God Is Bigger

"He knew He would live."

WE MUST BE as persistent as the devil. He doesn’t give up but works continuously for a way in, into our minds and into our hearts. Recently, I recommended a book on controlling behavior, written by a man of God, to a friend who found it immensely helpful in their situation. Sometime later, in a phone call, they asked me, “Do you know what a controlling person does when they get to the end of the behaviors in this book?” I replied, “No, what?” Their answer rings so true today. “They go back to the beginning.”

The devil has a list of what has worked for him which he uses on replay. He doesn’t care if it’s trite or even worn out, it worked before and, hey, if you keep pressing over and over again, something will break. He doesn’t care how foul it is, how stupid he looks, how worthless it makes him, only that it bugs you.

And there’s our first truth: It bugs us. So what. There is therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but in the Spirit (Romans 8:1). So you had, what my mother calls, a “flesh flash.” SO WHAT. God does not condemn you for it. His Son is human. Jesus understands the flesh (our thoughts and physical actions), and He is forgiveness. Just say, “I’m sorry,” and “Help me not react this way. Give me peace,” and He will do that.

Then, second truth: Move on. Continue living, be happy. No need to hang around there, where you slipped up, even if you do it again and then again. God is at work in you, and He will make you better tomorrow than you are today. This keeps me going. I had to climb a cliff, almost vertically, with my gaze on my next handhold. Often, I had moments where there was nothing under my feet, no solid ground, and nothing in sight ahead further than my fingers.

Yet, when the devil got loud, God got louder, and stronger in me. Don’t get me wrong, the devil refused to shut up. I had to refuse to listen and learn not to react. The devil would spew the same old thing, and I’d groan, “Not another day like this.” Then, one day, I realized I’m supposed to have joy in every circumstance. This is the word of James 1:2. I like Minister Rick Renner’s translation of it:

“My dearest brothers and fellow comrades, I urge you right now to make a predetermined decision—and not one left to chance, emotions, or circumstances—that in absolutely everything you face in life, you are going to have joy. I’m even talking about times when you find yourself taken off guard, falling into and being completely surrounded by all kinds of difficulties, problems, and situations that have been sent to entrap you, trip you up, make you stumble, or produce destruction in your life.” (James 1:2, RIV)

There is also Philippians 4:8, which tells us to think of things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, with virtue and praise. It required deliberate actions to be happy and to think of what made me happy. I had to be just as determined to stay on the good path, the right path, as the devil was with that same old schmiel.

I want to weary him with my joy over God’s goodness instead of letting him weary me.

People in a bad place ask this all the time, “Where is God? Is He doing anything to help me?” The only one who’s going to reply, No, is the devil. God is always love, always peace, always FOR you. But He is God and sees our entire pathway. He isn’t deterred by the amount of darkness, by our mistakes, or even our lack of faith. If we’re too busy looking in the mirror at a fuzzy image of ourselves, then we won’t see His tender gaze looking back at us. If all we hear is the devil’s harp, then we’ll miss God’s praises.

We must be educated about the devil. Some won’t talk about him, and I totally get this. But what I didn’t know hindered me. What I thought I knew wasn’t enough. And the image of God I’d formed fell far short of the truth. He is far kinder, far gentler, and far more patient than we are aware. He is human. But we measure Him by our faltering human standards and not as God filled with God, hearing the Spirit of God, and the words of the Father. The Holy Spirit in Him and upon Him made the difference in His human life. It enabled Him to die, for He knew, HE KNEW HE WOULD LIVE.

He wasn’t worried about the devil. Not at all. As Minister Bill Johnson says, the devil is not God. This was not God vs. God, but that a being that God created tried to exalt himself as God. Jesus said He saw Satan fall as lightning (Luke 10:18). So “that’s that” on the equality issue. Our loving God, our beautiful Savior and King, and our peaceful Holy Spirit are so much greater. It’s like a flea arguing with the dog. A cricket angry at the sky. The end of death and sorrow will take just the barest breath of God. What we’ve written as a cataclysmic event, isn’t one.

What the devil has pictured as his big victory is, instead, the bumbling efforts of a pigheaded fool who wears a costume just well enough that the shadows fool us.

Jesus will return and all of heaven will resound. There will be trumpet blasts and shouts of victory all around. It will not be a silent event. Every eye will see Him, and either rejoice or cry out. It depends on which side of the fence you’re on, if He is Lord of your life or not, if you believe in His death and Resurrection. He is King regardless and Savior always and pours His life, His goodness into us today so that we can live every day with our cup overflowing, the anointing of God in us, welling up continually as life everlasting. The devil is short-term. God is always.

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” (Psalms 23:5)

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com