What can you expect? Straight talk, laughable humor, real truth, simple living, and passionate yearning...
all regarding the God that still involves Himself in the details of the lives of His people
A Little Voice with a Big Slap
A calling to write what He leads, no matter how uncomfortable...
Because simple daily Christian living is never what we thought it would be
A voice jumped out of my own thoughts and slapped me in the face. Some of you don’t need that…obviously, I do. While my mind was partly worried about the progress I am not making fast enough…and also partly worried about the amount of resistance I am getting from the enemy…that little voice slapped some sense into me. Is there any reason for satan to come after people who are not being effective? No! It would be like sending your top warrior out to battle someone who is already dead. There just is no need. On the other hand, satan is certainly willing to engage in battle with someone who is truly being effective for the Lord. So, thank you voice, my simple mind is satisfied with certainty that I must be being effective in the assignment that God has set out for me…because satan is relentless with attacking me.
A Little Voice with a Big Slap
Did you think that it was going to be something small? Honestly? After the last thing that he did to try and kill your resolve, did you really think that this time would be any easier? Well, I did. I don’t know why, but I actually thought that maybe he had given up…or had had enough…or that God had scared him off of me. But, I absolutely thought that the attacks would have…or maybe should have, stopped coming. Still, here we are, in the midst of another big stressful situation. And, I am standing here looking familiarly shocked at what is being thrown at me.
All along, I have been looking at this thing like God is testing me…testing my obedience. I made a decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ some years ago. I further have grown in obedience to Him and have done many (note: not all) of the things that He has asked me to do. I look around the greater Church and am pleased with my obedience in comparison to many…though there are others whom I greatly admire…and desire to be more like. Maybe that is because they are so like my loving Lord. The point of this is that I do have some stamina in this obedience thing.
He gave me an assignment some years back and I have slowly been watching and working as the pieces of that fulfillment have been laid in place and are taking shape. Have you been there?
Standing where I am standing today; remembering the day, and the task, when you were called by God, to do something for God? The calling seemed so glorious…so amazing…so important…that you knew it was way beyond you. In fact, you knew it was so far beyond your abilities that if this calling was to materialize itself, it would most certainly have to be all about God.
Are you standing where I am standing today; looking at the pains and the failures and the progress made? Are you amazed, that you have held on and come this far, or that God did not just throw up His hands about you and the whole assignment?
Are you standing where I am standing today; looking with more light and clarity than ever before at what lies ahead…feeling a sense of peace and acceptance that you never had when you started? But, are you still dealing with moments of hesitation and fear? What if I misunderstood the original request? What if I am on the wrong track? What if this is not part of what He wanted? What if I am not being effective in the result?
And then it hit me.
A voice jumped out of my own thoughts and slapped me in the face. Some of you don’t need that…obviously, I do. While my mind was partly worried about the progress I am not making fast enough…and also partly worried about the amount of resistance I am getting from the enemy…that little voice slapped some sense in to me.
“Is there any reason for satan to come after people who are not being effective?”
Then, it answered itself and said, “No!”
And my mind stepped in and conversed with the voice, saying, “It would be like sending your top warrior out to battle someone who is already dead. There just is no need.”
The discussion continued, “On the other hand, satan is certainly willing to engage in battle with someone who is truly being effective for the Lord.”
So…the point was made. And, I thanked the voice. My simple mind was satisfied with the certainty that I must be being effective in the assignment that God has set out for me…because satan is relentless with attacking me.
“And…”, said the little voice in a large and slap-ready tone,
“And…did you really think that it was going to be something small?”
Out loud I answered the voice and said, “I guess I don’t know what I was thinking.”
So my daughter turned around and asked if I was talking to her. I told her I was talking to the Lord, and in a “matter-of-fact” and “perfectly-fine-with-it” response, she said. “okay” and then skipped away. But, that voice did not skip away. It hounded me last night and until early this morning. It kept asking me the same questions over and over.
“Did you expect anything different?”
“Did you think satan would tire so easily?”
“Do you not understand the war that is waged in the spiritual realm?”
“Do you think you can side with Christ, be obedient to His calling on your life, make threats and attacks on satan’s army, and then sit back and go through life untouched?”
And before the voice could answer, I quickly stepped in to offer up a loud “No” so as not to seem so senseless or to lose all dignity in the scale of wisdom. And the voice was silent. But the echoes of the remarks it left on my soul have continued. And I am glad.
If you are a born again Christian, then you need to be turning up the volume and listening to the voice within. That voice, slap-ready or not, is the infilling of the Holy Spirit…and He has been sent to help us make sense of things. Oh, I know there are other voices…voices of self...and voices of regret…voices of fear…and voices of worldly reason. But, you and I know the difference. Our whole heart, mind, body and soul can distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from all of those others. His is the voice that sings and cries and yells objections. His is the voice that comforts, and embraces, and commands a challenge. And, His is the voice with serious slapping power.
Do you listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit?
Have you heard Him speak lately on the issues in your life?
Are you confused about the negative things that are happening to you?
Are you especially confused because lately you have really been obedient to God’s calling on your life?
Did you think that you could attack satan and his purpose more wholeheartedly and expect him not to retaliate?
Did you think that he would stop after that last awful attack?
Did you honestly think the attack this time would be small?
Do you need the Holy Spirit to slap you around a little bit?
In obedience
Rhonda D Loucks
In obedience
Rhonda D Loucks