Encouragement – Sword and Spirit Writer

The Secret Place with God

October 12, 2021 swordandspiritwriter

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

~ Psalm 27:5

We may see trouble all around. But God! When we trust in the Lord and His Word, He SHALL hide us in His secret place.

Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!
You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion
From the strife of tongues.

~ Psalm 31:19-20

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

~ Psalm 91:1-2

The Word teaches us how we may dwell in His secret place: by trusting in Him completely. By living from faith to faith in His Word and magnifying Him and His Word alone as our secret place, refuge, fortress, and hiding place.

We must NEVER empower and magnify the works of the devil around us as we see so many believers doing today who use their mouths to prophecy his destructions more than God’s Might and Power, more than the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

What does God say about what many of His children do in ignorance?

A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth [his words];
From the produce of his lips [words] he shall be filled.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue [words],
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

~ Proverbs 18:20-21

and

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

~ Hosea 4:6

We’ve been warned by our good Father regarding the importance of our words. Therefore, we must speak the life and power of His Word in every circumstance and magnify His greatness and power, His goodness, mercy, and love, including trusting in His power and ability to hide us in His secret place in times of trouble.

And because His Word is a weapon against the powers of darkness (Eph. 6), when we speak it instead of empowering the devil’s evils with our mouths, we wield the Word against to works of the devil to destroy them.

We can magnify Him as our hiding place and shield too!

You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah ~ Psalm 32:7

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your Word. ~ Psalm 119:114

Father, thank You that Your Word is ONLY true and is where we can place all our faith, hope and trust. We can possess Your promises by our faith and trust in You. Hallelujah!

Encouragement, Exortation, Faith

Faith Killer and Unbelief Filler: Comparing Oneself to Others

September 24, 2021September 24, 2021 swordandspiritwriter

But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. – 2 Corinthians 10:12

God’s Word is full of life, health, help, AND WARNINGS intended to protect us and our faith. And He used the lead verse, 2 Corinthians 10:12, to teach me to NEVER compare myself to others when I am standing on one of His yes and amen promises to have victory in and over a situation.

Why? One of the main reasons is because…

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it,” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Matthew 7:13-14 makes it clear: MOST people don’t bother to seek and find that path that leads to life nor choose to live by His Word and let it alone be a lamp unto their feet.

For example, I was praying with a distraught woman in a difficult situation, and she kept speaking death, doom, and destruction regarding the matter.

I asked the Lord for the strength and grace and the right words to help her see that her words were not words of faith nor were they scriptural. This precious woman and child of God answered, “Well, that’s how I hear most Christians speak about things too,” meaning negative, defeated, and as if God didn’t fill His Word with promises that applied to her, as if His arm was too short to save.

Once again, I silently asked the Lord to help me help her. I was extremely sad for her and those like her who have been born again for a long time especially and who refuse to consider their Good Heavenly Father’s Word and help for themselves.

He reminded me of the time several years ago when I was praying for something that was only possible with God, and He clearly told me by His Spirit: Never compare yourself or situation and its expected outcome to other believers’ or the negative outcomes of their situations (e.g. they weren’t healed from a sickness) because narrow is the path that leads to life and only a FEW find it, and MANY are walking the broad path that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). We are ONLY to line up our expectations by faith to His Word, will, and promises, and BOLDLY expect to have what we ask for in prayer.

I then told her what the Lord had brought back to my remembrance, so then if we…

are comparing ourselves to others, most especially other believers
have our eyes on others and their words, negative expected outcomes, or negative outcomes.
are focused on what we see happening in their lives
take into consideration what others are saying about what THEY expect to happen MORE than what the POWERFUL Word of God says.

…then we are putting our faith in what is seen and in the words of someone who most likely is walking on the broad path that leads to destruction instead of living by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. His own people PERISH for lack of knowledge.

The Lord also reminded me to tell her that in these times “many will deceive and be deceived,” (2 Timothy 3:13).

Therefore, it is a great warning from the Lord since MANY refuse to live by His Word and and are faithless that we must never compare ourselves others, but as His covenant child, we can boldly petition Him according to His will and use our blood-bought authority to command our circumstances to line up with His Word and promises, so the powers of darkness and works of the devil attacking our lives are defeated in our situations by faith because of His grace. Persevere all the way to victory!

We must look to God alone, that when we pray, we are asking according to His will…

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we KNOW that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him,” (1 John 5:14-15).

You don’t have to be a victim of the faith killer and unbelief filler: comparing yourself to others.

This is a trick and trap of the enemy to rob His children of their blessings and covenant rights by getting them to reject God’s Word and will for themselves through unbelief and to get them to give up and declare that His very will from His Word “must not be God’s will.”

The enemy seeks whom he may devour, and our Father doesn’t want it to be you!

Be ready at all times with His Word, submit yourself to God (who is the Word), resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

P.S. What was amazing is that soon after He instructed me several years ago to never compare myself to others, He led me to 2 Corinthians 10:12 which I had no idea beforehand there was a verse telling us it is unwise to compare ourselves to others. God is so good!

P.P.S. Yes, we can watch testimonies where the child of God had victory over the works of the devil in their lives.