I have a hunch I'm not the only one dealing with some underbelly power of INTIMIDATION. Since hearing this message on Saturday, I can look back and see clearly that I've suffered under it for 20+ years, all while thinking it was Divine Wisdom.
The processes of resisting the devil have taken me FOR E VER to learn.
Having been reared in schools of a certain way of perceiving biblical ideas, it's taken more than 2 decades to find the roots of a stronghold which touts: if something is wrong it's your fault (sin), which means we need to perpetually confess, repent, and keep on submitting.
YES that's a part, but only the first in the sequence. RESISTING is the next step, and one I discern clearly now...finally.
While having been in a LONG (!) and deep season of submitting myself to God, resisting the devil was something I felt completely wimpy at. The learning curve has been steep the past couple of years, and now I enter what is known in the digital gaming world as The Big Boss Challenge.
I am grateful for men and women who work to equip the Saints so we can be about the business of our own ministry to others!
In my down time, recouping from mysterious and odd infirmities which seemed to have no root cause, and yet which kept me severely pinned down, I worked diligently and intentionally to rewire my nervous system to face foes without cowering.
It's been really fun, and I look forward to sharing those details soon, because they will show how big and good God is even in our culture where bleakness, evil and misery can be found en masse. Hint: Hyrule
To give a bit of a teaser, while I have loved video gaming since I was a kid, I would always have others fight big bosses for me because I had no inner ability to stand firm against those gargantuan opposing forces of strength. My heart would race, hands sweat, and I would be terrified; unable to understand how to use weapons which had long worked on other smaller foes.
No longer.
Knowing what I am called to do, and having all I need to DO IT... I now only have to resist that lying sack of filth who twisted things so I felt completely scared to release what's within.
OH, how I am going to wrestle this thing to the ground. It has kept me back from writing, speaking, sharing, publishing, creating, traveling, etc all because I thought it was Wisdom's voice warning me to heed her.
Working with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father for years to heal body, soul, spirit, heart, and mind I have gained wonderful freedom after decades of hardship and struggles. Learning to submit myself to God and to resist the devil has taken all my years to understand and comprehend.
Still, a formidable nemesis remained.
Thanks to these guys, I now know its name, and am elated there's an answer. Being able to see the cause of my cowardice gives me hope -the Romans 5 kind -which does not disappoint. The well spring of life has begun to gurgle again!
The nasty bugger who caused me to keep myself held back, in a dozen ways, all while believing I was heeding Providence, has been identified.
I'm so happy to finally have an answer to what's been causing me to shut my mouth about so many wonders of God in our world. HIS WAYS WORK all the time, and I'm going to shout it from the rooftops....after I get a nasty monster off the shingles.
