Hello friends of the Bridegroom,

I pray your summer (or whatever season you happen to be in around the world) is giving you all kinds of opportunities to exercise a thankful heart unto the King! He is so worthy of all our moments, our words, every breath. Even when may not feel like praising, He remains most worthy and that is when we need to rise up and worship the most!

Speaking of feelings, I wonder if you have felt as though you are being eaten alive lately? Attacked by  an invisible someone or something that wants you dead? It seems many I have talked with in the Body as of late have felt the same, intense pressure. As I pondered this, it seemed a part of me that has been asleep somehow stretched awake and I realized  we feel this way because it’s real! We are in a battle! We are the potential prey of a hungry, evil “lion”, Satan, himself. As the end of the age draws near, he works harder, prowls around more intensely hunting for our souls, thinking of every trick in the book to make us stumble, distract us, cause our eyes to come unfixed from our Prize, our Jesus. Could this sly, vile one know his days are so few? He pours out the illusion of defeat strongly on the Bride of Christ in these last days. But we are not left without hope!

I was listening to the Prayer Room live from Kansas City this morning via web stream, and Mr. Justin Rizzo was singing one of my favorite songs:

♫ I must train like an athlete, growing a little stronger each day. I must be diligent like a farmer, knowing I’ll see the fruit one day. I must fight like a soldier, lest I become a casualty. For every day, I am fighting here…on the battlefield of this age ♫

♪God, help me to be sober-minded, vigilant and self-controlled. For my enemy is like a lion, seeking whom he may destroy. So I open up my mouth and speak it helping myself to believe  that I have the power to defeat him, as I am seated now with Christ ♪

I was so touched by the anointing on these words, I found myself unable to finish brunch. I had to stop everything and praise the Lord for His promise of keeping us from stumbling as we choose daily to abide in Him! His Spirit ministered to the depths of my soul and tears of revival washed my heart clean. We are so weak, friends. As we walk, sometimes crawl on this journey of life, we often see a huge road of uncertainty ahead and wonder how in the world we will ever make it. Oh, we must not forget that we do not walk alone! The very One who called us to this Narrow Road, is the Good Shepherd that will keep guiding, perfectly leading, and even carry us when need be until we reach the finish mark. We have not the power to win, to victor over darkness in our own human strength. BUT, as we keep coming back to Him, He is able and willing to complete the work He began in us! It delights His heart to finish what He started! When we give our all, He will give the rest. His strength begins where ours ends. But, we have to keep going! If we don’t quit, we win! It’s a promise!

One thing that really caught my attention in this worship song was the part about “opening up my mouth to speak it”. It is so important to speak words of LIFE, TRUTH, and VICTORY over ourselves and others and into situations. Faith comes by hearing! And hearing by the Word of God! So if our faith is feeling stale, the best thing we can do is read the Word aloud, and speak its Truth and Life into every aspect of our life, and the lives of our loved ones.

Every day is a battle here. It won’t BECOME a battle eventually. It IS a battle right now, and things are going to only grow more intense as we get closer to His coming. We won’t win if we don’t fight well. We must daily pray back the Word to Him from 1 Peter 4:7, “Help me to be sober-minded, vigilant and self-controlled…because the end of all things is near”.

I go to my garden every day, and God always, always meets me there with a brand new heart lesson to teach me. Some lessons, He teaches me over and over again. Three things that a gardener learns early on is: 

1. You have to get control of the weeds or they will take over and choke out every good fruit.

2. You have a lot of work to do if you want to see a worthy harvest. The work doesn’t stop once everything is planted. It takes diligence to maintain and keep everything healthy and growing well.

3. If you’re not patient, you will never reap the harvest you dream of. Plants don’t grow overnight, but over time, you know your work is paying off. You can see growth and beauty. When you see blossoms, it’s a given. Fruit is coming soon. You don’t know the day exactly. You just know the harvest will be ready shortly.

The Lord is giving me grace to daily apply these same principles in my own life.  I’ve learned it is best to prevent “weeds” or yank them up by the roots, rather than letting them grow even a little bit before getting rid of them. It’s the same with bad habits, distractions, or any “little fox” in our lives trying to steal the life out of us by sucking up lots of our time and energy.

In the same way that our garden may be in trouble, if we aren’t dilligent to check on it daily, so can our spirit suffer when we don’t have time with the Lord, at His feet, in His Word daily. Even when we think we may not need a fresh word from Him today, or we’re too busy to sit still- that’s often when He wants to teach us the most profound lessons, speak to us in the most “real” way. I went up to my garden one day to find a critter had eaten nearly all of my sweet potato leaves! Then, it had moved onto the beans. Help! Had I not gone up when I did, thinking there was no major work needing done, the plants could have been destroyed. Thankfully, the “Groundhog Off” kept the critters away.

God has really taught me this past year that endurance, patience is required of Him to win the prize. It is simply not possible to get there without it. In Luke 21, as Jesus was explaining to His friends that they would be persecuted and hated on account of Him, He gave them a  very powerful word about patience, “By your steadfastness and patient endurance you shall win the true life of your souls.” Wow! It is by patient endurance that our souls will ultimately win! Those who play the “church games” will never make it when the days grow truly evil, friends. The last age is not for the faint hearted, or those who think they must have what they want, when they want it. It is PATIENCE and ENDURANCE that gets us victoriously to the end! It will be those who are willing to die with Christ who will eternally live with Him. We must wake up from our slumber and realize that the Kingdom of God is at hand! And the Kingdom is not for wimps! In the same way that a farmer’s patient endurance will eventually, in God’s most beautiful, perfect time, produce a bountiful harvest, so will our endurance in this Good Fight lead to the eternal prize of being in the presence of our Beautiful Savior, uninterupted, forever!

I was especially delighted to find the very same words from the morning worship, the same theme that God had hovering over my heart as I’ve spent countless hours already this year tending my garden…the same words were right there in His precious Word!

From 2 Timothy 2 :

So you, my son, be strong (strengthened inwardly) in the grace (spiritual blessing) that is [to be found only] in Christ Jesus. Take [with me] your share of the hardships and suffering [which you are called to endure] as a good (first-class) soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier when in service gets entangled in the enterprises of [civilian] life; his aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him. And if anyone enters competitive games, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully (fairly, according to the rules laid down). [It is] the hard-working farmer [who labors to produce] who must be the first partaker of the fruits. Think over these things I am saying [understand them and grasp their application], for the Lord will grant you full insight and understanding in everything. The saying is sure and worthy of confidence: If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny and disown and reject Him, He will also deny and disown and reject us. If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.

(Amplified)

Wow! How alive and active are His beautiful, powerful Words! Keep running, dear friends! Keep fighting with all that is in you, knowing that when your strength is gone, His only begins and He will fight for you and with you because He is faithful to the end.

If you don’t quit, you win!!

Running the race till I see His face,