I can’t hold this back… I had promised a friend with whom I discussed the essence of the post an hour ago, that I was going to write it tomorrow. But hey, something just happened that has made my heart to race, literally, and I feel this rush in me, a gush of inspiration to push this out. If this is the feeling people get when they are called, then I totally get it – now! This is what happened… as mentioned in my last post, I am appreciating Grace in a totally different but holistic way, and that is thanks to my new favorite Bible Teacher, Pastor Joseph Prince (http://www.newcreationchurch.org.sg/). I went back to his daily devotion passage of Sunday and the logos (The WORD!) suddenly became the rhema (verse of Scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention with application to a current situation or need for direction). That is when I started feeling this urgency to write this article!
The title of the devotional is ‘BE NUMBERED AMONG THE UNDEVOURABLE’ and the key verse is 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (www.newcreation.org.sg/resources/daily-devotional). I will permit myself to copy and paste sections of the lesson as they fit my narrative (In green)… the rhema.
These past weeks have been trying to me. Last year ended in a not so good note, financially. Not that we didn’t have enough money, but because of some things that were happening that were rather unusual to me. First of all, let me take you back into history a little (sorry I am never consistent in narration, and I am not struggling to be). A few months ago, I discovered some ‘disappearances’ of money from my purse, with no one claiming responsibility. When I noticed about the third time, I decided to keep a record of my spends but that seemed like an even more difficult task as I still couldn’t get a balance between what I record as ‘spent’ and the what I have left. But I persisted nonetheless. The weekend of Jan 1, I didn’t leave the house (except to get fuel) and was so certain of how much I had left in my purse. Lo and behold I noticed some money was missing. I informed my hubby but we decided tokeep quiet about it.
First week of January, our Finance Officer informed me that an EFT of my salary had bounced, and then I discovered in the details of the report that they had my account number wrong. So I decided to go to the bank and get my statement from when I started work in my new organization. To my greatest dismay, I had received only 1 salary out of 5. I reported to the office and a week later my account manager at the bank informed me that money had still not come through. In addition to that, my gratuity payment from my former employer had not been paid yet, about 3 months after leaving them. To compound matters, a very distraught me went home on Friday, with a purse in which I had put some money in the morning and spent none, and in the evening before sleeping I was convicted to check my purse and some money had again ‘disappeared’, of course with no one claiming responsibility.
That night, I had a conversation with God about the situation and even then I thought I will confront the situation, and person(s), physically. But in the morning, the voice of reason came to me and I reminded the devil that he is a liar. I will not be fooled, caught up in his lies. It was a trap the devil was setting to place me under the bondage of money for this entire year. As Pastor Prince writes
‘The devil cannot just walk right up to you and rob you of your health, peace or family. He cannot just come into your life to enforce disease and destruction. If the devil can do that, then he does not have to walk about “seeking whom he may devour”. He only has to walk straight up to anyone he wants to devour and devour him! But since the Bible says that he goes about seeking whom he may devour, the truth then is that there are people whom he cannot devour.
You see, the devil goes about like a roaring lion trying to stir up fear in people with his roars. But the people who are not devourable are those who refuse to be intimidated by his roars because they know that the true Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:5), has already come and rendered powerless him who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14, NASB) They know that the devil cannot just do anything to them because the Lion of Judah resides in them, and that He is greater than the devil who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)’
Certain situations come to us, even through the ones we love, accommodate under our roofs, our children and siblings, that may make us want to blame them and hate them. But I have learnt to go to the source and see what God’s plan for me is in that situation. If God allows the tempter (don’t be fooled, if you are a child of God, only God can give the devil the permission to tempt you because He knows you are well equipped to put the devil to shame – read Job’s story) to come into my home, then there must be something in that situation that will be for my good, and for the edification of those around me to the Glory of God! You may be wondering what I am yapping about, let me break it down in the way I have learnt in this potentially destructive situation that I have turned in my favour to God’s glory:
- I started keeping a record of my spend, which is quite a healthy thing to do- Today, I had a spark moment which caused me to start planning my spend, which is even healthier. So I make weekly commitments to myself (weekly because I am not very much a planner - monthly or quarterly will work for planners), and see how I perform at the end of the month. Difficult to explain but I hope this snapshot spreadsheet example will help. You can copy and paste it in Word or Excel document for better appreciation. Analyze it anyway you please according to what you are looking for
I will conclude with the rest of the lesson from the devotional
‘My friend, the Lion of Judah is in you. He has given you rights, privileges, authority and power. He redeemed you with His blood. Therefore, everything about you and your life is redeemed by His blood. So if you are fearful about losing your job, cover your job with the blood of Jesus. If you are worried about your children’s safety in these days of terrorist attacks, plead the blood of Jesus over them. If you have received a bad report from the doctor, speak the blood over yourself.
Whatever you have covered with the blood of Jesus, God declares, “Protected! Redeemed!” And the devil flees when he sees the blood. And when he flees, he takes with him sicknesses, diseases, pains, sufferings, destruction and loss.
Once the devil knows that you know who you are in Christ and what you have in Him, his days of intimidating you are over, and you are numbered among the undevourable!’
I am not saying that all my problems have been solved in the physical realm, but I know they have been solved in the spiritual because I have covered my finances and my home with the blood of Jesus! Devourer beware, I declare I AM UNDEVORABLE in the blessed name of Jesus!
2 comments:
AMEN oh! me and my family are undevorable in Jesus' Name! As I read along, I just felt lifted; the intensity and conviction with which you put this message down is great. Thank you and God bless you for sharing the love of God for you with us.
I have been battling personal financial planning for a while now, and after reading many articles, and blogs on the issue, came up with a table which me and DT looked and agreed on; of course we have different approaches to the idea but hey, if wishes were horses... and all that. anyway, the important thing is that what needs to be done gets done unless otherwise discussed. However, this weekly breakdown is very useful and it really helps with accurately keeping track of what actually leaves your purse; so that for nothing else, we can offer the shortfalls to God and have him close those gaps. I sure will start applying that ASAP! and yeah, charity begins at home - so DT will have to be my first convert. lol.
It is Grace and Mercy that comes from Him alone, that makes you wake from a peaceful sleep when you climbed on the bed feeling all depressed. And as we read and learn and share and grow, may God bless us too.
xoxoxo - D
Thank you Nain. You know you are an inspiration to me - I get inspired by our conversations. We can only make our lives happier and better, can't we? God is faithful!
Post a Comment