Vindicated

When a large medical bill came that I didn’t expect to have to pay, I panicked, and when there was some tension that hits every spousal relationship at the same time, I read rejection into it, and when my washing machine spit rust all over my husband and I’s new clothes, I decided nothing was going to go right for me, but when I flooded the bathroom, I had peace-WHAT? What changed? My perspective. My thoughts were finally bombarded with a reminder of the truth. In all the other little trials of the day I listened to the enemies’ lies about what they meant and where they would lead, but when my sink flooded my bathroom after I accidently left it on while hand washing all the clothes I couldn’t wash in my broken machine I was in the middle of worshiping! In my worship, I was reminded of all God is and of his great love for me, and it put the small things back into perspective. It is often all the little trials of a day or a week or a month that when mounded together eat our lunch, and steal our joy.

“But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!” Is 54:17

That coming day is now; Christ has had the victory! Have you had your passion for the Lord and His Kingdom stirred? Has your faith increased, leading you to step out in sharing your love for him? Then my friend you are a target. You have one enemy, Satan, and he has a very personal plan against you. Notice, “no weapon formed (or forged) against YOU shall prosper. Satan isn’t just after God and you get caught in the crossfire. He wants to shut YOU down and shut YOU up. In 1 Peter 5:8 we are told to be on our guard, to be alert. 2 Cor. 2:11 says that “in order that Satan might not outwit us…we are not unaware of his schemes.” The weapons he forges against us are all from his character of deceit.   It won’t be obvious by its very definition deception is to mislead by a false appearance, to delude or falsely persuade. They are crafty lies and doubts filled with trickery so we will believe them and act on them instead of on God’s truth. But the truth is, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Not only has Jesus had the victory over Satan on the cross, He gave that victory to us and his spirit dwells within us so that we know how to live out that victory.

I love that God says we will, “silence every voice raised up to accuse us” whether it is a voice in our heads or one in our homes. We silence those accusations by believing the true love and worth God has given us. God made sure to remind us in Ephesians 6:12 that our battle isn’t against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil. It’s so important that we know who our enemy is if we are going to live in victory. All too often we stay in bondage because we attack the wrong thing. (ie. Possibly those we live with)

So here comes Satan’s well-planned weapon of deceit or accusation wielded at you, what do you do? First you recognize it as deception that does not line up with the truth of God.

“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:5

Many of our thoughts are just speculations that the enemy wants us to grab onto as truth, so that those destructive speculations keep us in bondage. The verse just prior to verse 5 says that the weapons we’ve been given aren’t of flesh, but divinely powerful. That means we can’t fight the enemy with our flesh. God has given us divine weapons and they are all listed in Ephesians 6:13-17, but let’s focus on the shield of faith lifted to distinguish Satan’s fiery darts and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. These are what you use in combat with the enemy. You speak out the truth of God’s word; that’s your sword. You believe it is true; that’s your shield. The enemy will always lie about who God is and about who you are. Our flesh often hangs onto some of those lies, but in light of God’s word every untrue thing is pulled down and loses its power over us.

Here’s the thing, you may have a target on your back where Satan is concerned, but truth says, “if God is for us who can be against us.” Rom 8:31. I love that in Is 54:17 God says in all his authority, that He has spoken, He who has authority has vindicated us, which means God has cleared those who have given their life to him from any accusation. It doesn’t matter what Satan tries to accuse you of because by the blood of Christ, God has cleared you. These are the verses that flooded my mind while my sink was flooding my bathroom and that’s why a little mess and a lot of water didn’t really matter anymore.

2015/11/20 at 4:02 pm