God’s word is our sword. Here is an excellent example of a victorious warrior’s stance. 2 Samuel 23:10 says, “He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought a great victory that day…”

Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us NOT grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” History is being written. This is not a time to lose heart. We must maintain our stance with the word of the Lord STUCK in our heart.

How many times was David pursued by his enemies? His words in Psalm 27:13 are timeless. It says, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” There are many verses about the Lord’s goodness. I want to remind you of Romans 2:4. It says, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

We need to be alert watchmen on the wall looking for God’s goodness in action right now in our nation and the world. He is at work. 2 Kings 18:17-37 was the account of when the Rabshakeh spoke threatening words to the watchmen. Verse 36 was their warrior stance. It says, “But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, Do not answer him.”

The devil is a liar and the father of lies. Our nation has been attacked with an ambush of lies. We must come in the opposite spirit and set up our own ambush through prayer and keeping His word stuck in our hearts. If something is stuck it doesn’t budge. It remains fixed and immovable. Let us collectively cry out to the Lord to shower His goodness upon the multitudes that will bring countless to repentance to life.

What was Jesus’ warfare strategy against the devil’s wiles? He used His word, saying, ‘It is written’ to defeat his ploy. We are to imitate the Lord in our warfare. His word is our warfare manual. Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning…”

Every situation we face has a direction from the Lord. David understood this powerful strategy. 1 Samuel 30 is the narrative. When David and his men came back to Ziklag, they discovered that their city had been ransacked and burned. Their wives, children, and flocks were gone. What did David do? First he strengthened himself in the Lord (verse 6) then he inquired of the Lord. He asked the Lord what he should do and the Lord told him (verse 8).

There is another passage where David inquired of the Lord. Two exact situations arose in warfare, yet David sought the Lord for fresh orders in each one. 2 Samuel 5:18-25 are verses I visit frequently.

Strategic warfare requires revelational insight. It is the fruit of crying out to the Lord. If we move forward on our own, we will be walking into hidden land mines. I encourage you to read again how the Lord directed Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:1-22.

I just want to capture one of his words. Verse 12 says, “…we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

Verses 21-22 are a written account of probably the greatest war strategic ever recorded in history. When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes!

Our greatest resource for strategic warfare is our dependence on the Lord. Time after time in Scripture, there are accounts of how the Lord stepped in to make a way where there was no way. Let us continue to seek the Lord for clear direction in each situation we face.

As I read through Isaiah this time I am writing God’s weaponry down in my journal. Why? I am using them as I pray for my nation and the world. Did you know that He whistles for the fly and the bee to do His bidding? He has a broom of destruction, and His indignation is another of His weapons.

We know from 2 Corinthians 10:4 that our weapons are powerful. It says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” Verse 5 says that they cast down every argument and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

What do you know about the Lord that you incorporate into your prayer life? By the way, prayer is a life-skill. It is a praying heart that will stand firm in the face of the impossible.

There are hidden enemy strongholds that we cannot see. I envision an ant farm. Did you have one of those as a child? You could watch how the ants tunneled around. Proverbs 6:6 says to consider the ways of the ants.

Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call out to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” The word ‘mighty’ means inaccessible. It is the mighty weapon of revelational insight for strategic warfare.

The Lord is All Knowing, All Present, and All Powerful. There is nothing hidden from Him. He sees what we cannot. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says that our eyes have not seen, nor have our ears heard the things He has prepared for those who love Him.

Verse 10 in the Amplified says, “Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the (Holy) Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny).”

Here is a new song: The Cross

I will sing of Your mighty love. I will sing of Your grace. You are faithful and You are awesome in power. In mercy You redeemed me. In Your love You remained. The cross was Your death so I could live.

You took my place. You bore my sin. You came in humility and You died the same. O the wonder and the power as You laid Your life down for me. The cross was Your cruel punishment. Though You had no sin. It was my sin that nailed You. My sins were judged on the cross. You died for me to destroy the works of the enemy.

O I praise Your name and I rejoice in You. I bow in worship. I kiss Your feet of love. My heart melts within me enfolded in Your grace. Yes I will praise Your name. I will praise Your name forever.

I finished reading the gospels and went to Isaiah. O my. It feels like I’m reading about our present news. Isaiah 8:12 says, “Do not say, A conspiracy, concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” As I read this I thought back to the cross.

The cross speaks of Jesus’ victory over the enemy of our soul. The only way he can affect us is to make a gap. Isaiah 7:6 was the plot of Judah’s enemy. Listen to the words. “Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them…”

Now listen to the word the Lord spoke to Ezekiel in 22:30. “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

Do not grow weary! We must continue to unite as one and stand in the gap for our nation. Let us be a high wall of intercession to fortify and strengthen our President, his cabinet and staff, and the legal folks looking into the fraudulent election. We must close this gap that the enemy is making for himself to rule over this nation through evil plotting!

Adversity means calamity or distress. I think of Psalm 18. David was in adversity. Saul and his army were hunting him like a pack of wolves ready to devour their prey. Verse 18 says, “They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.”

Luke 4:18 Amplified says, “…oppressed (who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity).” Proverbs 17:22 says, “…a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Psalm 37:8 says, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret–it only causes harm.” Fret means to eat or gnaw into; chafe, wear, corrode, or to rub. Could fretting be the root of bones wasting away, causing bone on bone conditions?

Sins done against us can mar us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I think back to a young woman walking in a park with her finance. She was gang raped in front of him. She broke off their engagement because she was so embarrassed. She told me this after I had spoken to a group of women. She was 65, and asked me to help her forgive the gang. All those years she chaffed.

You have your own story of being marred. The key to inner release is through heart forgiveness. It first requires processing to acceptance. Nothing can change what has happened in our past. However, we can change our attitude towards what happened. We view the one who sinned against us through the eyes of the cross. We are forgiven, and they are forgiven ALL sins. Ephesians 4:32 and Colossians 3:13 are commands: forgive as you have been forgiven. Isaiah 52:14 says, “…so His visage was marred more than any man.” The Lord’s marring bought us salvation.

To forgive from the heart requires a decision to NOT bring up their sin against you again. That time you were marred has passed. The only way you can keep it alive is through your thoughts. It is time to burn that record of wrongs and be freed from it. The power of forgiveness lies in our heart’s obedience to fully forgive JUST AS we are fully forgiven.

We reap the consequences of the sins that we sow. However, we don’t always reap in the same season that we sow. Are you still harvesting crops from some sins in your past?

I love Psalm 130:3-4 which says, “If You, Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”

Why do we sin when our sin-debt was paid for in full? 1 Peter 2:24 says, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we who have died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.”

I encourage you to read Isaiah 53 often to keep Jesus’ death fresh in your memory bank. The word of God that is hidden in our heart’s reservoir will rise up as a testimony each time we are tempted to sin.

The temptation to sin is a deceptive ploy. In the face of that temptation we must remember that we are DEAD to sin. It no longer has power over us. We have been freed from satan’s rule. He only has sway over those who are disobedient. Ephesians 2:2 says, “…the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”

Let the consequences from past sins be like a mental memorial stone. Put a HUGE sign on it which says ‘That was then, this is now.’ Jesus’ death on the cross cancelled satan and his minions’ power over us! Jesus triumphed over them through the cross.

The only way a believer can sin is through willful disobedience.James wrote about the progression of a temptation. Then in verse 16 he said, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” The more of God’s truth that we experientially know and apply to our lives, will be the sentinel within that warns of a hidden temptation. Remember that when we sin against the Lord we are trampling on His grace.

Daily Thoughts: insights from my quiet time is now FREE for today, Thursday and Friday on Amazon.

As of right now (7:00AM) they do not have the cover up. Put books by J Marilyn Adams in the search, scroll down, and it is right after Cultivating Our Heart

This book is a compilation of 90 days of my Facebook posts (July-September). Many of you have requested to have them in print. Hopefully the paperback will be released today as well

• 

1 Peter 4:12-13 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

James 1:2 in the J B Philiips says, “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resist them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!”

Anything that the Lord allows in our lives is purposeful. I think of Job. He did not know that God had given satan permission to touch his life. Yet we know God’s purpose from James 5:11. It says, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord–that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

The Lord’s nature remains steadfast no matter what our adversity is. He has called us to endure, therefore He has equipped us. Ephesians 6:12-13 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

We are living in the evil day now. Paul’s words are timeless truth. We must stand in God’s promises through His word. We are in worldwide adversity. Let us cry out to the Lord for His wisdom to navigate through this pandemic so He is glorified. Remember Colossians 2:15. It says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, TRIUMPHING over them in it.”

Here is part of the song about Jonah: God told Jonah to go down to Nineveh, that ole wicked town but Jonah didn’t want to go where he was sent. Until that big fish came along and showed ole Jonah he was wrong, and after that ordeal he changed his mind and went.

The Lord’s purpose for our lives will be fulfilled. However we may take a circular route because of our disobedience. I know by experience. In 1975 I disobeyed what the Lord told me and I reaped those consequences for 10 years! Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.”

Think back to the children of Israel. All of the original men died in the wilderness because of their disobedience. Numbers 14:33 says, “And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.”

Here is a verse that strikes terror in my heart. Psalm 106:15 says, “And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” Spiritual leanness is a dry desert.

Proverbs 13:15 Amplified says, “Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard (like a barren, dry soil or the impassable swamp).”

The path of obedience is strewn with grace. Let us run to embrace His will and ways over ours. Let Psalm 71:2-3 be our prayer. It says, “Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline Your ear to me. Be a strong refuge, to which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.”

I want to bring out three types of adversity. First is the consequences of our fleshly choices to sin. David’s sin with Bathsheba brought adversity within his own family.

Another is when we directly disobey the Lord. I think of Balaam. Numbers 22:22 says, “Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him…”

Jonah ended up in the belly of a great fish when he ran from what the Lord had called him to do. In Jonah 1:2 the Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh. Verse 3 says, “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord…”

The third type of adversity comes when God gives permission for satan to work against us. We know from the book of Job that God took away His hedge of protection around Job and all that he had. We also know that He allowed Peter to be sifted by satan.

Now I want to bring you to John 19. Pilot asked Jesus a question but He didn’t answer him. Pilot haughtily spoke in verse 10 which says, “…Do you not know that I have the power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

I love Jesus’ answer. Verse 11 says, “…You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above…” So it is in our lives. Nothing touches us except what the Lord permits.

Job 42:2 says, “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” The Lord is All Powerful, All Knowing, and All Present. The next time we each face adversity, let us stop and ask the Lord where it is coming from. If He has allowed it, then He has a divine purpose.

Ephesians 3:10 says, “To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” Let us be an authentic testimony of His wisdom at work within us in every type of adversity. He empowers us to endure so that He is glorified.