But during that time I didn't have the revelation of God like I do now. So when I saw this verse then, my heart became extremely fearful. I thought the Lord was trying to alert me that something bad was going to happen to me. That I was going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death soon, so be prepared. Later I learnt that God's ways are not like that. He doesn't instil fear in my heart, causing it to fail. That was a different spirit talking to me. It's the spirit of fear, with the source from the devil.
Well, through the years I learnt how important it was to discern God's voice. Because if I couldn't do that, then I would be prey to other spirits trying to speak to me. It would be dangerous for when I listen to them, all kinds of fear and confusion would enter my mind, causing me to lose faith in God and His word. In the previous case, that was what happened. After fear came into my heart when I received that word, the enemy had an inroad into my life. Later on the unfortunate events that followed seemed to 'confirm' that this word was true. I was even more convinced that this had to be from God. This thing then became a stronghold in my life for many years.
As I grew closer to the Lord these few years, I realised that even if God showed you something that is not so good, He will always provide you with the way to avert it. After all that is His whole purpose of telling you...so that you can pray against it and bind it in Jesus' name! Having said that, God often comes to me and tells me about good things happening in my life, not bad stuff. And even if I miss His message and something 'bad' happened, He will still turn that thing around for my good eventually. I am always the winner.
Even so, the same old fear resurfaced again when I saw this verse recently. Is God trying to tell me that something bad is happening? A small niggling thought is born in my mind and unless I kill it at its roots, it will hinder me from receiving my miracle and make me restless. For many days I chose to ignore this thought and dismiss it as a distraction. But I realised it was subconsciously eating up my joy and peace. It was affecting my confidence in God and His power.
Today God spoke to me through Musa Bako's book, praise the Lord! He was talking about the killers of success and one of them is fear. Joshua needed to show himself strong and courageous for him to occupy his new position and lead Israel. He had to engage in warfare with the enemy to bring the people into the Promised Land. However to achieve that, he had to overcome his fears.
Fear was one of the things God was challenging in Joshua; He promised He was going to be with Joshua as with Moses. God promised to be with Joshua wherever he went because He wanted Joshua to be aware and conscious of His presence. The consciousness of God's presence in any person drives out fear. That was what the psalmist understood when he said 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me.'
Fear will stand in your way of destiny. The believer must kill fear. Fear is a spirit and God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. You need to kill every fear so it does not have power over you. If not, it will influence your actions. Your actions will always determine what you are going to get or where you are going to arrive in life.
Yesterday I also read in his book that just knowing the promise of God for you is not enough to make you walk in it, you will have to fight the giants in life and overcome them so you can walk in God's promises. Having faith doesn't mean everything will go smoothly. At some point everyone will have to face a giant in his life. A giant is something that stands before you as a threat or obstacle and seeks to make your life miserable. The enemy will try to stand in your way to fulfilling God's purpose and he will attack you wherever you are. He will attack you to make you defy your God.
Now I fully understand what the Lord was trying to tell me about the enemy's tactics. The enemy is using the word of God to instil fear in my heart. Ironical, isn't it? How can the word of God be used as a weapon against believers? The answer is yes, it can. If the word is pulled out of context or if the word is given in a way that emphasises the judgement part of God instead of His grace, then it can strike fear or cause people to feel condemned. That has been the devil's tactic - using God's word to immobilise His people. How despicable!
Earlier I was wondering why I am revisiting this whole notion of facing my giants and possessing my promised land when I came through this way last year this time. I thought I had conquered my giants and gained victory. Why is God still talking about giants and fears? Is it even relevant in my life? Yes, God showed me that indeed I have gotten a breakthrough last July and obtained victory over my giants last year. So this one is a hoax. Notice that it is not the real thing. It is just a shadow of death, not death itself. Even so, Jesus has conquered over death. Nobody dies from an attack by a shadow unless he is gripped by fear.
The truth is the devil is a defeated foe and victory belongs to me in Christ. The devil cannot sustain an attack for too long. He has tried to stop this promise from manifesting for the past seven years and he is coming to his wits' end. He is running out of arsenal to attack me for he tried so many different ways over the years. But God always brought me out victorious each time. Now he is desperate and has to resort to using the word of God to strike fear in my heart with this same verse.
No comments:
Post a Comment