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July 30, 2017
Lord Jesus, please help us to be sober and watchful, knowing that the primary aim of the enemy is to separate us from You by lies. Help us to recognize his ploys and turn them away--rushing back into your arms in complete confidence that you long for us. Amen.
Well, before I get into the message here is a brief word from the Lord:
I asked Him. I said, "Lord, you have been giving me readings about the coming war and the Rapture. Please help me to understand why these are becoming so common."
Jesus began, "I have asked you to build the wall with one hand but defend your territory with the other. My love, you are truly applying yourself to the building, but you've not prayed nearly enough to turn aside the tide of advancing evil. More prayer is needed My people, the enemy is gaining on you. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security while you work. The enemy is advancing. Increase your prayers and your intentions to mindfully defend your president and your country.
"Please do not let Me down. INCREASE YOUR PRAYERS and fast offerings. I will correspond by holding it back, but you must pray."
And that's the end of that short message.
So, now I'd like to go into the main body of the message.
I've been feeling very disjointed, fragmented, scattered...it's probably the inevitable consequence of moving and having so much to do. But nonetheless, it's very unpleasant, to say the least. And during the communion service - and I've stepped out from under the Lord's covering in a couple of things that I've done. Wasted time. And I apologized to Him profusely. He gave me His forgiveness during the communion service, but then He wanted to talk about how this all came about, so that you could understand.
I love that about Him! Isn't He wonderful? He really does want us to understand Him. It's so wonderful.
Anyway. The Lord began, "I am with you, My love. I forgive you. Please let's move on now."
I answered, "Just like that?"
He replied, "Are you sorry?"
You know I am, Lord.
Jesus went on, "I did not come to the world to condemn the world, but to save it."
That's from John 3:17
"You need saving on a daily basis, just like everyone else. What is so remarkable about you, Clare, is that you are so totally unremarkable. Though your mother raised you to think you were 'different and special' that was only a cover so you wouldn't see yourself as so lowly and lacking. Much of her ego was tied up in who you were. So she had to say things like that.
"And just like all My Brides, My people, My children, you all need forgiveness on a daily basis. Please don't ever forget that. Rather than scolding yourself and calling yourself deprecating names such as 'stupid, idiot' and other unflattering names, remind yourself that you are no different from others, and therefore bound to make mistakes.
"If you can come to terms with this, you will not be so disappointed and angry with yourself when you blow it. Rather you will just sigh, 'Lord, I am so sorry.' And accept yourself as you are without self-hatred, knowing that attitude springs from a form of pride that holds itself above others.
"Well, now let's move on and begin to act again out of faith. My Love, how can you please Me without faith in My words to you? Do you know how deeply it pierces Me when you lose your faith in My promises to you? It hurts very deeply, My Sweet Bride, very deeply. I breathe a deep sigh and say to Myself, 'Oh no, not again.'
"So, let's analyze this. You come from prayer, fully equipped and prepared to move forward, full of faith and belief that what is set before you is doable--with My grace.
"Then you hit some kind of obstacle. Most usually it is fatigue and frustration with a little thing. Now the enemy is standing by, waiting for you to waver so the arrow of Unbelief will penetrate your armor. When you waver in your mind, saying, 'Oh, this is just so hard, this isn't working, will I ever get this right?' There's a weak spot in your armor and the enemy has already loosed the arrow that will lodge in your heart. That arrow is tipped with the poison of Unbelief.
"Why that and not some other substance??? Because your entire motivation for life rests on faith and belief that what I have given you to do I will help you accomplish. So, if the enemy can strike at the very heart of your will, he has destabilized you and made an entrance for demons of failure, unbelief, scrutiny, logical arguments against what I have promised. Yes, he has opened a door and now he begins to weaken you. Every time you accept a suggestion, faith drains out of your heart and Unbelief takes its place, until you are hopelessly convinced you CAN'T do it, you are NOT fit, you are too old, you are uncoordinated, you are too sickly. And while the faith is draining out, he fills you with these other poisons and the very promise you were operating in faith from, the promise I, Myself, gave you, begins to dissolve into hopelessness.
"For this to happen you must open the door by accepting one of his arrows of Unbelief. Just one, and then the others pile in behind it. The only way to preserve your sanity and faith is to fend off the arrows when they fly. Put up the shield of faith and do not take it down for one frustrating, exasperating moment when you declare with your own lips how much of a failure you are.
"Don't do that!
"May I say, this is not just a discouraging word; this is SIN. The sin of unbelief, the sin of slander against Me that I am not capable of finishing what I started. Yes, this is blasphemy against My faithful character, declaring God is not sovereign, God cannot do the impossible, God is impotent. This truly is where the rubber meets the road and what it boils down to.
"When I tell you that your job is to believe, that also means you are to defend My honor and not allow the enemy to slander Me. Do you know what happens when you don't defend Me?"
No.
"My heart gives off a deep sigh as I reflect....'After all these years, she still doesn't believe???' Unbelief is your greatest adversary. He is the one who calls up the panther to draw you off into distractions and sin. A spirit of Unbelief has many smaller demons working beneath him. Each one is equipped with poisoned darts of a particular kind, as mentioned before."
And here He's reminding us of what the Scriptures say about Faith:
Then they inquired, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus replied, "This is the work of God: to believe in the One He has sent." John 6:28-29
Jesus continued, "It is so typical that a soul becomes overly-engaged in worldly things and thereby loses confidence in the supernatural. This happens so subtly that you don't even recognize it. After a day or two of not having serious and deep prayer with Me, you weaken, your resolve weakens, and the enemy sets the ambush.
"And also, remember that whenever you lose a grip on your work, you begin to feel needy, in the way of having something to fill that empty place. That's when you are most likely to seek comfort from the world. Anything will do as long as it distracts you away from pain and wastes precious time. In fact, the more time it wastes, the better. That is because another demon of lust is called in to prepare an ambush--lust for acquiring something, and suddenly you have this urgent...'I can't wait!' need."
Yeah - like preparing my bike so I could go for rides to exercise--two days ago?
"Yes, Clare, you should have known better. That took you away from your work and you could have waited for a friend to do it the next day."
Well, I sure walked into that trap. It was an awesome afternoon and I thought to myself, "I'm tired of putting off riding my bike for exercise. I'm going to get it out and get it ready." Well, of course it was dusty, the tires were low, I couldn't find the pump for a good 30 minutes, then I didn't know how to use it for another 15 minutes. I had to find the flashlight for a headlight in case it got dark, then I needed to find and clean my helmet. Believe it or not, by the time all of that was done, the sun had already gone down and it was too dangerous to ride, because of the traffic on our street. It took me two hours to do it and while I tried to justify that time, the nagging thought kept coming back, 'You took the bait, now you are very tired (true, it was a lot of work getting it out, let alone washing it.) and your fibro is off the charts.'
Jesus continued, "Thanks for confessing that. Oh, people, if only you knew how imperfect she is. Clare, these are not little things; they are well designed tactics for robbing your ministry of time. You should have known better. Had you asked Me, I would have told you. But you didn't ask. Why?"
I didn't want You to say "no" because I was hit hard with a lust to ride the bike.
"And now that it's ready, how many times have you ridden it?"
Well...I haven't yet...the last few days have been too busy.
"Right. But where's that compulsion that wouldn't let you wait?"
It's gone.
"Right. The arrow hit the target. You wasted the time and energy, made yourself tired and hurting, so they lifted that desire from you. It worked.
"You see, My Bride, most often when you get an inspiration to do something and it feels like a driving force, that inspiration is most certainly NOT FROM ME. The enemy is always in a hurry. The enemy inspires a lust-like desire to do it now!!! But if you would stop and ask yourself, what you should be doing. Or even go to the Bible Promises or ask your covering, you would know for sure if I was behind it or it was the enemy playing on your compulsive side."
Lord, I know better. Why did I fall for that?
He answered, "Self-will. You felt you really wanted it, so rather than be told you couldn't do it, you did it without asking. You've been bad that way lately, My dearest."
I'm sorry, Lord. I know I have.
"Clare, My darling, you mean so much to Me. I will never fail to reward you for your hard work, but you must trust that My will is the only good and all other wills are poison for your spirit. There are several areas they work in to cause this weakness, as I said before: running into obstacles, being frustrated, or taking on too much which makes you exhausted. And all the randomity involved in reorganizing a room. All of these things, My love, open the door and set the stage for the enemy to plan ambushes.
"Some of these things cannot be avoided and that is where My mercy comes to your aid. I look upon you with great kindness, Clare. I see how hard you try. I see the many times you don't take the bait, but do deny yourself, pick up your cross and keep going. I see and I am blessed by your devotion to Me.
"But I do not expect perfection from you. I long for perfect obedience, yet I know your frame, I know the pressures being brought against you. May I say, you have been brought through three weeks of very exhausting and fragmenting work, not to mention the new employee you are working with. These things add up and just as I forgave you of these indiscretions and sins of the past few days, I long to take you back into My arms with your hands on My heart, feeling the cry of My heart for souls. But the enemy has worked hard to divide and separate us. Today we are reconciled but it has been painfully hard for Me not to have you resting in My arms, in complete faith and trust that what I have promised that I will do, if only you will Believe AND cooperate."
And the Scripture was brought to mind:
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19
Jesus continued, "So you see, I am far more sympathetic than you understand. I am very concerned whenever we begin to drift apart and all I need from you is the confidence in My love--believing I care so very deeply and cannot stand to be separated from you, not even for one moment. So please, do not see Me as such a harsh task master that stands aloof and points the finger at your failures.
"Rather see Me this way: I am more like a forlorn lover, waiting for your call, so we can be together again. And it is your fear that keeps you from picking up that phone. Your fear of rejection. Your fear of unworthiness, your sins and faults and failures. All of those pile up and cause you to turn inward and forget that I am your heavenly spouse who misses our sweet communion times and waits for you, even when you blow it.
"So, for all of you, My Brides, when you see yourselves going ever so slightly off the track, immediately call to Me, 'Jesus help Me!' And then put down your quills, lay down your defenses and prepare your heart to be reconciled to Mine. I adore you, I long for you, I wait. Come. Come."