Once again the Lord amazed me by how He was slipping in confirmations without me even realizing it, only to later bring them together in a powerful way.
On June 18 I posted this short note from something the Lord spoke to me through some events unfolding in our backyard the night before:
Camouflaged Cats at the Bird Buffet
Then on June 20, Rick Renner posted: “One must never forget that evil is lurking in the shadows, awaiting the moment when one drops his guard. If that moment of lethargy occurs, the enemy will see it, for he is always watching for that moment when a believer falls asleep on the job. When that moment occurs, he is positioned to attack, and it often comes with grave consequences. Therefore, it is essential that one always be on guard, wide-awake, and doing his part to protect himself from the evil that is in the world. — Rick Renner”
I recognized the obvious confirmation between these words and knew the Lord was apparently broadcasting this same message to many simultaneously to remind His people to be awake and alert to the enemy’s schemes. Yet, I was still wondering – “where are the confirmations for our confession this week?” This past weekend, I really began to ask the Lord – “Why aren’t we receiving confirmations – or are we just not recognizing them when they show up?” Immediately after asking this, He led Jesse to open to confession #12 and 13 in the Healing Confessions book on two different nights:
“I lay hold of God’s Words with ALL MY HEART. I do not let them out of my sight. I meditate on them DAY and NIGHT and never stop speaking them. I know that what flows out of my heart determines the course of my life, so I keep God’s Word in my heart, and guard my heart with all vigilance from anything contrary to God’s Word! Therefore, I am like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever I do prospers! (Proverbs 4:4, 20-23, Psalm 1:1-3, Joshua 1:7-9)”
So, I knew God WAS confirming through the Confessions book itself, but I was still desiring other outside confirmations. Yesterday, He brought all these words together for me through this devo:
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Guarding Our Hearts
by Joyce Meyer
Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. —Proverbs 4:23
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace . . .which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:6–7
I like to connect the verse from Proverbs with Paul’s words to the Philippians. We read that God tells us to guard our hearts—to watch over them carefully. But what does that really mean? It means to be ALERT or WATCHFUL about the ways of the enemy. It’s easy to become careless about guarding our hearts and being alert to Satan’s subtle tactics when things are going our way and God is pouring out His blessings on our lives.
All of us face struggles from time to time, but when we diligently stand guard over our hearts, we become more aware that God’s plan is for us to overcome. Instead of using the word guard, I like to think of it this way: We need to post a sentinel around our hearts or, as it says above, “garrison and mount guard.” Think of what a guard or sentinel does—he’s on duty. He watches for the enemy to attack. He’s not just ready; he’s actively watchful and prepared to resist all attacks from the enemy. That’s how we need to live—with a trustworthy sentinel. It doesn’t mean we live in fear or constantly have to check to see if the devil is sneaking around. Think of it more as posting a sentinel to do that for us.
What kind of sentinel do we need? I think of the two most obvious ones: prayer and the Word of God. If we pray for God’s Holy Spirit to guard our hearts, He will honor that request. When the enemy creeps up, the sentinel calls out, “Thus saith the Lord,” and the enemy flees. (The devil really is a coward and won’t openly fight us.)
Read Paul’s words again. If we push away our anxieties (which we do by prayer and supplication) and fill our heart with thanksgiving, God’s peace stands guard over us. God helps us resist any charge of the enemy. We must not minimize thanksgiving. That’s such a simple way to keep ourselves alert to Satan’s devices. As we give thanks to God through our words and our songs, we are guarding our hearts. As the old hymn says: “Count your blessings—name them one by one; count your many blessings—see what God has done.” It’s more than just singing a few words, however—it is actually pausing on purpose to remember all the good things that God has done in our lives. As we rejoice over past blessings, we open ourselves to more blessings in the future.
Another ally we sometimes overlook is other believers. When we’re aware of our weaknesses, we can agree in prayer with other believers. We can ask them to pray specifically that we won’t be misled or attacked by the enemy when we’re not as alert as we should be. Other believers can intercede for us—just as we can for them. What better guards can we post than those who cry out to God on behalf of others? The devil doesn’t like hearing such prayers.
Holy Spirit, I ask You to help me be alert against any attack of the enemy by posting the sentinels of prayer and Your Word at the door of my heart. I praise You for showing me how to guard my heart, and pray that I will have a continuously thankful heart. Amen. (Copyright, Joyce Meyer Ministries)
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Immediately, I realized that the illustration God had given us through our neighborhood wildlife and the confirmation that came a few days later through Rick Renner were, in fact, specific confirmations God was trying to give us to help make our confession heart revelation. He was simply focusing on and highlighting one critical aspect of it – the need to guard our hearts with all vigilance from the enemy’s attempts to sneak up on us and devour us through things that are contrary to God’s Word!
The part in Joyce’s devo connecting this to thanksgiving was also significant, since our worship pastor has called the worship team to a fast on complaining ~ encouraging us not only to stop complaining, but to combat, cast down, and replace thoughts, feelings, and words of complaint with the choice to be thankful instead! As Joyce has often said, “We can either complain and remain (in our negative circumstances), or praise and be raised (resurrected into the new things/blessings/miracles God has for us).” While our emails have focused a lot on saying the RIGHT things (confessing the Word), we also need to be just as careful not to say the WRONG things – including doubt, unbelief, complaining, and a host of other things (including saying the RIGHT things in the WRONG way). Help us Lord!
As I’m writing this, I’m just now remembering that the Lord also gave us a Rick Renner devo yesterday in response to our cries entitled, “What Triggers a Demonic Attack” – which discussed how the enemy is TERRIFIED of any of us actually fulfilling our calling. Any time he sees we’re making progress, he’s going to attack (which I now realize also goes with the FB post from the 18th). Rick talked about how if the enemy sees that he can’t take us out directly, he will try to work through others and outside forces to oppose and hinder us. Revelation exploding – need to go connect some more dots to see how all these words He’s been giving are speaking to things happening in our situation….
So, praying everyone is AWAKE, ALERT, and AWARE of the enemy and his schemes ~ that we will continue holding fast to the Word, keeping it before our eyes, in our ears, hearts, and minds ~ that we will STAND GUARD over our hearts/minds vigilantly and diligently ~ and that through doing these things we WILL see His victory, breakthrough, harvest, success, and prosperity!
Blessings and Prayers! Laura
