STAND AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD
One of my Facebook friends told a story about a neighbor’s tree leaning
over the fence into her backyard. Several times it caught on fire, and my
friend and her daughter prayed for the fire to go out, and it did. Had the fire
not been stopped by God, it would have destroyed their house. The weird thing
about this tree being on fire is that there was never any evidence, no
scorching, no evidence at all of a burn. The final fire was the most ferocious,
and once again, mother and daughter took a spiritual stand against it. The
neighbors called the fire department each time, but after this last fire, the
neighbors cut down the tree. That ended Satan’s plot to destroy my
friend’s house.
Reading this story reminded me of how important it is for us to
take a stand on what is right. My friend and her daughter would not allow that
demon fire to take them down. They stood against it every time, and the devil
had to back down.
That’s how we need to be. The Lord tells us in Ephesians 6:4:
“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness.” When we know the truth, we stand boldly for
what is right without wavering.
I can tell when I’m standing in faith for the right thing to
happen; there’s a sense of deeply-rooted peace inside me. It’s unnatural,
considering the circumstances, but it’s become one of those Biblically normal
feelings for me. Philippians 4:7 calls it the peace that passes understanding.
The context of this verse is prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving for true,
just, and right things.
“And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
We feel a solid sense of peace, but it seems like it doesn’t make
sense because, in the natural, we feel like we should be apprehensive or
distraught. But when we recognize this supernatural peace, we know that we
really can’t worry because God says He keeps us in peace through Christ.
What does it mean that we’re “kept” in peace? The word “keep” comes
from the Greek word which means “to guard, protect by a military guard, to prevent hostile
invasion.” In other words, this peace is impenetrable.
After God rescued the Israelites from Egypt, they had second
thoughts about this crossing the wilderness thing, and they didn’t like it one
bit. They wanted to return to their old lives; yes, they had been in undeniable
slavery, but they were used to it. With all the new challenges and hard
decisions, this wandering business was not going to be comfortable at all. They
were willing to follow Moses at first, but suddenly they decided Moses was the
enemy, and they hadn’t really wanted to leave Egypt in the first place. They
complained like crazy, saying:
“Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying,
‘Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had
been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the
wilderness.’
“And Moses said unto the people, ‘Fear ye not, stand still, and
see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today: for the
Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
“’The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace’”
(Exod. 14:12-14).
God knows what the right things are that need to take place. When
we trust Him, we can stand firm for what is Biblically right and be guarded by
peace through the storm. God is already fighting for us, individually and in
the nations, and He will perform all His will.
Ezekiel 36 hints at what is on the other side of this journey.
(This was a prophecy to Israel, but Jesus brought the Gentiles also into the
flock of God).
“Thus saith
the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your
iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the
wastes shall be builded.
“And they
shall say, ‘This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and
the waste and desolate and ruined cities are
become fenced, and are inhabited.
“Then the
heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the
ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have
spoken it, and I will do it’” (Ezek. 36:33-36).
Let’s stand against those demon fires as my friend did. We will
stand for truth. We will stand to see the salvation of the Lord, and the peace
of God will guard our hearts.
P.S. I just read the whole chapter of Ezekiel 36.
WOW! I think you’ll love reading it as soon as you can. I believe it
speaks loudly to our world today.
Love, Carolyn
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