Don’t Partner Up With The Devil
Don't partner up with the devil.
Don’t allow your feelings to dictate how you process certain situations you go through to tell you who God is. It’s one thing to have emotions, but it’s another thing when we allow our emotions to speak to us as if they are the truth and factual. God can not change His nature; it is literally impossible. So when we encounter challenges and suffering, we must not see them as something that challenges His character, but instead opportunities to learn more about His Character and to become rooted in that. You see, there is nothing that we go through the Bible that has not been spoken about. We will witness death, loss, struggle, betrayal, suffering, loneliness, fear, persecution, etc. But in the same light, we will also experience joy, restoration, redemption, glory, strength, renewal, forgiveness, and greater faith. Both the suffering and the glorious moments are our portion as believers.
You see, as blood brought Christians, we are actually promised suffering in scripture. God’s plan for suffering is not intended to punish us and bring evil upon our lives but to help us know that when we depend on Him, a world filled with hardship will not consume us, but that with Christ, we will remain victorious and be able to endure through it all. Suffering helps us to become more Christ-like. The Bible tells us that we will suffer with Christ, but that we will also rise in glory with Him. However, too often we as believers want the glory part only; we miss that there is glory with suffering with Christ, we miss that it is a blessing from the Lord, though we may be going through the trenches mentally, financially, relationally, etc. Suffering with the Lord is a privilege because it produces nothing but good fruit from us that blesses us and those around us. It helps us to know how strong we really are and our worth.
Romans 8:17 (KJV): And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
2 Timothy 2:12(KJV): "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:"
James :1: 2-4 (KJV): My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
I want to make a disclaimer that God does not wish for us to be afflicted; no, He wishes us more than anything for us to be free. There is a spiritual realm that our earthly realm reflects; this realm has two sides, good and evil. All good things come from God; apart from him, good cannot exist. All the wicked things and evil that we see and cannot see come from the devil, a fallen angel who chose to leave the light and lead the world into mass deception by producing systems around a lie of calling evil good and good evil. I wanted to make this clear because many times people question, “If your God is so good, why does he condone suffering and evil?” or “Why does God send suffering to people?” The gospel says he doesn’t. God’s grace and power have overcome these things, and through Him, we can too.
James 1:17 (KJV): Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
We have to renounce the language and belief that suffering as a believer is always bad when it’s meant to point us back to Christ in character, in warfare strategy, and in faith. Let’s take a look at a few scriptures that would further explain this:
Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”If the world hated you, know that they hated me first.
Matthew 15:19 and 20, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
When God allows suffering to come your way, know that it is because He trusts you, not because he hates you. I know it sounds contradictory, but not everyone bears the mark of Christ. Not everyone can be trusted to fearfully and faithfully represent Christ with their lives, because when a person does, God is also trusting them with His glory. God is trusting you with His glory, so that many will come to him with how you live. He knows that you're strong enough to overcome every obstacle that thought was going to keep you bound. He knows what you're made of because He made you in His image.
God loves everyone, but he does not trust everyone. He can’t trust everyone to be good stewards of suffering as His son Jesus Christ did for us. There is a mighty testimony and freedom that comes from when we endure suffering well, when we push through, when we still choose to serve God above all the chaos. Suffering is meant to give God the glory, not the enemy the praise, that the weapons he formed prospered because they didn’t even though at times it felt like it did. When we go through it, the enemy comes with mental warfare to drown out the goodness of God from our minds so that we can come into agreement with the lies of the devil, just like he did with Eve in the garden of Eden, drowning out the truth with deception to get her out of alignment with God's beautiful plan for her life, something he tries to do with us till this day. That’s where we start questioning the Lord, start second-guessing what He promised us, what His word says, when God is indeed faithful and cannot change. When we begin to associate our struggles with the identity of God, we begin to forget who He is and begin to think he is actually not as good as he says he is, falling into the enemy’s trap of deception. Thinking that the Lord is really the devil and losing focus on who the real enemy is, satan.
This is why we must be intentional with ourselves every day, filling ourselves with the things of light and truth every day, through mediating on God’s word, praying His will, which his word reveals to us, and constantly declaring His promises and doing the work necessary from us as we make a daily commitment to serve Him and as you do that you will remember the God you love to serve instead of what his hand can do.
Guard your heart by guarding what you allow your ears to hear, your eyes to see, and what conversations you allow your mouth to participate in. Scripture tells us in Matthew 6:22-23, “the light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Your presence is valuable; stop desiring everyone to have access to it, stop desiring to be accepted by everyone, and stop desiring to be involved in everything that is trendy on social media. Instead, be intentional, understand that you are the sacred place that God has chosen for His spirit to dwell in, acknowledge that, and understand that everything is not everything, but Jesus is everything. This will help you to stop comparing your life to the lives of others and to no longer feel like God is not doing enough for you or that He’s forgotten about you. Dismiss yourself from conversations and things that are grieving to the Holy Spirit who dwells you, you are of royalty and everything and everyonce cant be found having access to the atmosphere that God has called you to carry, whether you believe it or not, the fact is you are must greater than what you think you are and my prayer is through the lens of God’s eyes you will be able to see that. Stop waiting for someone you think has more value than you to affirm what is already the truth about your existence. The moment God decided to form you in your mother’s womb, you were valued, Valued by God.
Another way to not partner up with the devil, deception, and protect your heart as a worshipper of Jesus Christ is by practicing gratitude and thanksgiving for what the Lord has done for you, no matter how long ago it may have been, how small it may have seemed, thank Him for it. Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of what He has already done for you, give him a fresh praise that is louder than your worries, pain, fears, and questions. God is faithful, and he will respond at the perfect time. He is not a wicked God; He will fulfill His promises. Don’t allow your circumstances and waiting to discourage you from showing up, as God is working behind the scenes because He is testing you to see if you are willing to serve Him faithfully. After all, you love him more than the promises. Hebrews 6:9-18 tells us, “9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: 12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:”. In other words, let us not get weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap (a harvest of blessing NLT), if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).
And Last but certainly not least. Praise the Lord every day. Praise Him first thing in the morning. Sing songs of worship unto Him, reminding yourself of who He is and exalting him for it. God loves it when He hears His children acknowledge who he is! He is worthy of it! He is deserving of it!
Psalm 150 states:
“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
Practice repentance daily, not out of a ritual/legalistic heart but from a heart that truly cares about the heart of God that what grieves him grieves us and that we willingly turn away from it. Yes there is something for us to always repent from daily.
Prayer.
Dear Lord, I come before you at this moment to ask for your mercy and forgiveness for being angry with you because I wanted you to bless me at the time I felt that you should. I repent for thinking that my righteousness. obedience, and me srving you can earn my way for you to bless me and fullfill your promises when indeed you have a plan and timing for eveything. I also repent for any form of partial and delayed obedience that I had partaked in that created a blockage for you to move freeliny in my life and still expecting you to bless my disobedience. Lord I ask for your forgiveness and mercy and ask that you was me with your blood to make me whole and clean so that I can look like you and cherish you. Help me to never take my gaze off of you again, I ask you to create in me a heart where you are my everything and that nothing is more important than you to me, may my life truly be a reflection of that. Strip me of the desires for the tings and give me a greater desire you that will never fade away. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray Amen.
Don’t forget who you are as a child of God and keep the Lord in rememberance of who He is and what He has spoken. I love you and God bless.
Note: All scriptures listed and referenced comes from the KJV translation unless otherwise stated.
As I’m writing this please understand that It is God’s grace that is teaching me these things in this season right now.
Also, If you would like to accept the love of God and His son, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, or even if you have backslidden and want to return to the Lord, here’s a prayer to guide you.
“ God almighty, I come before you to accept your love, to no longer reject you and what you have done for me. I choose to stop running from you and to finally stop rejecting myself of your love. Thank you for dying for me Lord Jesus, thank you for taking on my sins and shame. Thank you Lord that you became a curse for me so that I would no longer be bound by them but set free by your blood that was shed for me. Thank You for making yourself available to me, as friend, father, Lord, God, helper, comforter, savior, and all the good things I need in my life. Jesus I love you and ask you to help me keep loving you like how you want me to. I accept you completely as my Lord and savior, not what this world and demons have presented to me. Now I declare in the both spiritual and physical realm, that I not longer belong to Satan nor his Kingdom but according to Colossians 1:13, God has delivered me from the kingdom of darkness and has placed me in the Kingdom of light, where Jesus Christ is, I declare I belong to Jesus Christ and I now seat with Him In heavenly places. I rebuke all demonic retaliation in me making this decision and come into agreement with a sound mind in Jesus’ name. I repent, renounce, denounce, and divorce myself from all the sins I’ve committed (list what you can remember) and break the evil covenants associated with them, and I declare once again I am a part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray and seal this prayer in His blood, Amen.”
Hallelujah! Congratulations if you made this decision. I pray that you prevail in your walk in the Lord, that forces of darkness continue to fail concerning you, and that the forces of light continue to persevere and propel you in the name of Jesus.
And if you have not yet, get yourself a Bible. Please, it’s a lot of ghetto foolishness concerning Christianity and religion. The Bible is the only way to protect you from it and will show you how to be a Christian and have a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
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