our fists ready to fight, or we freeze and go into a “give up” mode, or we run away and don’t face it at all.

In my life whenever I felt threatened, I would immediately respond with anger, trying to justify myself, fists ready to fight back. But the result was always a terrible mess. It was here where I had to learn to shut my mouth and wait a day or two before I decided on what to do.

I have learnt that God justifies me, all I need to do is to run to Him and ask Him for help without trying to fix things myself. Something I have learnt from my husband that has been very useful to me is to first take a step back and get out of emotion before I respond. To put aside the emotions and to think logically about the situation and not what I feel.

I use this advice when I run to God to wait on Him for answers too. You have to put a bit of effort into this and be very disciplined to get your thoughts back into order. I would get my emotions back into peace, usually by repenting and asking forgiveness for my anger, bitterness, dissappointment (or whatever it might be) against that person. I would then wait on the Lord to give me direction on how to handle the situation.

We have to understand that when we are triggered, our hurt emotions will usually betray us and we should rather not respond or say anything in that moment. It will only bring harm to you and the other person.

Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Romans 8:33 Who will bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One justifying

When our daughter was in her first year of High school we had to face injustice against her in a big way. One day at school, in break time, she and her friend saw smoke coming from the back of a building and the smell of the smoke was completely different from what cigarette smoke smells like (our daughter knew what cigarette smoke smelt like because her grandfather was a smoker). They went and reported it to their register teacher. After break this teacher called the whole class together and started smelling each childs hands. When he smelt her hands he made a remark and he went on to the the next child. She did not think much of it because she knew she was not guilty.

It was Friday and after the “smelling”, school came out. When she got to the car and she switched on her phone she received a message from her best friend saying, he can’t believe she did it. Now, this friend of her’s was the little brother of the register teacher. Immediately fear took hold of her heart and the enemy started tormenting her.

My mother’s instincts – to protect her baby, kicked in and anger rose up within me. I wanted to let this teacher have it! Our daughter was distraught. She was crying, had anxiety and I got angrier by the minute. I started praying and asked the Lord for help and then I heard: “You cannot feel sorry for her because anger will rise up in you and it will make your prayers inaffective”. This wasn’t nice to hear, how can I not feel sorry for her? She was not guilty and this was injustice. She was tormented by the fact that so many people at school will find out and she would be bullied.

I had to stay in repentance for my angered heart the whole of Saturday because every time I saw her I could see the strain on her face and how sore her heart was. By God’s grace I got it together, I could forgive this teacher and I hung unto God with everything in me. I decided to fight this battle the way the bible prescribes to us. I had realised that it was not the man that I had to fight against, but the demons operating through him.

Ephesians 6:12 For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

God is the Righteous Judge, the Judge of all Ages and I focussed my prayer on Him judging the situation and giving us a righteous verdict.

The Sunday morning the Lord told me to take her for a drug test at our clinic (I was devestated, I knew she wasn’t guilty, but I had to take her). They tested her for 5 different drugs and all 5 tests came back negative. Monday morning after a lot of prayer we went to school to speak to the headmaster. We did not go in with guns blazing. The headmaster had started an investigation and would contact us as soon as she had all information.

That week at school was hectic for our daugter. The register teacher’s cricket team members started bullying her by making remarks like she was a druggy and how bad she was. The anger started brooding in my heart again. I had to pray for myself constantly to let go and let God do this. The headmaster did come back and she did speak to the teacher and according to her all were resolved. The bullying did not stop and everyone that was either taking sports or were in this teachers classess would keep on making hurtful remaks toward her.

The Lord said to me to keep praying for our daughter to be vindicated by Him, to break off the curses being placed on her by the people bullying her and to wait until He tells me to go and speak to this teacher. I had to keep my heart right before God. I knew I couldn’t ask God for vindication if our attitudes towards this teacher were in the same spirit (the devil) as those that we were standing against. God can only fight for us if our hearts are right before Him.

A few days later as I woke up, the Lord said to me that today is the day to speak to this teacher. I made ready, prepared my heart and I asked Holy Spirit to take charge over my mouth and to speak through me. I gave the report with the negative test results to the teacher and I said to him that the bullying will stop now because she is proven not guilty. It was all that was needed, there was no need to scream or shout or get angry. I knew I was drawing the line in the sand in the spirit against the enemy and that God had already judged the enemy for accusing our daughter injustly. In less than a day all bullying and torment had stopped. Her friend that accused her also came and asked forgiveness for believing the accusations.

Romans 8:33 Who will bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One justifying

Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our judge,The Lord is our lawgiver,The Lord is our king; He will save us

I have gone through this more than once in my life – where I had to completely trust the Righteous Judge to vindicate me or someone I love, His way. Many times I just wanted to say my say, to lash out. Many times I wanted to talk behind their backs about their behaviour to others. But then Holy Spirit was always faithful to help me to stay in repentance, to fight another way – by not allowing my heart to be hardened, by staying in repentance and by asking God to truly help me to forgive so that He could interfere in the situation and let justice be done. It is a different war – it is not against flesh (a person). We are fighting against demons and principalities. We have to learn to fight Heavens way.

Psalm 89:14 says: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; love and faithfulness go before You.”

God is righteous and just, He is Holy, there is no wickedness in Him. He cannot fight for you when you are operating in sin. When you are cursing someone, or when you have bitterness in your heart, or gossipping. These are the fruit of the enemy (the devil). If you try to fight evil with evil, justice will not be done. Be carefull of this.

I want to encourage you by saying that The Righteous Judge, Our God, the God who created heaven and earth has never let me down when the enemy came in to try to devour me. He has always shown that He is just! So, beloved, stick in there and keep your heart right before God so that He can give you a righteous verdict!

Let us pray: Father, I come before you by the blood of The Lamb, Jesus Christ. I repent, for my hardened heart. I am in survival mode and I want to fight my way. I want to say what I want to say so that I can feel better. Father, I am telling you everything that’s going on in my heart because You see it anyway. I am so angry because of this injustice. I am angry that nobody is fighting for me and that I am standing alone. Please forgive me for believing that I am alone because Your word says that You never leave me or forsake me. Forgive me for not having love like Jesus has. He was spat on, He was accused of being the devil, He was hated, but He still loved. Not one ugly thing came out of His mouth or was found in His heart. There are many ugly things in my heart and I repent and ask forgiveness, I choose to lay it down, I choose to grab hold of what is righteous. Holy Spirit, I can not do this by myself, please help me to daily forgive and to daily repent so that I can overcome. Righteous Judge, will you please take charge over this situation, I stand back and I allow You to let justice be done for me. Please show me what must be done and guide me in Your truth. Let Your will be done. In the name of Jesus the Christ I pray. Amen and amen.

Power of Proclamation

Power of Proclamation

Proclamation definition – a clear declaration, a decree, an order, an announcement.

Why is it important for us to proclaim God’s word? Let us look at the following scripture:

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Therefore, if we need faith and we are overwhelmed by our circumstances we need to take God’s word and start proclaiming it so that we can hear what it is saying. This doesn’t mean just reading it out loud, it means we have to really hear and focus on what we are reading.

When my husband and I were just married we went through a painful situation where someone that was very close to us betrayed our trust. Months after this, we met a wonderful older couple who walked a road of restoration with us for a whole year. Ministering to us, praying with us, helping us through our pain. We looked up to them because they had a great relationship with God and they taught us solid principles from the word of God. We became good friends and walked with them for 8 years.

In that time I was still struggling to get through my self-worth issues. I was very unsure of myself. My husband and I felt that something was wrong with this couple, but we couldn’t put our finger on it. We received news that the husband had left his wife and 2 kids and just dissappeared.

I was devestated; we had looked up to them and he had taught us so much from God’s word and I found myself in a place of turmoil and confusion. We had looked up to them as role models. So I ran to the Lord asking, “What now? What should we do now?” And I heard His soft voice saying, “You just carry on.” Fear had taken a hold of my heart; I heard the whispers of the enemy – “If he didn’t make it, you will never make it!”

There was a wrestling match going on in me – the voices whispering, “you are a hopeless case, you will never be able to stand against the enemy, you won’t be able to stay a child of God, you are a looser, you are weak.”

8 Years before this happened, someone had given me a small booklet by Derek Prince: The Power of Proclamation. The second part of this book had different topics with a few relevant scriptures. I found the topic for emotional pain and started to proclaim each scripture out loud everyday. Whenever I felt overwhelmed, I would take the book and start proclaiming those scriptures out loud. I had to build my faith by hearing the word of God. It took a week of doing this before one of the scriptures hit a sweet spot. I can’t tell you how or what happened exactly, all I know is that I had a mindshift and I knew that I was going to be fine. As my life is surrendered to the Lord, I would be covered.

We all have our moments when we deviate from God’s will. I realized that it is always our own decision to deviate from his ways and his principals; this is what causes us to loose the plot. If we stay close to God and keep giving Him permission to heal us, we will be safe.

There were many times in my life where I had to take the word of God and hammer myself with the truth until a shift came.

When our son was about 4 years he burnt his hand on a hot stove plate. It was terrible and he developed a blister so big it covered his whole hand! At that time, our finances were very limited and we had no medical insurance. He was in so much pain but I really couldn’t take him to the doctor because my husband had the car and was at work. All I had was Jesus and the word. The best I could do was to hold him on my lap with his little hand in a bowl of cold water. I had the worship music playing and proclaimed God’s word about healing and His sacrifice on the cross. I was sticking in there, not backing down, I kept worshipping and I kept declaring God’s healing. After about 2 hours, the pain had completely subsided. I then commanded that blister, in the name of Jesus, to be completely dried up and to be gone within 2 days.

The next day the pain was completely gone. That night while he was bathing, he took the soap and rubbed it onto his hands. I cringed for fear of the pain I was certain would follow (oh ye of little faith), but there was none. The following day, the blister was completely gone and all that remained was a slightly reddish layer of new skin on his hand. Two days, that is what I prayed for. God touched our son, removed that huge blister and brought complete healing.

There is power in God’s word. Everything we need for life is in His Word. We need to proclaim it loud and clear so that we can hear, because hearing the word of God puts us in a different mindset.

By proclaiming God’s word, my mind focusses on what I am reading and saying, shifting my focus from what is in front of me and that which is very intimidating to me. My focus turns to Jesus – who He is; healer, saviour, comforter, peace etc. It is when I look to Him and not at what is in front of me, that boldness and faith start rising up within me. I have realized that I don’t have anything else but Him and I know He is the only One that can help me in times of trouble.

There was a season in my life in which I had several experiences like this. Times where I couldn’t focus on what was in front of me, but had to dig in my heels and only take what God’s word says about a situation. My faith was being tested and I had to learn to trust the Lord in everything, especially with my children (this is a mothers biggest test, to not want to save our kids by ourselves, but to trust God). I have learned that to really trust and believe in God, I had to lose control – completely – to try not to control situations by making my own plans.

Isaiah 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

God’s word will be excecuted, it doesn’t matter how long it takes. It will come to pass.

Beloved, what is it that you need to proclaim? In which area of your life do you need your faith to be built? Get those scriptures out, write them down if you must and start proclaiming the truth. Faith comes by hearing so listen and focus intently on what you are reading and speaking. Let your spirit drink deep. Faith will rise up! Don’t stop until something happens.

Let us pray: Father, I know my faith is weak in this area of my life. I cannot see a way out. I cannot see how I will ever get over what I am experiencing now, but You are God Most High. You are the ruler of heaven and earth. Heaven is Your throne and the earth is Your footstool. Nothing can withstand You: when You act no-one can reverse it. You are the strongest force in the Universe. I look to You now. I choose to take my eyes off of what I see and I set my mind and my eyes on who You are. Holy Spirit please help me to find the right scriptures for this issue and please give me the strength to push through and not stop until something happens. In Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen.

I want to encourage you to not give up. Sometimes it takes a while before you see change, but stick in there. It will surely come!

Trials

Trials

Why do trials sometimes take long before breakthrough comes? Can’t it just happen quickly?

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Something that we as human beings are not good at – Patience. We live in a society where everything is instant and we tend to think that it is the same in the spirit, but God requires us to be patient in our trials, walking them out and not looking for a quick fix.

So, we have a problem, we don’t want to struggle and we don’t want to feel pain. The further we can stay away from it, the better for us. We always want to dodge getting hurt and we want things in our lives to be quiet and peaceful. Plainly said, we do not want to go through trials, ever. The word of God says that trials build our character and we will grow in our faith. Think about it, if we don’t have trials, will we ever need to trust God for anything?

My mother in law is an amazing lady. One thing I have learnt from her is to embrace life with all it’s curve balls and make the best out of something terrible. I remember one time my husband was on his way home. The highway got backed up due to a huge accident so he decided to take a detour off the highway down a muddy track with the four wheel drive car. He got stuck in mud. He phoned me to come lend a hand (I had the real 4×4), but I couldn’t assist him effectively. By that time it was dark and our little children were hungry and tired. We were cold and dirty from all the mud. We phoned my in-laws and they came to help. By the time they arrived we were annoyed and not very happy. My mother in-law jumped out of her car, took the children with such a big smile and told them what an awesome adventure we are having. Immediately all of our attitudes changed and we started enjoying the “adventure”. It wasn’t long and all were sorted out.

Isn’t that how it is? The moment you roll with it and not get bitter, things just get sorted out much quicker. The more we push against the uncomfortable situations we face, the more we become miserable and actually make it worse for ourselves.

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

First of all, God says we should be happy when we face trials because it will produce unwavering faith. We all will agree that we as children of God need to grow more in faith, we do lack in trusting God in everything concerning ourselves. The part of the verse that says:”that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing“. This means that there may be nothing lacking to complete your character.

How we approach our trials will either make or break us.

One thing I believe is that our Lord is never taken by surprise by the trials and tribulations we have to face. He knew it was coming and He has all the resources available to us to get through it. I have learnt when trouble is in my camp to say to the Lord, Father, I am in this space and You know exactly what is going on and how I will get through this, what do I need to learn here? I also push against myself by choosing to change my attitude towards my situation, rather than grumbling and fighting against it I turn my attention towards the Lord and who He is.

There is such liberty that comes when we immediately surrender to the Lord’s will in our trials, when we immediately give Him permission to intervene and interfere. If we start kicking, screaming and throwing tantrums about what we have to face it usually takes much longer to get through.

My husband is truly a man of integrity and uprightness. He is such a loyal and committed person. Especially in the workplace, he loves working hard and putting effort and excellence into everything he does.

Years ago, he had been working for a company for about 9 years and all of a sudden they started giving him bad reviews. They said his work was brilliant, but they accused him of not being a team player and said that people don’t like him (I immediately heard the accuser of the bretheren, the devil, trying to break my husbands character down by saying he is not accepted and he is not good enough). So, when time came for his annual increase it was lower than the national inflation rate (the company would generally give all its employees at least an increase equal to the national inflation rate). I couldn’t understand this, he was a hard worker, he worked overtime without being paid and he was brilliant in his work.

My heart was very sore for him, but immediately I seeked God out and I waited on Him to show me what and how to pray. I had to go through all the Chapters in Psalms and I had to find all scriptures on God vindicating us, God silencing the mouth of the lier (the devil), God bringing justice, God bringing judgment on the enemy and God delivering us. I highlighted all those scriptures and every morning in my prayer time I would start proclaiming these scriptures over my husbands situation.

3 Months past and they did another review – again, the same report. I was really not happy, I had been praying everyday, diligently, pushing against the onslaught. The Lord’s response – “just keep at it”. I did, every morning, praying and proclaiming the same scriptures over and over. God showed me that I was busy hammering at a huge wall and as I keep at it, hammering at the same place the wall will start crumbling. It meant that I had to patiently endure until something happened.

I am not saying that this is easy. It requires you to find a rhythm, like running a long and far race – you can’t sprint it! Most of all you have to constantly choose to keep your attitude right.

After a year (praying the same scriptures), it was increase time again. Nothing! The same – lower than inflation. I was tired and I felt very bad for my husband. I wrestled with the Lord about this. His reply;” So, are you going to back off because the enemy is in your face, frightening you?” That was all I needed, I said ok Father what else can I add to my prayer? I started blessing and praying for the people in authority’s hearts.

It was after a year and 9 months of prayer: during a one-on-one his manager reviewed the latest reviews. His team members were now saying what an amazing person he is; how they loved working with him. The report started changing. Almost 2 years had passed and another company (out of the blue – sent by the Lord) approached my husband and offerred him a job. God told us what salary to ask for and it was much higher than what he used to get. They agreed and my husband was appointed at the new company.

God has given him much more than what he had before. I asked the Lord about what he was busy doing in my husbands life in that time. God was testing his heart, that even though when they were raising against his character, he stayed true to who he was, he did not change himself to fit into their molds and even though it was tough going to work daily, having bad vibes in the office, he still gave his very best.

Two years may seem really long to you. But I can tell you our faith is much stronger and the Lord has truly polished some of our rough edges. We have learnt to trust only in the Lord and His Word; to stand, to not give up even if there is no change; to keep our integrity; to not lash out when people are damaging our character and to patiently wait until something happens.

Beloved, your trial may just be starting, or you have been walking it for many years. You might not see what you have learnt or how things will change, but the Lord is with you in this fire. He may not neccesarily stop it immediately, but you can be assured, He will take you through.

Isaiah 43:1-2 But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Beloved, pace yourself by praying what you feel God is showing you. Don’t try to speed the process up with your own ideas. This is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. Surrender (give over to God’s will and way) to what God wants to teach you and give Him permission to interfere in your situation because He knows what must take place. You will get through. Seasons do change, you will not stay in that place forever. Most importantly, if you have been praying and proclaiming and nothing has changed, or you cannot see anything positive: when you are prayed up – don’t deviate (trying to follow your own ideas), stay the course by standing on God’s word.

STAND, HOLD YOUR GROUND!

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor 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 armor 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.  

Let us pray:

Father, I am in the fire. I ask, as you were with Daniel in the fire, that You will be next to me. I acknowledge that You have all the answers and You have all the resources I need to walk through this trial. I ask that You will download to me that which I need to overcome and to walk in Heavenly wisdom. Father, I do not have the answers, but You do. Please guide my steps. Please guide me to be effective in prayer. Most of all, please show me what it is that I must learn. I surrender Father, I am letting go and I am letting You intervene. You have full permission to let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in my life, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen and amen.

I Pray that God will strengthen you with power in your innermost being through His spirit, so that you can run the race with patient endurance in Jesus name.

Here is a song for you to listen to.