Yesterday I received a call about an attack. I’m not talking about the kind of attack that you can physically see, quantify, and measure …I’m talking about a Real attack. We quickly called in the big guns, and then went to bed. I have been in communication with the Boss/BigGuns since last night, and the plan is to simply keep calling Him (the “cry wolf” quandary doesn’t apply to Him …He likes “being bothered” by all issues [big or small]). I wrote a letter to a friend this morning in an effort to help myself process and ponder the warfare…

 

I hope this letter finds you in a place and posture of joy and spiritual sharpness. I for one have not felt especially sharp this week. I honestly think that there have been heightened assaults on our flock in recent days and weeks. A rather heavy spirit of discouragement assaults the sheep (including me). At certain moments, I’m simply in the assault (not seeing the invasion for what it is – an extremely unwelcome plague); and these moments are lousy, for sheep are not able to notice the difference between the objective unwantedness, and their perception of what they want. In other words, the enemy collaborates with our flesh to convince us that we asked for this attack, and he strives with great shrewdness to accuse us; for Satan’s goal is that we would take up residence in accusation. Conversely, God’s plan and purpose (unalterable, and unstoppable) is that we would take up residence in His atonement! May God compel you, and the sheep of East CLT (including me!) to be unwaveringly convinced of God’s mighty atonement and affection for us; and may He outfit us (even if we resist) with His armor …in order that we may stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, may The Holy Spirit supernaturally, and obsessively, prompt us to take up the whole armor of God, that we may be able to withstand demonic attacks. Accusation is rendered untrue by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The strength of hell is a lie in light of the prevailing power of God’s Kingdom and redemptive purposes. In Christ, we are the righteousness of God; and the news of Christ crucified, risen, ascended, and seated is what makes our legs skip, and our feet run! Shalom is real, our war against the Maker is over; and now we live in loyalty to the Prince of Peace as we sojourn in enemy occupied territory. In all circumstances, may God bond the shield of faith to our arm, that we might extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. May our Heavenly Husband always keep our heads clear, and our thoughts sharp, with meditations of our TETELESTAI salvation! May the Almighty magnetize His Word to our palm (like Thor’s hammer!); and inflict us with a severe, sincere, and everlasting bout of obsession with its personal relevance to our souls. May we persistently plead with God to do everything He promises; and delight to do nothing apart from Him. May God make us all-the-time alert and attentive to the work and ways of His Kingdom, with all perseverance, pleading the neediness of our siblings and fellow soldiers. May the Maker give us bold mouths to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel, for which we are ambassadors behind enemy lines, that we may declare the Truth of Jesus boldly as we ought.

 

Here are two bits of the Boss’s book He instructed me to meditate on today:

Isaiah 11:1-9

 

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

 

 

Revelation 21:1-8

 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”