Provoked

Provoked

　

     Provoked… That’s the word I’ll use, I feel like I have been wearing waders, walking through the sludge that the enemy has vomited all over the people that I love. If you can imagine frustration, rage and a desire to inflict pain, that is where the enemy has me. I hate this place, the rage warms my soul but my spirit is left feeling empty and cold. When will I learn the difference between advancing toward the victory God has declared in the heavens and me being bated and provoked to fight in my own strength by the enemy. He has me so sick of the abuse that I am like a dog chasing my own tail, growling at it as I try to rest, thinking at any minute it will attack again. God gave me a vision that so many Christians walk around with a loaded weapon that never leaves the holster, but now that I see the fight, I am shooting at shadows and the rickashay of the bullets are bound to wound the innocent or me in the process. How do I fight a battle that has been going on longer than I have had ancestors? I am a new recruit in all of this and I need some training. If I run out there determined to fight but with no wisdom I will just end up fighting the wrong things. So I come again to his thrown, I lay in humility at his feet and I ask for his words to penetrate deep within my spirit. I want to be so in tune with his spirit that even when I am singing a different part of the song, it is the harmony to his melody. The enemy may have ripped me open but it is this open vulnerable state that God can use. I don’t even recognize who I am anymore. In one moment his all encompassing grace has transformed me. I know that my flesh will still react to the enemy. I may still flinch at his aggressive attacks but it is only a matter of time until the spirit of peace retrains my reactions and I no longer take the bait

     Why do we take the bait of the enemy? Are we so hungry that we will eat anything? If we are full we will not need to eat from that tree in the garden he so cunningly taunts us with. We need to hunger and thirst for the tree of life, the tree that God intended for us to be blessed by. To feast upon the fruits of the spirit. Then the bait of the enemy will smell like a pile of compost; rotting and ruined. His bait should repel us not invite us. Walking away from his trap never seems easier than when there is so much Jesus in us there is no room for his snares. Then why do we stumble if we are full of the spirit? In fishing there are more than one way to bait a hook and to catch a fish. There are lures and jigs as well as live bait. One is to deceive hungry fish and the other is annoy the fish. This annoyance is an intrusion upon a territorial instinct, threatening security, or just plain irritating. If a fish can’t be tempted to eat, it might be tempted to fight. A natural instinct comes out of self preservation; a defense mechanism gets triggered and we attack but a hook and a line is all that is waiting there. So how do we resist this natural urge to attack so that we can outsmart this foe? We need to test our motives. Are we motivated by unselfish love or by hurt. The motivation of everything we do needs to come from the overflowing love of our father. Otherwise we are just boxing shadows. If we want to destroy the enemy we need to learn the difference in being provoked and being led. And when did we forget that when God leads us toward the victory that he fights for us? Although in our retreat to the Fathers arms, it looks as though the enemy is advancing, the truth of the matter is that now we have an actual chance of winning because God will fight for us. What looks like us retreating is just an acknowledgement of our surrender to God, not to the enemy. When Christ was tempted by Satan in the desert although he was hungry he was not swayed by the Devil for he had the truth of the scriptures and the relationship of his father. We too should be equipped each day with the words of the scriptures and the relationship of our heavenly father. Then we will be able to withstand the temptations and the provoking ways of the enemy. Then we will be able to tell the devil to flee with the same authority of that of Christ.