Living Under God's Favor

“The thief cometh not but to steal, kill and destroy; but I have come to give you life and life more abundantly.”   – John 10:10

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.  – Isaiah 54:17

Anytime God is about to bless you or move you to the next level in life or in your ministry, the enemy desperately tries to prevent or hinder it by any means necessary.  He’ll invest any amount of time He needs to in effort to destroy you.  He’ll try to accomplish his devious plans by manipulating circumstances; and unfortunately, this is often done by using people, especially loved ones and those you are closest to.  I find it interesting that he begins forming weapons of destruction even before YOU yourself are aware of the blessings and / or promotion God has for you.  However, because of the God I serve and the inheritance I have from being a King’s kid, the weapon the enemy cleverly and patiently formed against me did not prosper.   Neither will any new ones he tries.  In a nutshell, that summarizes my weekend.

The first attack happened Friday afternoon.   I saw him manipulate one of my children in such a way that my child was acting completely out of character.  This was truly an “all of a sudden” kind of moment.   The spirit the enemy used was the spirit of rebellion, and this spirit convinced my child that it was ok to break house rules, then provoke a verbal and physical fight with one of my other children as well as with me!!!  Such behavior is completely out of character for ALL of my children.  To make a long story short, the spirit of rebellion convinced my child to launch the attack; however, it didn’t work out the enemy had planned.  I thank God for the fruit of the Spirit, as it is moments like these that you truly see them working in your life. 

Though the situation that happened that day was rather bazaar, at least for my household, the “formed weapons” didn’t end there.  The next morning, I was preparing to go to my first Ministers’ meeting; however, on my way there I got into a minor auto accident.  I thank God because the accident could’ve been serious; however, the end result was both the other driver and I agreed that there were no real damages to get excited about, so we didn’t.  As you and I both know, this could’ve turned real ugly real quick; however, it was nothing but the favor of God and His amazing grace that kept it from “going there.”  Despite the enemy’s tactics, I arrived for the meeting on time.

The meeting lasted much longer than I anticipated; however, I certainly did not mind at all!  I was happy to be there mainly because I love to learn about the Lord and what I can do to advance His Kingdom.  Additionally, I knew that my being there was another step ordered by God, which puts me closer to doing what He’s called me to do.  My call to ministry occurred about 10 years ago, and He’s given me parts and pieces of what that entailed over the years.  Back in the late 90s, He told me about preaching and teaching the Gospel, and last year He told me about the office as His prophet.  Last year He also began telling me about my call into fivefold ministry; however, I didn’t clearly understand until He brought it back up again early this year.  After the experiences I’ve had over the years, as well as the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, I fully accepted and submitted to His call on my life as a fivefold minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In case you’re surprised by this, trust me, you were no more surprise than I was initially.  However, I believe Paul worded it perfectly in 1 Cor. 1:27, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”.  All I know is what God has told and shown me and it is in Him that I put my all of my trust and confidence.  Because of His mercy, grace and divine plan, I am here today and it is also what brought me to the Ministers’ meeting Saturday morning. 

As I sat in the meeting, I knew it was God bringing me to the next place in my journey.  Though I’ve been unofficially preaching and teaching the Gospel, it was by the end of this meeting that I was charged to officially begin operating in this capacity.  I cannot say I was expecting this today; however, I can say that I suspect this is why the enemy was frantically working overtime to distract and tear me down.  This leads me to the next unexpected event. 

At the end of this meeting, I had another meeting to discuss the particulars such as the purchasing the cassock (clergy robe), tabs and other things I need to get ASAP.  Though I am no longer in the world’s work force for quite some time now, I know that God has already made a way for me to get these sacred yet expensive items.  Additionally, I will soon find out when I will preach my initial sermon, which I expect to be real soon.  I absolutely marvel at God’s timing, as this September I will be celebrating my 40^th birthday, which also happens to land on a Sunday.  As you may recall from previous entries, there are many transitions I’m undergoing right now; however, I know I am one foot away from coming out of the wilderness and into the next chapter in my life.  The fact that I’ll be preaching my initial sermon close to my 40^th birthday just blows me away!  Nobody but God could pull off such a thing!

The 2^nd surprise occurred between the two meetings.  When we took a break between meetings, I looked at my phone and seen the missed calls and vmails; however, I decided to wait until I got home to check them.   When I settled in at home, I checked my vmails and one of them was pretty disturbing.  I was told that a loved one was spreading a vicious rumor about me – seeking to attack my character.  The interesting yet sad thing is that what was said was beyond making any kind of logical sense and that it actually represented the personality and character of the one who was spreading the rumor.   In addition to it being far from being true, it didn’t represent my character even on a bad day.  Nonetheless, the saddest thing of all is that I believe underneath this malicious attack lies a heart that is filled with unwarranted and misplaced anger, hurt (independent of me) and jealousy.

It was at this time that I began to realize this was truly the work of the enemy, as he commonly launches retaliation when you bless someone or when God blesses you.  A little later I began to realize his hands were in all of the bazaar events that occurred over the weekend.  Nevertheless, I was still grieved by the last attack due to its nature.  I knew, however, I had to seek God’s counsel so I immediately prayed after I heard about the rumor.  During prayer I was able to declare my solid decision to forgive and love regardless of any ruthless attacks made both now and in the future.  I can truly tell you this was only possible by the Holy Spirit, as without Him I would’ve easily fell into this well-planned trap of the enemy.   The awesome thing is that by the end of the prayer I was filled joy and love.  I can’t take any credit for this; for truly the glory belongs to God alone.

Since I told you about Friday and Saturday, I might as well tell you about Sunday.  Let me first start by saying God is awesome!  As I mentioned, I was able to withstand the attacks of the enemy because greater and greatest One is within me.  As a result I was able to receive from God during Sunday morning service.  My anointed, illustrious overseer, Dr. A. Ray Rouson, preached yesterday from Daniel 3:16-18.  The title of His message was “A Non-Negotiable Faith”.  I do know that God has gifted me in faith, and He is continually stretching and exercising my faith.  To Him be all the glory.  The message preached put truth on a particular matter I had been battling, and once that happened, I became even more armed and dangerous to the enemy.  You see, God has spoken my deliverance over a particular matter and He’s led me to thank Him for my deliverance several times each day regardless of the kind of day I’ve had.  I’ve seen how God has changed, and is still changing, both my mind and heart as it pertains to this particular matter.  Though my spirit KNEW (faith to the point of certainty) I was indeed delivered and that God was and is with me, the enemy was trying to challenge this – especially since I didn’t know which Scripture I could apply this situation.  This was true up until yesterday when my overseer preached. 

God knew exactly what I needed and that’s exactly what He gave me.  I must admit that He did answer my prayer through my pastor, Dr. Christina Rouson, about two Sundays ago during morning service.  However, after service, I could not recall the life-changing, mind-changing statement she made while preaching because I didn’t write it down (got too excited), so I was right back at square one.  Because my heavenly Father is incredibly rich in love, mercy, and grace, He provided me with what I needed during Sunday’s service (I wrote it down this time).  Once that happened, it was a wrap! 

My friend, I say to you with complete certainty that God is absolutely real, and He is completely true and faithful to His Word.  Finally, I close this entry by challenging you to turn whatever issues you have to God Almighty, casting all your cares upon Him; for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).  My acceptance of Jesus as my Lord and personal Savior makes me a child of the one and only true King, God Almighty.  Consequently, as a King’s kid, I can rightfully claim the promise of God made in Isaiah 54:17; “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.  If you have confessed Jesus as your Lord and personal Savior, know that this promise belongs to you too!  If you haven’t, let’s change that so you can began living victoriously in Christ Jesus and have everlasting life!  Go to http://www.naimawilliams.com/index_files/Salvation.html.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this entry and God bless you!

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