Seeing Clearly

John 16: 1 - 4, "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. NKJV

In today's scripture, Jesus was giving His disciples (including us) a warning. He was preparing them for the battle they would encounter when He left them to return to heaven. As He warns them about the treatment that some of them would have to face, He also exhorts them to remember what He has said, so that when persecution strikes, they won't become offended and lose their faith in Christ.

What the Holy Spirit has given for today is very important to our faith walk. We must constantly guard our hearts against the attacks of the enemy, so that we don't fall prey to any of his devices and lose faith in the heat of the battle. We begin to guard our hearts by asking the Lord to keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil long before either of them shows up at our door. Secondly, we guard our hearts by remembering that the battle isn't ours; it belongs to the Lord. If we keep this in the forefront of our minds, it will help us remain neutral when persecution enters our lives.

Satan wants us to take spiritual assaults personally. Remember what Jesus told us. He has already forewarned us about the conflicts and collateral damage that we would incur during the battle; He did this so that we wouldn't turn our hearts against the Lord. We will remain strong and of good courage, as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus. The writer of Hebrews tells us to consider Jesus and to keep our eyes on Him when we have to face hardships, lest we grow weary and become discouraged in our soul. 

The moment we begin to take the spiritual attacks personally, they will begin to affect both our perspective and our attitude toward God adversely. Instead of looking to Jesus as our source of inspiration and encouragement, we will begin to blame Him for the situations that we've had to encounter. If this has happened to you, or if it should occur in the future, the enemy has been effective at turning your heart against the Lord. It even happened to John the Baptist; therefore, it can very easily happen to you and me.  

It doesn't matter to Satan if you're a leader in the body of Christ or one of God's children, he doesn't want you to lean on the Lord. Therefore, it is essential that we keep our hearts protected and pure so that we can see the heart of God clearly during times of great persecution. We must never take the Lord's battle personally when we enlist in the good fight of faith. 

Let me leave you today with a final question: Has the enemy attacked you at some point in your walk of faith, and it has caused you to back off or lose a degree of trust in the Lord? John tells us in his epistle that God is light and that there is no darkness in Him. In other words, God doesn't change when we become wounded in battle. It just means that Satan was successful at inflicting a hurt in your heart that has altered your perception and/or attitude toward God. 

If this describes you, and you desire to be free from the hurt caused by your adversary, then ask the Holy Spirit to heal your wounded heart and fill it with God's love. Just because Satan occasionally gets the upper hand and deceives us into believing something that isn't true, it doesn't mean that we have to continue living with the guilt of that burden.  Jesus told us in John 8 that when we come to know the truth, it will make us free! This word was shared with you as a means to help you overcome the Devil. It is not intended to condemn you. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. 

How Great Is Our God,
Pastor Asa Dockery