Category: Uncategorized

Come to the Table

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

(Revelation 3:20, KJV)

I will talk about the Table today, friends. But let me start with the door.

When we open the door of our hearts to receive the Lord, He enters in and from that moment on, we are His home, His very own dwelling place. A lifestyle of communion – intimacy, fellowship and family has been ushered in and we are no longer orphans, but cherished Sons & Daughters in the family of God.

We belong at the Table.

The Lord’s Table.

The Lord himself spreads the Table out for us and offers us a seat. We each have our own reserved space and unique place at the Table. There is a six course meal for each child of God every single time we go to Him as He calls us close to dine full at His Table.

As I eat, I recognize that my portion is entirely mine and your portion is entirely yours. Mine does not take away from yours, and yours does not take away from mine. What is mine is mine, and yours – yours.

The place that is in the Father’s heart for each child is equally unique. The place He has in His heart for me is uniquely mine and only I can ever take it. And the same holds true for you, my friend.

The place that He has in His heart for you is uniquely yours too.

This pattern of wholeness plays out not only in the matter of our identity as God’s very own children, but also in the realm of our destiny. We each have a unique gift mix and set of skills, talents and abilities that God spins together in His masterplan for our lives. For His plan for every single one of us is as unique as is our design.

God is a Master Creator, and He paints as He wills, with our best interests at heart,  on the canvass of our lives. He made us, redeemed us and only He can use us for His glory in the right way.

The value He places on each child of His is infinite, and at our best, I do not think we can even comprehend it. But what I am learning is that what we cannot comprehend, we can always trust simply because we know who our Father is.

Our Father sits at the Table and calls His children together to feast in fullness. Here at the Table, there is no striving to be more for each child is aware of their own unique significance in the Father’s eyes. They know that they are the apple of their Father’s eyes, and the grand setting of the Table is only a revelation of that great love.

Here at the Table, there is no comparison or competition. Each child sits enthroned at the Father’s right hand as royalty. They not only know their own value, but also that of their neighbour. Any need to be ‘better than’ is done away with as each child is secure in the Father’s Love, and is only motivated by how well they can love one another in response.

In fact, the level of internal security within the hearts of God’s children is so intact that they are looking around to see who they can share their extra portion of fresh oranges and strawberries with!

There is truly no dearth at the Father’s Table.

For this is a place of abundance of resources and generosity of spirit.

Jealousy and envy have no share at the Table either. The abundance of love and the supply of riches is so extravagant that there is a remarkable internal rest among the children of God here. They are dining full at their Father’s Table and know deep within their hearts that what is for them, is only for them.

They know that their Father does not compromise on His love, His power or His faithfulness. He is a man of honor who keeps every word he speaks. He has written the screenplay of their lives in the blood stained ink of Calvary, and is going to supply them with everything they need to walk in the fullness of who their Father has created and called them to be.

Here at the Table, every Child of God’s story is copyrighted by the Lord. It’s script is uniquely written for each and its set to the soundtrack of authenticity. God did this so that each child of His would have the blessed privilege to discover what it is that the Father has for them – what it is that has their name on it.

God will never deliver our mail to our neighbour. He is faithful, and will always deliver our goods to the right address, in the right way and at the right time. And quite honestly, truth be told, He doesn’t  need our help in manifesting our destiny. He only needs our obedience.

Children at the Table therefore, have a revelation that any manner of strategizing and striving to fulfill their destiny is not needed. Let me repeat myself here –

They know who their Father is.

A deep experience of their Father’s Love, His impeccable nature and character has assured these children  that  their Father is faithful. He is worthy of their complete trust and come what may, He will never leave them nor betray their confidence. On the contrary, He promises to richly reward their faith in Him. So they wholeheartedly comply because they trust that He who promised is faithful.

In response to the outcomes of victory that their beautiful Father has promised them, these beloved children have decided to  give themselves over to the power of the process that their Father has laid out for them. They know where their hope and strength lies, and they press in more and more.

Not to accomplish more or accumulate more.

No.

They press in to know Him more. Their beloved Father who is so worthy of it all.

And the funny thing is that the more they press in to know their Father, the more secure they get. Eating full and drinking deep, they are both – completely satisfied yet longing for the more of Him.

For their thirst for the things of this world has been replaced with an appetite for the Kingdom.

They know the value of dining full at the Father’s Table where their portions are always to the point of overflow. They are content in what they receive and no longer distracted by the temptations of the world. In fact, should they find themselves wanting, they look only to their Father.

A counterfeit won’t do for these blessed ones, for they have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.

And the Good News for us here is that we are those children.

Yes.

You and me.

We are these blessed children that are called to sit at the Table for we are the absolute desire of the Father’s heart. It is us who get to dine full here, feast on the abundant supply of His riches in glory and find ourselves both – completely satisfied yet longing for more.

Because every need we have is met only in Him and He never disappoints.

So the next time we are tempted to feed on the lesser things of this world, whether its the snare of worldly validation, vain glory or selfish ambition, may we do but one thing.

May we take our seat at the Table.

🪑👑🍰

Your Victory Song

Friends, it was earlier this year that the Lord laid this verse on my heart.

Coming out of a year most unprecedented, this new wave of His Spirit found me seeking and soaking up Truth like a dry sponge. Though I don’t think we ever ‘arrive,’ I certainly am in a better place than I ever have been before.

Praise God!

So as the Lord began unearthing areas of my heart that needed healing, what I realised was that a lot of brokenness in my life was the result of the lies I had believed –

Lies about the nature & character of God, which led me to believe lies about my identity, worth and value.

Looking back, I realise that though I have come a long way since the beginning of this year, I still have to be intentional about guarding my heart against lies and renewing my mind with Truth, if I am going to continue to walk in Freedom.

I still have to be careful about not letting my worth and value be defined by anything other than the Cross of Jesus Christ. If God saw me so valuable, that He sent His one and only begotten Son to die for me, then yes – I am quite valuable, and that’s a truth I can stake my life on, regardless of how poorly or well I am doing.

It has since become the cry of my heart to resist the temptation to be defined by the opinions of man or the strength of my works. Instead, I now seek to be defined only and only by the words of authority that Christ declares over me, words that call me healed and made whole as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

And yes. Though it seems paradoxical, it is true. As I ascend the mountain of the Lord, He continues to unearth deeper and deeper areas of pain and brokenness in my heart that I perhaps thought were already dealt with!

But I reckon that we are more mysteriously complex than we realise. Our souls are a fragile part of us, and need more care and attention than we realise.

Much like a garden actually. I am learning that for a garden to flourish, it must be tended to, watered well, dug up, fertilised and cultivated. And the same holds true for the condition of our hearts.

So how do we cultivate this tender garden deep within?

I do it by letting it soak in the Presence of God, letting it receive Truth and correction through the Word of God and letting it breathe in the Freedom that Jesus died for it to receive.

After all, He paid more than enough a price for my heart to remain alive, teeming with life and free!

Journeying hence with the Lord, friends; but as I do, I also wanted to chime in here for a bit and speak Truth over you. You, my friend, are more worthy and valuable than you realise. You are imago dei – an image bearer of God himself. He knows you, loves you and cares deeply for you.

And that thought you just had? That thing that seems to be blocking your access to Him?

It’s time to check it and thwart it. For whatever tries to threaten your relationship with the Father, must cease to exist.

So that you can be set free to become, heal, develop and flourish into the image of the Wonderful One who created you, knows you by name, and calls you –

“Beloved.”

But again – it is only the Truth that we know that can help us do that, for it is only Truth that makes us free.

So I declare that its time now. It’s time for you to encounter Truth in a way that lets His finger prints run through your mess, and rewrite the rest of your story with the echo of love, life and liberty.

The best is yet to come.

💙

Pinterest Invite

Hey friends! I’m popping in to say that should you want to download the quotes that the Holy Spirit gives me from time to time, then please feel free to follow my newly made Pinterest account –

https://pin.it/xdwmKoD

My user name is – soulandsubstance27.home.blog

My name on the account is – Gursimran

I hope to see you there sometime!

Signed with love
💙🧡

A Unique Paradox

“If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.”

(Matthew 10:38-39, MSG)

Setting our hearts on Jesus, and letting His heart pulsate through, what say?

I’m learning its more playful than we think!

😀🥳🤍

Sons & Daughters

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”

(Romans 8:17)

Honesty Hour – A key nugget in being made whole through Christ

Entitlement is an offspring of the orphaned spirit, whereas contentment and gratitude are the hallmark of the Spirit of Sonship.

Father, take us higher in our awareness of the Truth that we are not orphans any more, but your Sons & Daughters. You are not the care taker of an orphanage who gives us barely enough to just get by, rather You are a Perfect Father who delights in us, celebrates our gifts and always provides MORE THAN ENOUGH to empower us to fulfill our destiny.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen 👑❤

Divine Demarcation

Funnily juxtaposed with the sunny disposition of this design is the mysterious revelation that accompanies it at a time that I candidly confess, was anything but sunny.

If anything at all, it has been fiery.

A fiery trial, some would say.

Going through something like this is not something I would opt for, but when the enemy does wage war, I gang up with Jesus.

Because He wins every battle he ever wages.

So at the very onset of this trial, I prayed to the Lord, friends; and asked Him to not only get me through the string of the impossible situations that seemingly stood like giants before me that came up overnight, but also bring me out with greater spiritual fruit than I had when I went in.

It’s literally how the Lord makes the devil pay.

So I decided to cash in on this Truth.

Today I write to you as a child of God with concrete evidence in her hands that God is Good, God does Good and God works all things together for our good and His great glory.

As He has safely brought me through this trial, friends; I have had to understand the difference between what I felt and what I knew to be Truth at another level.

I will explain as we go on.

With a high value for the revelation-light of Truth, friends; I love it when the Lord makes a wonderful invitation for us to seek Him throughout the pages of Scripture, and one of my most deeply personal favorite verses is thus,

“He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.”

(Daniel 2:22)

So when everything came up under siege overnight, I mentally scanned the Truth thatthe Lord had already deposited in my spirit.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

(Romans 8:28)

If this is true and it is, so the only valid question to ask was,

If this is what the enemy has done, Lord; then how do You want to redefine this narrative according to Your Promise of Romans 8:28?

How will You work all this together for my good and Your glory?

I heard the Lord say,

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

(Matthew 19:26)

Each time that I doubted the Lord during my trek through this trial, the Holy Spirit would gently remind me of this Truth from Matthew 19:26.

I tried to remember the memorial stones that the Lord enabled me to pick up especially this year. Calling to mind testimonies of the Lord’s faithfulness is a sure fire way to stir up faith at a time when little else is needed.

As I would do this along with confessing the Promises of the Lord over my life, I found myself in battle. On the one hand, I knew God was Faithful. He saw me through then, He will see me through now.

But it was also at this precise juncture that the enemy tried to intimidate me with the size of the giant in front of me. I have slain giants before with the Lord, but this one?

I suddenly wasn’t too sure.

On a particularly anxious day, I stumbled over a podcast from Christine Caine. She said something that I felt was straight from the heart of God. I made a note of it. The next day, the message from the Lord’s heart again caught my attention as Christine shared precisely the same thought on her Insta page.

Let me paste it below for you.

It struck home.

I felt bolts of lightning go off in my head as I realised the Truth that it was never the size of the giant in my life that determined my destiny. Rather, it was the size of my God that did.

The God in me. The God through me. The God around me.

With new found faith, I found the courage to believe again. Putting my hands in the hands of Jesus, I decided to let Him walk me through this and teach me everything that was on His heart for me.

After all, this giant may be too big for me. But it was nothing compared to the bigness of my God.

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

(Exodus 14:14)

Because it is the Lord who fights for me, I need only to be still…

What does that mean?

I believe that what the Lord was and still is saying through this is that because it is Him who fights for me, I have no need to be anxious about anything. The enemy is already defeated in Jesus’ Name, and the irrevocable victory of the Cross is already my portion in Christ. Therefore, the outcomes of my life situations and circumstances are already secure in the hands of my God.

But what about the process?

This is where friends, I believe we really get to meet Jesus face-to-face.
The Lord is a God of process. As surely as He kept affirming me that He would bring about my complete deliverance and vindication, He also lovingly exhorted me to commit my way to Him so thatit could align with His right way forward.

So, in response to this perfectly wise Father, I released my process to Him.

And I learnt much.

So much more than before, friends.

With more insights in my spirit, more humility in my heart and more dependency on the Lord; I had many more arrows in my quiver.

Allow me to repeat myself.

This is how Jesus makes the devil pay.

Jesus started to emphatically teach me that though His Promise of victory will see to it that I come out on the other side stronger than I was when I went in, it does not mean that my feelings will magically line up.

More often than not, they don’t.

Though my spirit knows the Truth, my soul is often having a fit.

So what do I do?

I learn to demarcate between spirit and soul.

Between what I know to be the Truth based on what God is saying v/s the feelings that I am currently having which are based on the facts of my temporal circumstances.

As believers in Christ, we are given authority by the Lord to challenge the facts of our current circumstances by declaring the Truth of what God is saying.

Therefore, it naturally follows that the temporary state of my temporal circumstances is just that – temporal. It is now in fact, subject to change according to the eternal, everlasting Truth of God’s Word that will not only come to pass, but will endure forever.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

(2 Corinthians 4:18)

So what I am getting at is this:

When we are willing to acknowledge our opinions and feelings for what they really are – just feelings and opinions – and readily exchange them with the Truth of what God says, then it is a sign that our soul is coming into alignment with God and is thus, being saved.

My soul  says that this is how I am feeling _______________________________ .

But it is also willing to admit that these are just feelings, it is NOT Truth. Just because our feelings are real does not mean that they are right. They are after all, only feelings based on facts. But facts change because God moves in alignment with Truth, and eventually manifests it.

So even though I felt the giant was too big, I knew that it was no match for the bigness of my God. Even though I felt it was the end of everything, I knew that in the Kingdom, it was only a new beginning. Even though I felt abandoned and forsaken, I knew I was never alone for Jesus was with me every step of the way.

Feelings v/s Truth.

A divine demarcation.

So I am learning that the degree to which we are humble enough to admit that how we feel is not based on reality because reality is only determined by what our Holy God says,is the degree to which we will be able to trade them in for Truth and be healed, whole, saved, contented and at peace.

Coming out on the other side of the tunnel, I can attest to the fact that how we feel during a trial is often misleading. The only way through the valley of the shadow of death, is to hold on to the helm of His garment and fix our eyes on Jesus – the author and the perfector of our faith. As we humble ourselves under His mighty hand, He promises to take us by the hand and lead us forward, step-by-step, into His promise for our victory.

And as He does?

Our pit becomes our pulpit
Our test becomes our testimony
Our mess becomes our message
And our trial becomes our triumph!

So as I draw to a close, friend; I will leave you in the Presence of the Lord with one question:

What mountain are you needing Him to move on your behalf today? How can you learn to partner with Him as He unfolds your triumph?

Let me lead you into a prayer to get started.

“Dear Lord Jesus,

I thank You that because of Your finished work on the Cross on my behalf, I am now a partaker of Your Victory, on earth as it is in Heaven. I thank You that in the power of Your Name, the enemy is defeated and I am now seated at Your right hand in heavenly places.

I thank You that You are the Sovereign Lord with whom nothing is impossible. So I ask, Lord that You would help me walk in Your promised victory for my life in the context of the challenges that are confronting me in this present day, time and season of my life.

I invite You to enlighten the eyes of my understanding by Your Spirit so that I can learn to partner effectively with You. Teach me to embrace the process of growth that You have for me through this phase. I trust that because You are fighting for me, I can surrender all my anxiety for Your Perfect Peace.

I also ask for Your help with my emotions and feelings in the process, Lord. As You hold the outcomes of my life securely in Your Faithful Hands, I declare that I will trust that despite what I feel, the Truth is that You have the power to do what You promise. Help my feelings to slowly line up with the Truth of that which You have spoken concerning me as Your Beloved Child and grace me to whole-heartedly receive it.

I thank You that You will not only see me through, Lord but make me better as a result of walking this out by faith in You.
Honor and praise belong to You!

In Your most Holy Name,
I pray,
Amen.”

He fights for you, beloved.

Let Him ⚡

The Royal Art of Re-memberance

Friends, I made a journal for myself this year in April to record and remind myself of the promises that God has made concerning me and concerning those that I care about.

It is one of my absolute favorite things to dive into this journal from time-to-time to read, confess and release the power of God’s Word over my life.

Why do I do that?

Because like Mary in the Bible, the mother of Jesus, who pondered and treasured the words God had spoken about Jesus being the Saviour of the world, anointed and appointed, to take away the sin of humanity; I do believe that we too have the same privilege.

The same privilege to receive, believe and steward the Word of God so that it is the Lord’s narrative that we are intentionally choosing to partner with and eventually see made manifest in our midst.

So I felt it back then, friends.

I felt an urgency, an impulse, an unction of the Holy Spirit to make myself a journal that would allow me to organise all the wonderful, prophetic words that God has given me thus far, in one neat place. One click on Amazon got me this babe:

I think she is fearfully and wonderfully made!

Ok.

So my jouney with Jesus through this brand, new journal began. I divided it up into a couple of different sections and promptly began decreeing the Word of God over my life.

Happy to report that not only have I seen the Holy Spirit move and manifest God’s will time-after-time, but also that the Lord continues to add more and more promises to my bounty.

Pastor Bill Johnson often says that we attract what we value. The Bible puts it this way,

“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

(Matthew 13:12, NASB)

God here, I believe, is talking about the sheer value of stewarding the revelation of His Word. He guarantees, that should we commit to this process of discovering and consistently releasing the sound of His Word into the earth, it is sure to have a domino effect and reel in even more abundant revelation, simply because we show that we value the sanctity of what our Holy God has decreed.

Like rain drops filling up a bucket.

Or like the missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle being consistently and increasingly put together by the Hand of God.

That’s what the Promises of God do.

The promises of God can be likened to the missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that God is putting together behind-the-scenes.

The things that most puzzle and confuse us are these ___________________________. Fill in the blanks, literally. Questions about our identity, our purpose, our destiny. Questions about our family, household and community. Questions about God’s plan for us, individually, corporately and globally.

But what if we learned to take these questions to God Himself, instead of trying to figure things out in our own limited strength, with our own limited wisdom and our own limited resources?

What if we stopped trying to simply ‘fix’ everything ourselves and dared instead to entrust our matters to The One who is sovereignly in control, confident in battle and more than capable of bringing resolution to the very things that confound us?

God truly is who He says He is, friends.

I have always, always witnessed that whenever I am challenged by a trying and impossible circumstance, God always, always shows up.

He may not do it the way I expect or would like for Him too, or even on my timeline. But I can testify that He always, always does show up and show off.

Imagine a scenario, friend where you find yourself in what appears to be a snow-covered wasteland. For as far as your eyes can see, the land looks completely barren and desolate. You are fully geared up for a trek, equipped for the harsh conditions in front of you. Donning a long, furry overcoat to keep you warm and gum boots to help you plough through; you are good to go.

Yet, you can’t.

You feel lost for direction.

Now imagine the same scenario through the lens of the pilot of a chopper overhead. He can see that if you only take a few steps forward, turn right and walk for about a mile, you will be warmly greeted by a kind and hospitable old, godly couple who even have a guest room to spare, warmly lit with an inviting fireplace and a steaming cup of hot chocolate milk.

The pilot of this chopper overhead has insight into things that are obscure to you because he has a higher vantage point.

Yet, you do have the option of connecting to him through your cell phone device. You can choose to pull it out from your pocket, press the right buttons and connect!

One call away.

That’s how I believe it works with God too. He has insight into the road and the route ahead that will be instrumental in paving the best way forward, but we have to be willing to connect to Him using the cell phone device called the Word of God.

For the Word of God is our GPS to help navigate life.

“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

(Matthew 4:4)

Spending time in the Word and receiving His insight into the plans and purposes that He has for us is precisely how we trek through the snow-laden terrain of the broken pieces and parts of our lives.

All we are tempted to see and believe in the moment though, is that one piece of the jigsaw puzzlethat we find ourselves in the midst of. But God knows the whole picture!

And believe me, its a good one that He’s painting.

Things may look unanswered and incomplete to us in the natural, but we can take heart because we serve a supernatural kind of God.

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

(Matthew 19:26)

The God who knows the end from the beginning, already has the answers and the redemptive solutions our lives need. He reveals these hidden plans and purposes of His heart through a revelation of His Word by the Holy Spirit.

What He does require in the process is for us to put down the bricks of humility, vulnerability and complete dependency on The One who is perfectly faithful and absolutely trustworthy. The assurance of His Perfection is the fuel that empowers us to bring the broken pieces of our lives to Him so that He can begin to do what only and only He can do.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’
says the LORD Almighty.”

(Zechariah 4:6)

The promise friends, on the other side of our obedience is, that God will raise up a wall with the modest bricks that we have put down so beautically and monumentally that it will not only leave us astonished, but even those that we care about.

The truth is that God is the Architect of our lives, friends. As He has taken the complete charge of bringing about the complete restoration of our lives, I like to call this a process of ‘re-membering,’ i.e, rearranging, reassembling and realigning the different parts and pieces of our lives into the Grand Masterpiece that He has in His heart and mind concerning us.

So as He ‘re-members’ the different parts and pieces of my life, I find it incredibly helpful to in turn, ‘remember’ the truth of that which He has spoken and decreed.

☆ The Book of Rememberance ☆

It can be a file, a folder, a journal, a diary because the goal is to have a place to document and rehearse Truth.

Friend, for the Lord to ‘re-member’ our lives, we must remember what He says.

The devil is a liar, and in the absence of Truth, it is easy to believe what the world says. It is easy to believe what the media says, the government, or even our family and friends. Therefore, I find it so vital to be intentional about my time in God’s Word so that I can literally dwell in the Truth that He has spoken over me, letting His narrative shape and frame my reality, and not a lesser word.

So simply put, The Book of Rememberance is a space friends, where we get to put down God’s dream for our lives, and through the power of a loving partnership together, watch Him make it a reality.

Activation:
Friend, I would like to invite you to ponder some questions with the Lord in your own, unique miracle-in-the-making story. Letting God come into every dark and obscure crook, cranny and crevice of our lives is key to a lifestyle of ongoing holistic healing and good success.

I’ve learnt this much, and I know its true.

Any part of our life that is kept from the Lord will become an open door for the enemy.

While there may be areas of your life that you perhaps don’t feel comfortable addressing with the Lord yet, I encourage you to start opening up bit-by-bit to the Goodness of God. He is good, He does good, and He works all  things  together for good.

So friend, consider asking yourself the following questions:

What has God spoken concerning me? What has He spoken concerning my health, my family and my calling?

If you feel unsure about these questions, it’s time to press in. Its time to pray and seek God to reveal His heart and mind concerning the things you care about. Its time to let go and let Him step into your life and do what He is best at – make all things new!

Your life is now His story.

Let Him make it a grand one.

Let Love happen

I’ve noticed one thing about pain. It compels us to misunderstand the nature and character of God.

Much like Eve.

Cut to the chase, here goes.

The Bible tells us that God told Eve she was free to eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Why did He do that?

I believe that God was actually protecting her freedom and that of man, because we were perhaps never designed to know any evil. Yet, in the face of an inadequate understanding of God’s true nature, Eve sinned.

To me friends, it is not so much the sin that led her to partake of the forbidden fruit that matters, as much as it is what led her to.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'”

(Genesis 3:1)

For the crafty serpent to come in and sow doubt in Eve’s mind with irrelevant questions like, “Did God really say?” and have her succumb to the temptation of sin so easily, I do feel that somewhere Eve did not know the nature and character of her God well enough to begin with.

Neither did I.

But when you know better, you do better.

I am so glad, friends that we serve a God who forgives, redeems and makes all things new.

Jesus does not sit on the Throne with a stock of all our sin. He already dealt with that on the Cross.

He sits on the Throne and fights for us instead.

Our God is with us. He is for us. And He fights for us.

The Good News here is that He does not fight for victory, He fights from it.

Talking of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Word of God says:

“Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!”

(Colossians 2:15, TPT)

In short?

Having defeated and disarmed the powers of darkness, Jesus reigns.

And in Him, we do too.

With absolute victory over sin, sickness and death; we are called to co-reign with Christ.

So in the face of so much adversity, persecution and trauma; I am learning to be very intentional about reminding myself of some truths that though appear basic, are the very cornerstone of our faith.

And what I am realizing is that though in Christ, we do have victory over sin, sickness and death; we are not exempt from pain and suffering.

We are in the world, but not of it.

The world we live in friends, is lost and broken. So are the people that constitute it.

So when God called us to fight the good fight of faith, He made it abundantly clear that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the forces of darkness  for which we have absolute triumph through Christ.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

(Ephesians 6:12)

Yes and Amen.

So it naturally follows that our enemy is not our parent, our sibling or our next door neighbour.

Our enemy is the devil, Satan. And the Good News is that he is defeated.

Yes.

The same crafty serpent that once deceived Eve and has continued in his attempts till date, is forever defeated.

How?






"By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony." 

(Revelation 12:11)





But here is the catch.





The degree to which we seek to know the Lord is the degree to which we will be abe to walk conscious of this reality, on an everyday basis.





Pain and suffering always threaten to numb or dim our consciousness of the victory we have through Christ. So it becomes important that we learn to process it in a healthy way.





In a way that is worthy of us.





For our perspective during such times, is the difference between life and death.





We will either succumb to the despair and hopelessness that our enemy, Satan would love for us.





OR.





Or we can choose to run to Jesus.
Run to Him for the healing we need in our souls and the perspective we need in our thought process.





Co-operating with the reality that God is trying to cultivate in us during such times friends, is key.





Are we trying to avenge ourselves, or are we letting Him avenge us?





Are we wasting precious emotional resources on harbouring bitterness and resentment, or are we learning to forgive, let go and trust God?





Are we walking in anxiety and dread, or in the fullness of the peace and power that the Lord died for us to receive? 





The difference between the two sets of scenarious presented here is the difference between being a victim of our circumstances or rising above them as more than conquerors through Christ.





God often says to us,





Choose life.





Therefore, I choose to intentionally put Christ first. To surrender my will to be aligned with His and I find that the more I do so, the more I get to know the Lord.





Friends, as I am learning to do just what He says, I have found myself face-to-face with one beautiful yet startling reality,





“I may know Jesus fairly well, but I don’t know Him well enough.”





I really don’t.





I may know Him well enough to know that He is fully and completely worthy of my faith and trust, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how much He does honour child-like trust and mustard-seed faith.





I may know Him well enough to know that He is perfect in love and perfect in wisdom, but I don’t know Him well enough to know the full extent of all that He really is, all that He is capable of doing and all that which He will do.





I may know Him well enough to know that He is my best friend and my glorious king, but I don’t know Him well enough to know His next move on my behalf.





I may know Him well enough to know that He will never leave me nor forsake me, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how very faithful and relentless His pursuit of me, in reality, is.





I may know Him well enough to know that He is sovereign and has the final say in all matters that concern us, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how He will bend the rules of the game as we journey on.





I may know Him well enough to know that He is good, He does good and He works all things together for good in conformity with the counsel of His will, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how He will manifest this Romans 8:28 promise again in my life circumstances.





I know Him fairly well, friends. But I don’t know Him well enough.





Fairly well to know Him as a beloved father, a heavenly saviour and a dreadful champion of my cause; but not well enough to know just what that may mean in its entirety as my destiny unfolds.





But I take heart in what I do know.





For what I do know is that with each day that unfolds, I can seek to know Him more.





Filled with the awe and wonder of His majesty, His mercy and His might.





And somewhere I suspect that the same holds true for you too, my friend.





So together?





Let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.





Let Love happen.





💖