TERROR BY NIGHT
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. ~Oswald Chambers
Once found in our weakness, His Spirit begins a teaching journey taking us to our spiritual maturity. It begins with us waging onto a battlefield of darkness filled with misconceptions, mishandlings and misunderstanding of our sin.
Recently, I discovered two conflicting terms for studying scripture that I want to share. The enemy comes when we have sin and sin is anything outside the truth! Right?
Could our misnomers of the Word of God be our sin?
I have never thought of sin in this manner until now.
When we take away the truth of God’s word by our own interpretation, we are stepping off the narrow path! So the next time we are being assaulted in our dreams crying out to Jesus, should we not Ask this question, “Where have I gone wrong in my theology? Show me my sin!”
Sometimes we live with such a passive insistence in the sovereignty of God, thinking that He will do as He pleases with or without our intervention. This is completely contrary to Scripture and downright lazy point of view.
God is moved when His people are moved!
His ear is attentive to our cry! Jeremiah tells us “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” — JEREMIAH 33:3 KJV
As I began trying this out, I have been amazed at my dreams. EVERY single one had meaning. I took the time to unravel them and was given insight. Throughout scripture we are taught that Satan is an enemy of God and God’s people. It also teaches us Satan is God’s servant. The devil is used by God to demonstrate His Glory and purify His People. We can continue to blame everything on the devil, or we can begin to look and see where we are to overcome in areas we are tempted.
Let’s be honest, it’s easier to stay at the entrance of the Christian life instead of building our soul according to the will of God. We fail or find it too hard because we are ignorant of the way God has made us. We in our deception place blame on the devil that are actually a result of our own undisciplined nature.
This is what the Bible teaches, and teaches it unmistakably.
Just think of what we could do as believers if we are awakened to the truth? But we have to recognize, in the current climate of evangelicalism, there is very little interest in the truth because people are so fragile and could be knocked off their pedestal so easily.
How do we become confident? We Study, right? We have no excuses with all the tools to help us interpret the Word of God.
The first approach to study God’s word is eisegesis which means mishandle or led to misinterpretation by our opinions, perceptions and beliefs. We all start here because our emotions rule us, but as we are sifted in our journey, we begin to see our moods have gotten it wrong.
We will never get rid of our moodiness by praying, we must kick our moods or emotions to the curb because they are always rooted in self. This is our flesh mishandling the Word of God. Our emotions promote ourselves and then bend and twist the Word of God into our own thinking. YIKES!
So Where can we find the truth? Especially when most of us are reading God’s word continuously!
Well, there is a faithful approach called exegesis which literally means to “to lead out” or interpret by following the text to form a conclusion. This is by looking at each word in the literal meaning. We let the words speak for themselves, not our emotions.
“Present yourself to God as one approved a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who handles truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Exegesis allows us to agree with bible giving us opportunities to be enlightened by applying its concepts of truth to our lives. We take each principle given in each plot within each story as an instruction or conviction. This is how our minds can be changed to the Will of God.
However, when we seek to study the Word of God by eisegesis we are forcing the Bible to agree with our moods making us victims of our own theology and open to the terrors of the night!
I believe the Spirit of God has provided a recipe for never falling prey to our own eisegesis while reading the Word of God.
Here is a 4 easy steps tactic:
- Observe the scripture text, ask what does it say? Use a Strong’s Concordance to dig into both the Hebrew and Greek languages as our English language does not always translate and it turns a simple reading of the Word into a puzzle.
- Exploration - What scripture seems to fit with my idea and why? Asking why until you understand allows the Holy Spirit to teach us, give him the opportunity to teach you. Read the structure of the narrative many times until you understand the point being made.
- Application- What does my idea mean in relationship to what the biblical scripture is saying? Look into the maps and the history around the narratives.
- Illustrate - Can you illustrate your idea or how can we apply this verse to our life to aligned ourselves with God. Holy Spirit will often take into a deeper text that correlates with the first one until your long past the verse you originally needed assistance.
If for some reason, these steps do not work, then our next option is to wait. If we wait without fear of the things we do not know, The Lord will come! He comes to reveal little treasures packets in His rich glory. Over time, He reveals His mysteries to those who wait.
Just keep praying, waiting and never stop questioning and His answers will be revealed to us.
“The Gospel is not an old, old story, freshly told. It is a fire in the Spirit, fed by the flame of Immortal Love; and woe unto us, if, through our negligence to stir up the Gift of God which is within us, that fire burns low.” — LEONARD RAVENHILL, WHY REVIVAL TARRIES
This new place of waiting is freedom. This use to be a place where we felt forsaken and lonely, but now a fire by the Spirit of God comes to shoulder us in confidence set by God who is near to us even in the darkest cloud.
Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. Exodus 20:21
God is waiting for us to approach. Let us take His Word and dig them deep into your heart, so that they become the frame through which we can judge our world.
If not for these storms or our nights filled with terror being about lessons then they are about faith. Faith to stand, faith to believe and faith that God is in fact near!
Rather than being driven away from the love of Jesus, our persecution drives us closer to Him. In the light of eternity the things that appear important and significant change dramatically. When this shift takes place within us, we also change dramatically
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.” — COLOSSIANS 3:1–4 NLT
When we feel mistreated in our trials, by studying the Word of God we come to understand them as a sweeter fellowship with Jesus.
His intentions for us and his love for us never changes. God never changes! Hebrews 13:8
Maybe it is time to revisit our Bibles and read and pray through all of the verses we DID NOT underline.
I love Peter. First he is sincere, but he challenges my thinking. Notice in the following verses that the emphasis is on development of character, not the building of an ecclesiastical empire.
“And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.” — 2 PETER 1:4–9 NLT
Begin to look deeper into the things of the night that are assaulting you! Write them down, seek the Lord, fast and pray about them. There is meaning here in our nights of terror, but until we have an understanding we will not have a revelation.
We carry the greatest power in the world when we plant ourselves here under Jesus no matter our circumstances. His power flows through us drenching us to face every problem or concern within our storms of terror by simply standing under His waterfall.
We become immersed!
Can we withstand the heat to be planted here under Jesus to receive consistently no matter our circumstance?
After all, God called us to be planted here.
“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers” (Psalm 1:3).
This new inherited land comes with knowledge and understanding to every problem to fulfill our appointment with God. This is God’s system of equipping and strengthening us, but He is depending on the purity of our hearts. When we can admit the things deep within ourselves, we can be changed, forgiven and redeemed. With this new found honesty comes the knowledge of God’s Word perfectly placed within our minds, hearts and soul. This is God’s power that saves, heals, delivers and does the impossible for each of us.
It is God’s gift to be edified and to receive the proper spiritual nutrients and food to grow into mature vessels —victorious over the enemy, walking in the power of God and able to make disciples of those around us and even our loved ones.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20; see also Ephesians 4:11–16).
If we understand its power, we will never be afraid at night again. Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
This is why it’s so important to be planted in His Word and to be continually receiving His equipping that flows from His Word through His Spirit into us!
Once we have the truth and believe it…. the next time we find ourselves standing on a place of the Rocky Mountain, we will be watching our raging storm below in peace because we have confidently forged ahead into the darkness without flinching. We abandoned our fear of the dark to climb upon Our Eagle who waited for us so we may soar together towards the sun that glistens like a diamond.
Let the airways of our lives be filled with the Word of God.
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