UNRIVALED

“Sometimes called the "Nonpareil," meaning "unrivaled," a fair way to describe the unbelievable colors of the male Painted Bunting. This species is locally common in the Southeast, around brushy areas and woodland edges.”

I love the picture of this bird and when I first saw it, I didn’t believe it could possible be real, but then I looked it up. Sure enough, it is as beautiful as the posting I saw on FB. Even more amazing is the name by which it is often known - nonpareil - "Having no match or equal." I thought immediately of the unrivaled beauty of my Lord.

I love the majesty of God’s creation, and every time I see something so lovely – sunsets, sunrises, flora and fauna, fish swimming in the coral reefs, fall foliage, painted Zebras, colorful birds, and oh so much more – I have this vision of God, paintbrush in hand, putting the minutest details on every thing He created for us to enjoy. I love to paint, so that is probably why I see this particular image. 

One day when my nephew, Jon, was only 2 years old, he and his momma came to visit me in Hawai’i and we took a ride around my favorite side of my island. Without fail, the Ko'olau mountains take my breath away, and I mused, out loud, 

“Oh I want to paint those mountains!” and Jon replied, as only a 2-year old can, 

“Will you paint trees on them?” 

He took me quite literally – and thankfully we cannot, nor do we need to consider actually redoing God’s majestic handiwork. We should, however, always take time to enjoy it - and to thank God for gracing us with such beauty.

“Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky and they will tell you; or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of these does not know the hand of the LORD has done this and in His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:7-10

THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD

In the throws of this pandemic I’ve sensed the Lord encouraging me to lay hold of truths I have put on the back burner. Oh, I have not forgotten these truths, but neither am I laying hold of them, and herein lies the foundation for anxiety, fears, speculations and strongholds of the enemy running amuck and strangle-holding even believers, when our rightful place is in the safe, sure, impenetrable Stronghold of our Lord.

Fear and isolation are two of Satan’s most-played fiery darts, and why? Because with these two, mankind can be immobilized and/or driven to absurd manias. Our flesh and blood is told its only options are fight or take flight, and while this might have valid applications, these are not the only options for the people of God. IT IS TIME to shut these voices up and tune our heart, our mind and our ears to the voice of our victorious Lord. Our God’s promises are yes and amen, and they are always dependent on HIM fighting our battles. Battles belong to God because only God knows specific strategies necessary to take the unseen enemy down. God’s word reminds us our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12),  and He also reminds us the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians. 10:4) IT IS TIME to remember this is a spiritual battle, and our God has not given us a fight or flight mentality, rather we are to stand, and having done all, to stand firm when Satan rears his ugly, defeated head!

I sense an urgency for the people of God to take our positions in the midst of this pandemic, to put on and take up the weapons of our warfare, to stop listening to voices that are hell-bent on pulling us down into the muck and mire, or at least keeping us in deep trenches. It is time to lift our eyes to the Lord who is our help, our shield, our defender and THE weapon of our warfare.

OUR GOD – FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT – AND OUR POSITION AS THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD ARE THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE.

It isn’t our faith that shields us, but the fact that God has given us faith as a shield in this and every battle. We lift up declarations of faith, then stand and watch as God extinguishes all the fiery darts of Satan.

We don’t fashion a belt of truth for this battle, we simply declare HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIGHT. Jesus, The Word, became flesh and dwelt among us, died on Calvary’s Cross so that we might live and breathe and find our being in Him, in His resurrection power. Jesus is our TRUTH, our intercessor, our Victor, soon and coming King! He is our belt of truth; His Word holds us altogether. We must read and commit it to memory, so we have the Words of Truth at hand when Satan spews out his diabolical lies. It is God’s truth that sets us free in the midst of the battle.

There is no one righteous, no not one, the Bible tells us, and that same chapter in Romans (3) defines our breastplate as the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. As we take our stand, Satan sees JESUS, risen and triumphantly leading us into victory.

We should follow the guidelines set out by our various government agencies, because God tells us to and because we love and care for the safety of all the one anothers in our world, but that does not negate His mandate for us to stand in the resurrection power of Jesus, covered by His blood, appropriately dressed for the battle raging all around us; STAND fully equipped with all God has granted us in Christ Jesus, and watch our God battle on our behalf, on behalf of the world and all peoples whom He created and loves.

There is a huge enemy, affecting every one of us in ways too numerous to mention, and just as the CDC and every other agency is joining forces to fight this pandemic in the flesh, we need to join forces as the people of God under the banner of God’s almighty love. We need to know, in the depths of our innermost being, and we need to declare that the weapons of our warfare are mighty and powerful, fully capable of defeating every attack of Satan, even this pandemic which he is using to isolate mankind, to drive daggers of fear into hearts, to raise every kind of suspicion and mistrust. This battle is not flesh and blood. This battle is much larger, and more sinister than this world can imagine, and this battle belongs to the Lord who has equipped us with weapons of warfare that are mighty and powerful to tearing down every stronghold! We need to know what they are and, having done all to stand, we need to stand firm in HIM. Here are just a few of our weapons…

OUR SALVATION is our mighty weapon. The blood of Jesus Christ is our covering and protection.

THE TRUTH – not all the hyperbole prevalent today – THE TRUTH found in God’s Word, is our mighty weapon. KNOW IT AND USE IT!

THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT, leading and guiding us into all truth, is our mighty weapon. Stop the thought-talk, shut off the television, and LISTEN to the Holy Spirit, who reveals the Father’s heart to us.

OUR INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE PRAYERS, sweet incense coming before the throne of God, is our mighty weapon. CALL SOMEONE TODAY AND PRAY, TOGETHER. Start a prayer vigil over any one of the available ‘social media’ venues. Or join some already doing this.

THE INTERCESSION OF JESUS, seated at the right hand of God, is our mighty weapon, so enter into way more conversations with Jesus than with others about the dilemma we are in.

THE WORDS OF OUR MOUTHS AND MEDITATIONS OF OUR HEARTS will either be weapons of mass destruction, or mighty to the tearing down of strongholds! Speak peace. Speak comfort. Speak joy. Oh God, may our words and meditations be acceptable to You.

OUR GLOBAL WORSHIP – on FB Live, or our own newly created TV channels, or YouTube live, or any other way we are gathering together as the Body of Christ, is our mighty weapon. We are not alone. We are not isolated. Church doors may have been forced shut, but it just means we get to be connected in most unexpected and highly effective ways these days.

OUR ZOOM, etc. FELLOWSHIP is our mighty weapon. Don’t sit home isolated when you have the opportunity to join others. Who would have dreamed God would radically redeem social media platforms for His glory and transform online office conference call venues into fellowship halls!!

The weapons of our warfare tear down strongholds for us personally, for one another, and indeed for this entire world. I’ve listed just some of our artillery that readily come to mind this Sunday morning April 19^th 2020. I know you can name even more. But we gotta do more than know them. There is an urgent need for us to really lay hold of the fact we do not fight this battle; it belongs to the LORD, and He has equipped us with weapons of warfare which are mighty and powerful to the tearing down of strongholds.

There is a physical pandemic ravishing the world, no doubt about that. But the real battle is not flesh and blood, and WE KNOW the enemy has already been defeated by the Blood of the Lamb. So, lets SUIT UP! SHOW UP! And STAND UP together, equipped with every weapon in God’s arsenal, and under the banner of God’s love, let’s lift up a mighty victorious shout as we exhort and encourage one another to hold fast the hope and high calling we have in Christ Jesus. Let’s sing and shout the victory for the honor of Jesus, our resurrected Savior, through the power of the Indwelling Holy Spirit, for the hope of the world, and for the Glory of God. IMUA!

May His Kingdom come; may His will be done on earth just as it is in Heaven.

Amen and amen,

Sistah Sue – just one among many in Christ’s mighty army.

And, having done all to stand, WE STAND!