― Oswald Chambers
Often times when God teaches me something it's not a huge revelation, but more of a "Duh, that is so simple. Why didn't I get that?" moment. I knew that. Didn't I? Maybe it's moving it from that file drawer in the back of our minds to our hearts where our spiritual blood starts pumping through it and we not only know it, but feel it, breathe it, and it truly becomes part of us. It always happens in God's timing, because that's when we can truly accept it.
Yesterday's lesson for me was about the enemy. He is supernatural and he is able to see things my heart is not trained to see, yet. We have all seen it in movies where the main character is unaware of something and yet the bad guy knows it. The bad guy is working against the good guy, before he even knows what is going on. That's what our enemy does. He can see what God's leading us toward and sometimes before we are even aware, the enemy tries to distract us and get us headed in the wrong direction. An example would be in relationships. Something happens and we are done with a person before we even have a chance to really know them. We pin it to the "Wasn't meant to be" board and forget about it. What if God had something powerful in mind and the enemy on the supernatural level could see what that relationship would do to his world. So he leads us astray and we didn't even know what hit us, or that anything even hit us.
Part of the reason this makes so much sense to me is because of the woman God sent me to help. I couldn't get over the overwhelming fact that God loved her so much He had help coming before she even knew it was needed. God pointed out to me that He does this all the time. Duh. I knew that. Didn't I? He sends encouraging words through another person and sometimes they don't even know the impact their words are having. They are just going through their day, feel led to say something that may or may not seem very important to them, but it changes the course of our lives. God sends these people.
The enemy can use this same means to influence. He causes someone to stumble and in turn they blast an innocent bystander with heavy words and knock them down just as the enemy planned. It's important to know who is influencing us. We have to surrender our minds to God, so that the enemy can't use us. Our mouths are like cannons and we need to make sure they are being aimed in the right direction. Life is a spiritual war and the enemy likes to fool us into fighting for his side and knocking out our own people.
This morning I was praying for one of those "God sent" people who really blessed me yesterday with her words. God was in control. He knew exactly when to send these words of encouragement that they would have the biggest impact on me. As I was thanking Him, He reminded me of the most important time He sent help before I knew it was needed, before I was born. He sent His Son to die on the cross for me before I even sinned. (You too)
Why do I make it so complicated? A friend of mine yesterday was telling me about ministering to a friend and she was afraid she had been too bold. As part of yesterday's lesson, I realize that's why He sent her. Because she is bold. He shapes us and grows us into specific people for specific tasks. When boldness is needed He sends the bold. When gentleness is needed, He sends the gentle. This plan is so much bigger than us and He is shaping us for our specific role.
I see this path through this beautiful garden and a Father taking His child by the hand to lead him or her. As they follow the path and Papa points out different things and explains the details of how and why, this silly little mouse runs across the path in front of them and the child freaks. I am phobic when it comes to mice. So this little harmless creature can throw us completely off the path and distract us from what the Father is showing us, when he really can't hurt us. It is in our minds that we give this mouse (the enemy) the power to change our walk. (Duh. We knew that, didn't we?)
― Oswald Chambers
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