Today was the last day of my fast onto worship, and it was the most difficult day of the whole month! I have a cold so I felt pretty miserable. I had a really sore muscle so I couldn’t really dance, just kind of shuffled. And I was feeling bad about the words I spoke this morning.
But there I was in my living room with worship music playing, totally not into it at all. I knew I needed to push through my flesh, no matter what. So I shuffled around the room, half-heartedly singing along with the songs.
Then I began to think more about the words I spoke this morning. As I pondered them, and the motive behind them I began to realize that the words I spoke were good words. I intended for them to be words of life, but they weren’t received as I intended them. I asked God about what I had said, and He affirmed my words and showed me that my words of life won’t always be received with the intention that I speak them. There will be times when others respond in ways that cause my words to look as though they were words of death. When this happens the enemy will use the response of others to condemn and accuse me. To cause me to feel bad about what I said and to keep me from saying the very words of life that are needed in the situation. I realize this is a very fine line because I don’t always know for sure what my motives and my intentions are. But the Lord showed me that whenever I get that heavy feeling and I’m not sure about the intentions of my words, He is ready and willing to show me.
Once I realized it was the enemy condemning me, causing me to believe what I said was “wrong”…
Once I realized it was his accusations that kept me feeling as though I was “bad”…
Once I realized it was his strategy to keep me from speaking words of life over that situation…
Once I realized he was stealing life from this situation…
something rose up within me and I went to battle in the spirit realm. As David said to Goliath when he went out to fight the enemy of the people of God…
“David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” 1 Samuel 17:45
The enemy may come against me with accusations, condemning me for my words, but they are just threats to keep me from the victory God has for this situation. They are just words of death meant for my harm and for the harm of those around me. I don’t need to listen to them. I don’t need to fear them. I can fight this battle in the spirit realm with words of truth and words of life that will win this battle and will bring glory to God!
“And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!” 1 Samuel 17:47
So I battled against the enemy’s accusations and lies with words of truth, words of life!
Praise God, all condemnation and accusations fell to the ground, and were replaced with hope and assurance from God that He intends good to come from this!
Wow, and to think my flesh didn’t want to worship this morning!
Sometimes things that were once good need an upgrade!
I thought this fast unto worship would be for a month – something different that I would enjoy – and then go back to my regular way of spending quiet time with God.
Well, this afternoon while I was loading wood on the wood pile God spoke to me about this. I was thanking Him for how much better I was feeling out in the fresh, snowy air, even my muscle that was so painful this morning was feeling better. I guess my thanking Him reminded me that this was my last day of my fast and as soon as I thought that, God so clearly said to me,
“This is not your last day. This fast has been the beginning of the way I want you to spend every day. It is the way I want you to do warfare, the way I want you to fight your battles.”
I smiled. That is so God!!
I have always been a writer. I have journaled during my quiet times for the last 25 years. I have a huge box of journals in the basement to prove it! And a huge callous on my finger as well!
But the Lord is saying that what I wrote about in the secret place, in the quiet times, were seeds of preparation. Like seeds buried in the dirt that are filled with life, and hold potential for a great harvest. Those words have been watered and they are ready to burst out of the ground, to come out into the light. They are to be spoken into the atmosphere, and once they are in the atmosphere they will fight in the spirit realm in ways words on a page never could.
If you read my blog, “Restored,” you will know that the enemy stole my voice when I was young, by planting the lie that I wouldn’t fit in if I spoke up for my convictions. Since there is power of death and life in the tongue, I see why the enemy takes advantage of situations when we are young to steal our voices.
I think many of us have…
believed the lies of the enemy,
have been defined by the word curses spoken over us,
and have conformed to the world’s ways.
Fear has caused us to speak negative words, words of death. We hold back our true selves, we continue to speak the negative word curses that have defined us, and we speak the words of the unbelieving world around us.
We have lost the voice God intends for us.
The voice meant to speak life over ourselves and over those around us.
There has been much teaching in the church today and many songs written about realizing the truth of who we are in Christ. It is definitely a good word. For too long the church has seen herself through the eyes of religion instead of relationship. But, it isn’t something we can hear once, believe it, and live it.
Living in the fulness of who we are in Christ comes by aligning our beliefs, our thoughts, our words, and our actions according to the truth of God.
May we have a heart like David, filled with the fear of God, to fight the enemy of our souls with the truth of God, and with a tongue that holds within it the power of life!