Happy March 1st, everyone! I hope the month has treated you well! And for those of you joining us on our book challenge, I hope that you were as blessed and challenged by John Bevere’s book Bait of Satan as I was. Oh my goodness! I have been so stretched, had so many opportunities to become offended with people (i.e. be tested in the new knowledge I have been acquiring, some of which I handled better than others) … Oh my goodness. My older sister wrote an excellent blog about the book already, which I encourage you to read. The only problem with that is: she took some of the quotes I wanted to talk about and did such a good job discussing the meaty content of the book that I’m a little at a loss what to share! Ahahaha! :D
There was so much good information, though, so much really challenging material, that I’m more at a loss about where to start than anything. One of the things near the beginning of the book that jumped out at me right away was what he wrote on pages 27 and 30:
“I want to emphasize the following point: Absolutely no man, woman, child, or devil can ever get you out of the will of God! No one but God holds your destiny.” –page 27
“As already stated, no mortal man or devil can supersede the plan of God for your life. If you lay hold of this truth, it will set you free. But there is only one person who can get you out of the will of God, and that is you! … Many people have been serving the Lord fervently and have come into difficult life situations because of being mistreated by either wicked men or carnal Christians … But to become offended would only fulfill the enemy’s purpose of getting them out of the will of God. If you stay free from offense you will stay in God’s will …” – p. 30
So many people feel like what has happened to them is keeping them from fulfilling their purposes and their dreams. I’ve heard it in their voices as they talk about what they always wanted to do … and why they just can’t do it. I’ve seen the sense of loss and confusion that people are thrown into by tragedy, senseless acts of violence (emotional or otherwise), and other horrible circumstances beyond their control – as though their purpose is now completely unattainable. And yet, they seem to forget about Joseph – whose dreams looked completely shattered by his sale into slavery, by his unjust imprisonment. They forget that God’s plans and dreams for Joseph came to pass anyway, despite the horrible situations he found himself in … and I forget some days too. But it is vitally important that we maintain hope, that we teach ourselves to see beyond this moment of pain and struggle to how God can triumph over this situation, can bring us into our calling still. We must remember that with our God all things are possible – even those things which seem impossible, and as long as we keep our heart right, as long as we keep ourselves from blaming other people and becoming bitter/offended, God will always accomplish His plan. As he writes on page 152, “Remember that when we lose our life for the sake of Jesus, we will find His life. Learn to fix your focus on the end result, not the struggle.” That should be our focus, the end result: knowing Christ our Savior, fulfilling His goals and plans for us, and conquering the enemy wherever we encounter him.
Furthermore, on page 59, he writes, “Spiritual growth is neither a function of time or learning, but it is a function of obedience.” This isn’t how we tend to think of growth. We measure growth in years, in inches … We assume it happens without effort – like a child growing older without trying, growing taller as long as they eat, growing wider if they don’t move at all … We don’t tend to think of “growth” as requiring some sort of action and obedience. It “just happens.” That’s not at all what growth looks like in the life of the Christian. If we want to grow, we must exercise our obedience muscles. We must push ourselves to obey the Word of God, to live in such a way that our lives are totally aligned with God – even when it isn’t comfortable. We won’t grow by doing nothing – we will shrink.
The final quote I want to draw attention to says, “When we listen to an anointed minster speak or as we read a book, we should look for the words or phrases that explode in our spirits. This is the Word God is revealing to us. It conveys light and spiritual understanding. As the psalmist said, ‘The entrance of Your word gives light; it gives understanding to the simple’ (Ps. 119:130). It is the entrance of His Word into our hearts, not minds, that illuminates and clarifies.” As I was reading this, I was thinking about my Actions Principles notebook, about the way that God lays things on my heart whether people say them specifically or not. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, that moment in the sermon when something that is said reminds you of what you were reading in the Word that morning or were praying about, and you have a moment of clarity about what you should do and what God would have you know about His heart and His plan. And unfortunately, it’s so easy to forget them, if you don’t write them down, too easy to forget what God is impressing on your heart. So, my friends, as you endeavor to put into practice what this book talks about – staying out of offense and thus in the will of God – but also remind you to keep those “Aha” moments of illumination fresh in your mind. Don’t allow the devil or the busyness of your day or whatever steal those from you. You will need those.
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