Thankfully, I do learn from my mistakes.
A few weeks ago my daughter had a little cold; I prayed for her, rebuked the illness, commanded her body to receive its healing, and a few days later she was fine. When my throat started hurting a day later, I honestly thought "Well, it wasn't a very bad cold; I'll be over it really quickly."
There are so many things wrong with that statement! First of all, I'm a child of God and I believe Jesus healed us all at the cross when He bore every curse on our behalf. I also have been healed many times and my normal state of being is "divine health"... So I did pray for healing, I even rebuked the illness.
Luke 4:39
So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
But in my heart, I still believed it was a small cold and I would soon be over it. I don't know why -- I really do know better -- but I put
confidence in my flesh. I trusted in my body to overcome what I thought was a small, weak attack. I didn't start to fight the enemy, didn't really resist him with much strength, because I figured it was not worth really resisting.
I was wrong. The enemy took the open window and made it into a door.
I Peter 5:8-9 NIV
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
In "resisting", we are to actively "fight against" the wiles of the devil. We are to protect ourselves from the attack, using the weapons God has armed us with.
Isaiah 28:6 (NIV)
He will be a spirit of justice
to him who sits in judgment,
a source of strength to
those who turn back the battle at the gate.
In the Old Testament, when an enemy attacked a walled city, the invading forces would storm the gates. A city's defense was usually only as strong as its gate. If the enemy managed to break the gate or somehow get past the gate, the city could easily be taken by the invading army. If all the city's warriors concentrated on fighting the enemy at the gate, the city was much less vulnerable. Once the army broke through the gates, the city was most likely lost.
Ephesians 4:27
...and do not give the devil a foothold...
When it became obvious that I was getting worse, not better, I stepped up the battle, and God immediately began showing me where I went wrong. Instead of resisting the enemy's attack, I allowed him to shove past me. Instead of standing firm against the enemy, I sort of just allowed it, hoping he would go away. He took advantage of my "luke warm attitude" like a bull in a china shop.
James 4:7 NIV
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Over the course of the next two weeks, God took me by the hand and led me through a battlefield. Before it was over, I ended up missing two days of work (very rare for me) and a practice I was really looking forward to. I spent four sleepless nights trying to breathe and 10 more days coughing.
What went wrong? I put confidence in the flesh; something Paul warned us strongly to avoid.
Philippians 3:3 NIV
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh...
I didn't really resist the enemy, didn't really grab hold of my healing, even though I know illness is a curse that Jesus bore for me so that I might receive blessings of divine health; "by His wounds, I have been healed".
Ephesians 6:12
For 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.
Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
What went right? God showed me that we must resist
immediately when the enemy comes against us. We must stand up and fight against him, hard and fast, not allowing him the slightest entrance.
We must stand against what we know is wrong, and stand for what is right. We have been given the keys to bind and loose; we must begin to use what we've been given. Jesus bought our rights with His blood.
Matthew 16:19
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
John 14:12
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Isaiah 28:6 (NIV)
He will be a spirit of justice
to him who sits in judgment,
a source of strength to
those who turn back the battle at the gate.
I began
really resisting the enemy. I literally spoke aloud to the illness and bound it in the name of Jesus. I walked around speaking the Word, claiming my healing and commanding my body to obey Christ. I rebuked the work of Satan in my life... and in my family, for good measure! I announced my faith in the work of Jesus on the cross and in the healing power of His blood. I received victory in every realm, claiming the blessings in Deuteronomy as my blood-bought right as a joint heir with Christ. "I only go up and not down; everything my hand touches succeeds; I'm blessed when I go out and blessed when I come in. By His stripes I am healed. He took up my illnesses upon Himself, the punishment necessary for my peace was upon Him. I am blessed, thank You Jesus!"
John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
As my body began to align itself with the Word of God and I began to actually feel better, I was determined to not allow that same a lazy attitude/spirit to work through me again. I got my chance a few days later when my husband said his foot hurt so badly he thought it might be broken. I rebuked the pain and called for God's healing to flow through my husband. I commanded his foot to be healed, in Jesus' name.
The next day, it was better. Two days later he could walk almost normally again. He said he didn' think it was possible for something that hurt that badly to feel that much better in only a few days.
In the physical, it probably isn't possible. But we aren't talking physical here -- we're talking spiritual. With God, all things are possible.
At the end of my journey, God revealed to me this beautiful, shining star scripture:
Isaiah 28:6 (NIV)
He will be a spirit of justice
to him who sits in judgment,
a source of strength to
those who turn back the battle at the gate.
As we are the ones enforcing the Kingdom of God in this earth, we are judging right and wrong, good and evil. We must no longer sit idly by as the enemy runs the earth; God has given it to us, to bring in His justice.
We start where we are, small, by turning back the battle at the gate. We don't allow the enemy to push the gate open and destroy our city. God is our strength to fight the enemy and win.
He is "a source of strength to those" - US! - "who turn back the battle at the gate." We don't wait until it gets out of control; we stop it before it gets a foothold.
I learn from my mistakes.
Turn Back the Battle At the Gate 
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