Influencers Weekly Devotional

In His Presence

by

Rocky Fleming

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,The Lord is my helper;I will not fear;what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, ESV)

Although the scripture I have included above speaks to a disciple of Christ about keeping ourselves free from the love of money, there is another main point I want to draw from this scripture. It is the promise that the Lord is our helper, and He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. Do you believe this promise as if it was made directly to you? Do you trust His presence when you are in a firefight with temptation, discouragement, and when the pressure is on you to trust yourself or another person more than God? If you do remember He is present, you will understand the tremendous benefit of this assurance as you weather your trial. If you do not remember this, you might understand why you feel so isolated and alone, and feel that no one hears your prayers, or comes to your aid. I learned first hand how easy it is to become discouraged when this assurance is forgotten. Before I get into that, let’s talk about the dynamics of war, as we can learn a lot about how an army is defeated, and how we as Christians can also be defeated. But we can also learn how to stand firm when assaulted by the enemy of our soul. When Desert Storm was waged against the Iraqi military, there was an interesting strategy employed by the USA and its allies. The Iraqi army had already dug into the desert sands of Kuwait for several months. They had their tanks buried, their bunkers dug and fortified, and their communications network setup so that the troops could receive orders and strategy from their commanders back in Iraq. This was an army trained to work as a unit, and under the ultimate command of their dictator, Saddam Husain. It is true they were a formidable force in the region at the time, for they had a large arsenal of tanks, guns, planes and supplies. Our armed forces didn’t really know what they would face until they got into the battle. They only knew the confident bantering of Husain and his puppet generals had their army believing they were invincible. But when that voice of those leaders was no longer heard, things began to change in the confidence of the troops in the field. How was the voice cut off? The first thing that was done when Desert Storm was launched was to blow up the communication towers and network. From that point on, it went down hill for the poor Iraqi soldiers who were in those tanks and dug into the bunkers in Kuwait. The bombardment was relentless and when it was finally halted, thousands of Iraqi troops emerged with white flags over their heads. Many asked why our forces waited so long to halt the air and tank assault, for they had been ready to surrender almost from the time they lost communication with the encouraging words of their commanders. First strategy of war … cut off communications with the Command Control Centers. It is the same with a follower of Christ when he is under attack. When the voice of God is distant or hindered in our life, the enemy begins his work big time. The scripture I’ve referenced assures a disciple of Christ that God will never forsake nor leave His child, and that there is no force that can prevail over God. This gives us confidence to face our battles and not be afraid. But what happens when our communication lines are down, and keep us from hearing the Lord? Like any soldier in any army, we will eventually fall into discouragement, despair, and often give up trying to fight back. We just get worn down and forget Who stands beside us. We begin to think we are all alone, that no one cares, that God does not hear our prayers, and there is no help coming. It happened to me recently. In fact, I even cried out to God in prayer one night and said to Him that I had known the enemy was coming with his assaults of temptations to me, and I had asked God for days and weeks when I saw it coming to help me stand strong. Still, I kept getting hit with a barrage of challenges to fall into a deep dark place with the enemy. I fought with every ounce of courage and energy in me to resist the Accuser’s voice of slander toward myself and other people, to resist his threats of danger to my family and myself, and to resist his words of discouragement with being a failure or a fraud. You name it and I got hit with it. But, some of those arrows hit me and hurt me. When I prayed and complained to the Lord about feeling all alone in the battle, it was after having emerged from a difficult attack and feeling like a battered Iraqi soldier in Kuwait after a relentless air attack, who hauled himself out of a bunker, wounded, battered, shocked, and discouraged. That was me. But then I read and remembered the promise of the scripture above and the dynamics of how warfare is waged. It came to me that the enemy first cuts off the communication lines and the army then becomes divided, discouraged and eventually defeated. My communication lines had been cut down, for I had been challenged by my normal listening to the voice of He who is able, He who is standing by me at all times, and He who will always prevail. How did this happen? The answer? I just got too blame busy. Here is how it happened: The last few months I have been in one “good thing” after another. A lot of traveling, a lot of ministry, a lot of work, but this busy activity had taken me away from my routine of getting alone with God each morning and hearing the voice of my Commander. They were all good things. But I was challenged in having alone time with the Lord, getting into His Word, and simply tuning in to hear His voice. Other people and their needs came first. My work and ministry is about people, about pouring into them, and about leading them by serving them. So, there was a lot of me giving out, but very little of me drinking in, and like the Iraqi soldier cut off from his commander’s voice, I too was cut of from my King’s voice because of these distractions. I realized what had happened when I journaled through the Hebrews 13 scripture and made personal application of it to my life. I could see clearly what happened. I also saw another special revelation. The fact is I was wounded, tired and depleted from my battles, but, I was still standing. Although beat up, I had weathered the onslaught, and this could have happened only one way. I was able to resist the Oppressor because God was indeed standing with me the whole time, defending and protecting me, even though I didn’t think He was there. There is no way a man by himself can stand against evil. He just doesn’t have the capability of doing it. I know this, and the fact of my experience with the success of standing firm, authenticates the promise that God made when He said He would never leave me nor forsake me. This revelation then went to another as I asked, “Then why did I feel so all alone? What could I have done differently that would have kept my eyes on Christ rather than the evil man?” Well, the most obvious answer is the priority that I must maintain to hear God’s voice by spending time in His Word, and being in fellowship with other believers who do the same. That is a good way. Being too busy with other things that keep me from doing this is just too busy with life. So making this a priority is necessary. I think good Christian praise and worship music helps me hear God’s voice, and encourages me as well. These are things I want to get back to becoming consistent in my life. But, there is one thing I can do at all times, even if I am challenged with the time issue because of the other things. I must make my stand to do this everyday. I must make it my habit to remember that God is with me. God is with me. God is with me at all times, in all seasons, and in all circumstances. There is never a time or place that He is not with me. This should be on my mind in the morning, all through the day, at night when I go to bed, and if I wake in the middle of the night, then, as well. I practice my belief and trust that I am in the presence of Almighty God, especially when I fall under the assault of the enemy like I did before, but really, at all times. Then I am able to confidently say and believe: “The Lord is my helper;I will not fear;what can man do to me?” So men, make that plan yours as well. Take courage right now and stand strong, for God is with you. That fact alone will give you the courage to face anything that comes at you today, and in the future. HE IS WITH YOU! AMEN? Download file