“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” Isaiah 60:1
You know how you can read a scripture multiple times throughout your life and then one day, BOOM, it blows your wig off? That’s what happened to me. I read this scripture a few days ago and all of a sudden my eyes were opened to some things I had never seen before.
For starters, the Lord brought to my mind John 10:10a. Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” I couldn’t count how many times I’ve read that scripture, heard that scripture, and talked about that scripture. Yet this time when the Lord brought it to my mind again and I saw it in light of my current circumstances, a holy anger rose up within me.
As I looked back over the last couple of months something became very clear to me. For two full months I have struggled physically from a plethora of ailments. One after another they plagued me without letting up. This kept me “out of commission” so to speak. Simply put, it’s very difficult to be about the Father’s business at a time like this and it makes me angry that Satan “duped” me. By using physical pain he managed to divert my focus off from God and onto myself! As Genesis says, he is the most cunning beast of the field.
The Lord taught me through the scriptures
It boils down to this: The enemy has been out to steal from me. To steal away the time that I normally pour into spending time with Jesus and then feeding his sheep. He has been out to kill and destroy me. To kill my joy, to make me feel overwhelmed, and to destroy any attempts to share the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified; to share of his redemption and salvation. It’s a message that Satan will thwart any way he can. Revelation 12:4 talks about “the great dragon waiting to devour Life as soon as it was born.
I once was blind, but now I see.
Once I realized that, I knew I needed to arise and shine! To rise up and stand in my rightful place in Christ, that place he went to prepare for me. (John 14:2)
I do not need to fight Satan. Jesus already has. In Revelation 1:18 Jesus says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” The victory has already been won. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
Lord, you have done the work. Manifest it now in my physical body.
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