The Lord is my light and my salvation – in him alone will I trust.
The Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to behold, and sometimes he increases by subtracting – he subtracts what we don’t need (the dross of our former self) to add the glory that is the risen Christ.
Philipians 2:5 challenges us to “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” However, that is very hard to accomplish, if your mind is cluttered with the unholy things of this world. God has to first cleanse you “from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9); then to get rid of all the seeds of iniquity – less they spring up and take root, he has to “purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14); then you have to be “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained” (1 Timothy 4:6); so that your spirit may be replenished. Then he restores your soul by the power of his healing grace, removes “the spirit of fear,” and gives you one “of power and love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:7). Then he will “take away the stony heart out of your flesh” and “give you an heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26) that “ye be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what the will of God is. (Romans 12:2)
Recently, I find myself being somewhat of a spiritual bodyguard, guarding the hearts and mind of God’s children. Sometimes I feel like I’m carrying a flaming sword because whenever someone is being afflicted, and I enter into their presence, the enemy just flees. This afternoon, I met a co-worker in the restroom in Lamentations – claiming to do no more goodwill towards man, since none of them know how to appreciate her. I told her “You know you don’t mean that.” She said, “Yes, I do.” I said, “No, you don’t – because the spirit inside of you will not let you die.” She said, “You’re right – you know me. If I become like them then I won’t be blessed by God.” I said, “And that’s what’s most important to you, but remember many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from them ALL – none is omitted.” She said, “We get the victory.” “I said, “That we do.”
We all have days like this, because we are still not yet perfected in the things that are of Christ.
The enemy is losing ground because the coming of the Lord is very near, and as I would tell anyone who is willing to listen, we have not yet seen the battle of Armageddon. Until then, we will continue to abide in the struggle of good versus evil. That is why when Jesus prayed for his followers (John 17) he said “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that shouldest keep them from the evil.” (Verse 15) The day is far spent, and I must be moving on and my strength has been renewed, but I thank the Lord that God that until time eternal, “This too shall pass.”
Lifeline of Hope 