New Level New Devil

Have you heard that old saying new level new devil? I have and I have certainly had my fair share of experiencing this but for some reason this go round seems to be kicking me in the booty a little bit harder than usual.  I am still clinging to the words of my previous blog “I am not defeated” and I am still getting up every day and putting on my spiritual armor but I could use some extra prayers. So if you are reading this thank you and pray for me.

My calling, my destiny, my Jeremiah 29:11 (the plans God has for me), my Romans 12:8 (one of my spiritual gifts) is to encourage other Christians by sharing my testimonies on how God gets me through life’s challenges by simply applying His Word. God has blessed me above and beyond through His Word, the bible, and whenever I am facing a challenge in my life, which is almost every day, I dig deep into my treasure trove and find His pearls of wisdom. In the twenty years that I have been serving God He has never once let me down. I have let myself down and others have let me down but God never has. Sometimes in the heat of an extremely difficult situation I find myself crying out to God, “Where are You?” but that is only the weakness of my flesh because time and time again God has shown me that He is always there working things out; His time is not our time and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

I am entering my third week of daily tribulations. Satan has been relentless. The first two weeks I addressed in my blog “I am not defeated” and now I am entering my third week. Our church is having Vacation Bible School, one of the biggest children’s events of the year. This is an opportunity to reach children in our community for the Kingdom of God that we don’t normally get to see every week. Our volunteers and ministry leaders come together all hands on deck to pour life saving biblical truths into these children. We love them through worship, crafts, games, snacks and bible stories. Last year we gained some new families from VBS that blessed our church so much that every time we see them we are reminded how important our VBS is to the Kingdom of God. So how does all of this work into Satan attacking me?

We know that the devil is always roaming around seeking whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8). I believe that he is seeking for those of us that he knows are a true threat to winning souls for God. I am one of those. Because of the calling God has on my life to be a constant encourager to others, the devil tries on a daily basis to get me down so I don’t feel like encouraging others.  It never surprises me that when I am planning a big event for our church, a women’s conference, or simply writing a blog post to bring honor and glory to my Saviour that the devil shows up hard core trying to stop me. When I sit down to work on my book some strange phenomenon will occur that literally drags me away for hours to the point I lose my mojo and put off writing until another day. Planning and executing Vacation Bible School is a huge undertaking. It is one of the biggest children’s events of the year and therefore poses as one of the greatest threats to the devil because we will win souls for God. After trying his best to attack many members in our church before hand, which I truly believe was to get us to cancel VBS, he took his aim at our precious children. The second night of VBS we found several children with lice. Yep! My daughter and myself included. I laughed in the devil’s face.

You can imagine the panic that set in when the word spread. The first option was to close down VBS for the rest of the week and handle the situation. I did not like that option. I ran to the store bought the medicated shampoo and a dear friend treated me right there in the church restroom. We then went outside and she washed my hair with the water hose. No shame! We sprayed the entire church down minutes before VBS was scheduled to start. The infected children’s parents were informed, my daughter missed VBS that night and stayed home with my sister and my sister treated her hair and picked her nits. We as well as the church are now both lice/nit free and I am praying the parent’s of the other children are treating them as well. We sent home lengthy instructions on how to treat the hair, the home etc. Most importantly we did not cancel VBS. Satan lost again!

My point in sharing this with you is to encourage you that no matter what situation you face, God will always provide you with a plan that will lead you to victory. It is up to you whether or not you execute that plan. I used my favorite scripture in the heat of the moment. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). I was already well aware by the previous weeks that Satan was trying to stop our Vacation Bible School. Last night as I looked out at our attendees and realized it was the most children we had had so far I knew in my heart God was looking at us smiling and saying “well done my faithful servants”. And then when I saw my middle son leading a group of children in the sinner’s prayer I was blessed above and beyond the stress from the road bumps Satan had set up.

Our church is at a crossroad where we are growing a lot and with that growth comes a lot of new challenges and attacks from the enemy because the devil hates church growth. We are renovating, making plans to build and we have members with the mind set we will not give up. New level new devil. But the Word says there is nothing new under the sun. He really doesn’t have any new tricks, God has already defeated them all, they are just new to me. I have made up my mind to keep my mind on Christ and the Cross and I know that “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

You’ve heard it all before but let it sink in this time. Trials, tribulations, tests, mountains etc are all going to come, but you don’t have to let them defeat you. Rest in the peaceful arms of your Saviour knowing that he will lead you to victory, the only thing you have to do is let Him.