Revealer of Mysteries
Greetings in the Lord!
I don't know if you are like me, but I enjoy a good mystery, a riddle of sorts, that has to be searched out and pursued to find a true answer, a secret uncovered. I love that. Well, with God there is no end to the fun, is there? I mean, He is all-knowing, all-seeing, and the Revealer of Mysteries. That is one of my favorite characteristics of God Almighty--He is the Revealer of Mysteries. It amazes me that God knows the end from the beginning, that He looks into the darkness of what is ahead and sees clearly, like being able to penetrate the thickest of fogs with ease. God knows the schemes the enemy, the plans of temptations and trials against the saints to attempt to derail us from the good path, to mislead and thwart the good plans God has for us.
So, I have been pondering some verses for over a month now...actually, the Lord has been leading me to read the same 2 passages of Scripture for that time frame, so I know there is much more to be discovered. More perplexing still are the verses given: Luke 4 and Matthew 4--they are the accounts of Jesus being tempted in the desert. I must admit, I always get a little uncomfortable when the Lord directs me there; it makes me nervous to think about a confrontation with the devil. So you can only imagine after I received those passages 6+ times my attention was peaked and pursuing this mystery moved up much higher on my priority list.
The "mystery of temptation," that was what I was pursuing. So, I started a 40-day "Daniel's" fast, stopped working out in the morning to give that time to the Lord, and took Vuze off my computer so I would not be tempted to download movies or TV shows that would distract me from pursuing this quest. Well, let me tell you, some strange things started happening quickly after that. First, I could hear/feel the presence of angels moving all around me, I guess they were called to the scene of a praying and fasting saint, who knows. Then, began the little indications of when I was wasting time: lights turning on by themselves, the AC turning off by itself, etc. with others witnessing the strange events, too. Since I did not discern a foul spirit, I had to chalk it up to angelic activity and inquired more of the Lord regarding these signs.
Next came a dream of a baby. It was not mine, but I cuddled it and showed it off to others saying, "Isn't he cute?" Only later, the baby turned into something ugly with grey skin and black squinty eyes. Yuck! When I inquired of the Lord He said Genesis 16, the story of Sarah and Hagar. The story goes that Sarah had heard the promise from God about a son being born to Abram...but she got impatient and turned to the cultural custom of their day to fulfill the promise--she offered her maidservant, Hagar, to Abram to conceive a child. What a mistake! That was the baby in my dream--it represented the temptation of us taking matters into our own hands...with ugly consequences! The 2nd part of my dream told why we accepted that "baby"---fear. Many people are afraid to face their fears: of rejection, of being alone, of past hurts, of failure, of embarrassment of looking foolish (pride), fear of forgiving someone, and the fear of not receiving the promises of God and so on.
So, now I feel I have some answers to the "mystery of temptation," and also know that it is a corporate message for the Body of Christ. We are in a season of temptation. Temptation to waste precious time doing fun things instead of pursuing God's will for our lives; to take matters into our own hands and move, take new jobs, or make major decisions contrary to the will of God; to keep on entertaining thoughts, ideas, even people in our lives when it's time to move forward without them; to continue to remain satisfied with our spiritual lives (with all our secular baggage) instead of dropping the excess weight from our lives and maturing in Christ. So many temptations that don't seem like "sins" in our eyes! But God knows what's in the fog ahead...and if we disobey now we will have trouble and spiritual barrenness later on.
It is imperative now that people follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit! We are on the cusp of some really tough times: spiritually, financially, relationally, socially and every way possible and we cannot afford to do our own things now...in fact, we can't even see to make our way these days. For example, normally many base decisions on their intellect and known information: what the financial market says, what opportunities are listed, what qualifications we have, etc., but these days are topsy-turvy and there is not a whole lot of reliable information or consistency on which to base decision-making except by the following of the Holy Spirit. That is why people of the world are upset these days and anxious much of the time.
But we have a Revealer of Mysteries....He knows the end from the beginning so we don't have to worry--but obey. But to those who don't, listen here:
"If you had responded to My rebuke, I would have poured out My heart to you and made My thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out My hand, since you ignored all My advice and would not accept My rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you--...when distress and trouble overwhelm you."
"Then they will call to Me but I will not answer; they will look for Me but will not find Me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept My advice and spurned My rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to Me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." Proverbs 1:23-33.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
I don't know if you are like me, but I enjoy a good mystery, a riddle of sorts, that has to be searched out and pursued to find a true answer, a secret uncovered. I love that. Well, with God there is no end to the fun, is there? I mean, He is all-knowing, all-seeing, and the Revealer of Mysteries. That is one of my favorite characteristics of God Almighty--He is the Revealer of Mysteries. It amazes me that God knows the end from the beginning, that He looks into the darkness of what is ahead and sees clearly, like being able to penetrate the thickest of fogs with ease. God knows the schemes the enemy, the plans of temptations and trials against the saints to attempt to derail us from the good path, to mislead and thwart the good plans God has for us.
So, I have been pondering some verses for over a month now...actually, the Lord has been leading me to read the same 2 passages of Scripture for that time frame, so I know there is much more to be discovered. More perplexing still are the verses given: Luke 4 and Matthew 4--they are the accounts of Jesus being tempted in the desert. I must admit, I always get a little uncomfortable when the Lord directs me there; it makes me nervous to think about a confrontation with the devil. So you can only imagine after I received those passages 6+ times my attention was peaked and pursuing this mystery moved up much higher on my priority list.
The "mystery of temptation," that was what I was pursuing. So, I started a 40-day "Daniel's" fast, stopped working out in the morning to give that time to the Lord, and took Vuze off my computer so I would not be tempted to download movies or TV shows that would distract me from pursuing this quest. Well, let me tell you, some strange things started happening quickly after that. First, I could hear/feel the presence of angels moving all around me, I guess they were called to the scene of a praying and fasting saint, who knows. Then, began the little indications of when I was wasting time: lights turning on by themselves, the AC turning off by itself, etc. with others witnessing the strange events, too. Since I did not discern a foul spirit, I had to chalk it up to angelic activity and inquired more of the Lord regarding these signs.
Next came a dream of a baby. It was not mine, but I cuddled it and showed it off to others saying, "Isn't he cute?" Only later, the baby turned into something ugly with grey skin and black squinty eyes. Yuck! When I inquired of the Lord He said Genesis 16, the story of Sarah and Hagar. The story goes that Sarah had heard the promise from God about a son being born to Abram...but she got impatient and turned to the cultural custom of their day to fulfill the promise--she offered her maidservant, Hagar, to Abram to conceive a child. What a mistake! That was the baby in my dream--it represented the temptation of us taking matters into our own hands...with ugly consequences! The 2nd part of my dream told why we accepted that "baby"---fear. Many people are afraid to face their fears: of rejection, of being alone, of past hurts, of failure, of embarrassment of looking foolish (pride), fear of forgiving someone, and the fear of not receiving the promises of God and so on.
So, now I feel I have some answers to the "mystery of temptation," and also know that it is a corporate message for the Body of Christ. We are in a season of temptation. Temptation to waste precious time doing fun things instead of pursuing God's will for our lives; to take matters into our own hands and move, take new jobs, or make major decisions contrary to the will of God; to keep on entertaining thoughts, ideas, even people in our lives when it's time to move forward without them; to continue to remain satisfied with our spiritual lives (with all our secular baggage) instead of dropping the excess weight from our lives and maturing in Christ. So many temptations that don't seem like "sins" in our eyes! But God knows what's in the fog ahead...and if we disobey now we will have trouble and spiritual barrenness later on.
It is imperative now that people follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit! We are on the cusp of some really tough times: spiritually, financially, relationally, socially and every way possible and we cannot afford to do our own things now...in fact, we can't even see to make our way these days. For example, normally many base decisions on their intellect and known information: what the financial market says, what opportunities are listed, what qualifications we have, etc., but these days are topsy-turvy and there is not a whole lot of reliable information or consistency on which to base decision-making except by the following of the Holy Spirit. That is why people of the world are upset these days and anxious much of the time.
But we have a Revealer of Mysteries....He knows the end from the beginning so we don't have to worry--but obey. But to those who don't, listen here:
"If you had responded to My rebuke, I would have poured out My heart to you and made My thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out My hand, since you ignored all My advice and would not accept My rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you--...when distress and trouble overwhelm you."
"Then they will call to Me but I will not answer; they will look for Me but will not find Me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept My advice and spurned My rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to Me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." Proverbs 1:23-33.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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