Not in the Flesh
“When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.”
The battle that you and I are fighting today is in the mind - It is not in the flesh. And how do we overcome it? Well, just a few chapters before that the Lord says:
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.”
Isaiah 54:17
The words of the devil are harmful. He is a liar, a thief and he is a bully. Don’t listen to him. He is the accuser of the brethren, not the accuser of the unbeliever - He is the accuser of those who love Jesus. Remember that old saying that we learned at school: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me.” That is quite untrue, actually, it's the opposite way around. When you get beaten physically you recover but words can sometimes stay with you for the rest of your life unless Jesus helps you to get rid of them.
Remember the story of Elijah? Elijah was a very, very powerful man. I stand to be corrected but I think the Israeli army still regards Elijah as their patron saint. Elijah, on Mount Carmel, defeated and killed four hundred and fifty prophets of the devil - an unbelievable warrior of God.
And then we read in the next chapter that he is sitting in the desert, in deep depression, because one woman said: “I am going to get you.”
Can you believe that?
I can believe that. Often when we have had a successful event in the ministry the devil will come against us with accusations and lies. I remember like yesterday having a very wonderful campaign down in East London, in the eastern part of South Africa and as I was organizing the campaign my dad got very sick and died. My mom had died before him and I used to go up to him, in the little cottage behind our house that he stayed in, every afternoon and just sit there and talk with him.
He had a dog called Patches, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and he loved his dog. He was lonely but he gave his life to Christ and the Lord took him home.
Now, I was so busy organizing the campaign that I put the actual mourning part aside and then I went down to East London. (We have to mourn for our loved ones, we have to deal with our bereavement.)
We had an amazing campaign, I saw many people come to Christ. I saw a packed hall every single night. It was amazing but when I came home, instead of coming home victoriously as I drove into the farm, I will never forget it, and I looked up at my dad’s little cottage behind my house and sitting on the steps was his little Staffordshire Bull Terrier, waiting patiently for him to come home. And that really hit me, very, very hard. I want to tell you, for the next three months I had to really rest in the promises of God.
It was heavy spiritual warfare but we came through it. So today, it doesn’t matter what you are going through - Remember, the Lord is with you and He will see you through. Remember His promises! “But God…”
Have a wonderful day.
God bless you.