Received some additional confirmations of our previous themes.
From the Slaying the Giants and Possessing the Land notes ~ the confirmations were particularly surrounding this quote (and similar points throughout) from part 1 of that series:
“WE MUST CHANGE OUR PERSPECTIVE, realizing the same mindset we must embrace to successfully train at Gold’s Gym must also be applied to God’s Gym. When our Trainer allows us to face a battle that He does not supernaturally deliver us from, we must recognize that we are TRAINING FOR REIGNING. THE GIANTS ARE OUR BREAD ~ this battle is meant to nourish and strengthen us, not only for our own personal breakthrough, but for us to be ready to fulfill our destiny to help many others.”
Jesse and I just had a chance to listen to the Wednesday night sermon from this week this morning (Fri, Jan 31) and our pastor (Mark Cowart) said:
“We need to reframe our thinking in regard to problems ~ we get stressed about them, despise them, hate them, we pray that God takes them away because we don’t want to deal with them ~ but let’s reframe our thinking about problems, challenges, obstacles, and even enemies, because you need all of them, they’re absolutely essential to life. They’re essential to success….”
“Attack is the proof that your enemy anticipates your success. Understand that enemy is really necessary in your life to take you to the next level. You gain spiritual authority in accordance with the enemy you overcome.”
We are continually astounded by the precise confirmations the Lord provides. Truly we know it’s the same Holy Spirit speaking to many about the same things around the same time. We are so grateful to God day after day and week after week for His goodness to give us such amazing confirmations to let us know we’re hearing Him!
This past week there were also more echoes of the Shield and Shepherd theme.
Regarding Shepherd: God gave us multiple words surrounding His desire to guide us in everything by His Holy Spirit. He was reminding us that He wants to show us the fastest and safest route to our destination, to navigate us around every trap and snare the enemy has laid, to be our Teacher, Guide, Leader, Helper, Stand-by, Mentor, Coach (Shepherd) and All in All. He has not left us as “orphans.” As we acknowledge Him in ALL our ways – invite Him into EVERYTHING and pray for Him to operate in our lives in these ways, He’s reminding us to make sure that we’re not doing all the talking and then moving on to the next thing. He wants us to take time to listen and give Him time to speak in return so we can receive His divine strategies and directions and be led by Him each step and decision of the way. He’s also been reminding us that His ways are higher than ours and that His spiritual strategies, which are necessary for our effectiveness, will not always make sense to our natural minds. Like the seeming absurdity of His plan for the Israelites to bring down the walls of Jericho, He wants us to be able to receive strategies from Him that don’t make any sense to the world’s way of thinking.
Regarding Shield: He gave us a devo based on Luke 10:19 again ~”Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” ~ which emphasized that He has provided for us to walk in His supernatural protection no matter where we go or what we do to fulfill His will/call. As He was stressing to us before, this devo also made the point that this supernatural protection is activated and works BY FAITH in what He has promised, and that we must purge doubt, fear, and unbelief from our hearts. The confession at the end of the devo even said ~ “I confess that God’s power SHIELDS and protects me from EVERY ATTACK of the enemy!”
Also, He highlighted a new word for me regarding being Shielded. When I posted the “Relentless SHIELD and ARMOR confirmations” note last Sunday, it had the word “UNREACHABLE” in the portion of a JHM devo I included ~ “When I am in the arms of God and behind the shield of faith, hell can’t touch me. I’m UNREACHABLE. I’m unshakeable. I’m unmovable. I’m safe behind the shield of faith that God gives me for every adversity of life.”
Though “unreachable” stood out to me, I focused on UNSHAKEABLE in the note since that word had come up again several times lately. I mentioned the theme that began in 2011 of being “immoveable, unshakeable, unbreakable, and unstoppable.” It was actually for this very reason that UNREACHABLE stood out to me so much – because it was different from the 4 God had given me so many times. In that same note, I also mentioned the (Ivan Tait ) word, “Wear Your Armor” the Lord had given Jesse last Saturday night. So Monday, when I was typing up that message (Wear Your Armor), I was amazed when I saw it had that exact same word “UNREACHABLE” in it ~
“Strap on the breastplate of righteousness; tell yourself who I have made you to be. Do the righteous thing and remain UNREACHABLE by the claws of evil.”
I was in awe when I realized the Lord had given us that same untypical word twice in the same day – through the JHM devo in the morning and through the Ivan word that same night. I believe this was no coincidence. Since I deeply value the idea of being UNREACHABLE by the enemy because God surrounds me with an IMPENETRABLE SHIELD that extinguishes EVERY one of his flaming arrows, I’m now adopting this word into the fearsome four to make it the fearsome five ~ immoveable, unbreakable, UNREACHABLE, unshakeable, and unstoppable.
This concept of UNREACHABLE not only makes me think of God as our SHIELD, but also brings to mind the passages of Him being our SECURE FORTRESS!
“Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.” Proverbs 14:26
Lastly, several times this week the Lord drew my attention to something I have written on a 3×5 card from Ivan Tait’s book, Letters from God, “No matter what you face the enemy’s plans will blow up in his face and you will stand there with the spoil.” I was claiming this in light of all the Shield and Armor words and warnings (including the dream we’re interceding against that I mentioned in the “Relentless Shield…” note), etc. Then this morning when we listened to Wednesday’s sermon, our pastor gave a confirmation of this word too! He talked about how Haman’s horrible plot to kill the Jews ended up becoming his own demise ~ He didn’t know it, but he had built his own gallows. “You know what the devil’s been building for you, laying out for you, making you think you’re going to hang – that you’re not going to make it. He doesn’t know it, but when the favor of God manifests in your life, he’s just built his own gallows.”
The book of Esther has been very significant in what the Lord’s been telling us since 2011, with renewed emphasis since the beginning of this year. I believe it’s not only for us, but for the whole body! If what happened between Haman and Mordecai is not a perfect illustration of the enemy’s plans blowing up in his own face, and the person he intended to destroy ending up standing there with the spoils, I don’t know what is!!!!!!! So, I’m praying for this and standing on this word for DIVINE REVERSALS in any plots and plans of the enemy to destroy us all (not for the people plotting them to be destroyed, but for our enemies in the spiritual realm to be destroyed and the people to be set free). Hope you will pray and believe in agreement with this too! (There were some other powerful confirmations in the sermon, but I know this is already long – so think I’d better save for later…)
Blessings and Prayers! Laura
