Hope for Today

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.