Wounded on the Way...

3/24/2008
I was so down & depressed before I began to write the following. I was crying even as the Lord was giving it 2 me, because He was ministering 2 me. God always ministers the Word to u 1st before u can minister it 2 some1 else. It has 2 hit u 1st. And I needed Him 2 minister 2 me through His Word, which was the very thing that I did not wanna hear. But sometimes u get 2 a point where u have 2 submit 2 the Lord and allow Him 2 minister 2 u as only HE can. Otherwise, u remain n bondage 2 the enemy. As long as u walk n rebellion & stubborness 2 the leading of the Lord, then u continue 2 give place 2 the devil n ur life. The title of this describes exactly the feelings I had on the inside. I felt so wounded by the trials of life & just feeling like there was no deliverance n God, but I thank God that He has lifted that off of me, quickened me & made me alive again through His Word. He's caused me 2 hope again & revived my faith. It is my prayer that He do the same for u if u are also n that state. "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised.)" (Heb. 10:23) God bless u. ​

Wounded on the Way...​

Psalm 7:1-2
1 O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: 2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.​

Oh, the many times I have felt like there was none to deliver me out of the hands of the enemy! Sometimes we go through periods in our walk with God where it just seems like there is no end to the pain in our lives. Our spirit becomes weary and we begin to faint. We question certain events that may have occurred. Sometimes we even doubt God during those times, because we've been waiting on Him for deliverance and there seems to be no answer...​

I'm reminded of the many times that David cried out to God for deliverance in the Psalms:​

Psalm 6:2-3
2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed. 3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?​

David asked God 'how long, O Lord?' 'How long must I endure this trial before You will deliver me? My enemies are saying that there is no hope for me in God....'​

Sometimes in our lives we reach that very same place where we cry out and ask God, "Lord, how long?" The enemy has been talking to us saying God has forgotten about us, and He won't deliver us. But O God, I'm reminded of your Word! that says:​

Hebrews 10:35-37
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.​

Oh God, grant us patience Lord to wait on You, our Wonderful Deliverer! Help us not to cast away our confidence, but to know that after a little while, He that shall come He WILL come, and He will not tarry...​

Don't cast away your confidence during the trial. Be patient and remember: those that sow in tears will reap in joy.​

We have to decide if we believe the devil's report or the report of the Lord?​

God said, "They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run, and not be weary. And they shall walk, and not faint." (Is. 40:31)​

When we get wounded on our way to destiny, sometimes it can cause our hope to be deferred and we stop trusting in God like we should. Langston Hughes wrote a poem about a dream being deferred, but I believe that our dreams and visions from God can only be deferred if our hope in God is first deferred.​

Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.​

This scripture shows us exactly what happens when our hope is deferred. It'll make the soul (heart) sick... sick of serving God... sick of believing in God to come through... sick of waiting on God... and oftentimes this will happen right before the desire cometh... which is a tree of LIFE. The devil will send a spirit of death to make you abort the plans and purposes of God right before God sends you life... and that more abundantly. The devil will do his best to detour us right before the manifestation of what we have been believing God for...​

How is hope even deferred? Your hope is deferred when you take your eyes off of Jesus. That's why the scripture in Hebrews admonishes us to keep looking unto Jesus who IS the Author and the Finisher of our faith...​

Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Wherefore SEEING we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...​

I see 4 things in this scripture that we are admonished to do:​

1. SEEING - We have to have eyes to see our way through every trial and test that comes our way. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things UNSEEN. So though it is unseen to the natural eye, we have to look at it with our spiritual eye and catch hold of faith. We have to SEE our way out and see ourselves on the other side of the mountain. It is only then that we are able to speak to the mountain, and command it to move. We walk by faith and not by sight. Faith in the vision is what allows us to see the vision come to pass.​

2. Lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily BESET us - We have lay aside every besetting sin that seeks to burden us down. We have to stop waiting on God to move the sin and lay it aside. Those who are runners or were runners on the track team know that you cannot run a race carrying heavy loads on your back... You have to sit that stuff aside if you expect to run this race. In the Amplified Bible, it says that these besetting sins cleverly cling to and entangle us. That's what happens when we give place to the devil. He is allowed to set clever traps for us, and we will fall every time if we don't lay these things aside as the Word encourages us to. Galatians 5:1 says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." We have to make a DECISION not to fall into bondage, especially the same bondages that Christ has already liberated us from. Don't fall into the same snares over and over again.​

How are weights and sins laid aside? Through the renewing of you mind. Eph. 4:23 says 'Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.' In order to put off the old man and its weights, sins, lusts, and desires, you have to change your mind through the Word. Not just change your mind as in making a different decision, but your mind has to be transformed altogether through the washing of the Word. It is easy to simply decide to do things differently next time, but what God wants to do is uproot the old thought pattern and thought process where those things are no longer in you. They are no longer your nature, let alone your desire. But now your desire is to be pleasing to the Father.​

3. Thirdly, it tells us: Let us run WITH PATIENCE the race that is set before us - Hebrews 10:36 tells us that in order to receive what God has promised us, we have need of patience. God says that He reveals the ending of a thing at the beginning, and when He does that He desires to build our faith in Him and establish relationship in between the promise and the fulfillment. So it's not that God is hurting you or punishing you by making you wait for certain things... but instead He's molding you and making you ready for the glory that is before you. Jesus for the JOY that was set before Him endured the cross. He saw the glory beyond the cross, and that is how He endured the shame of the cross. That's the way we have to be... Even though we're in pain right now, we know what is set before us, and because we know what is set before us we can endure the cross... we can endure the pain... we can endure the suffering. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. We need to ask the Lord to help us be patient as we wait on Him. Resting in the Lord (in His presence) will strengthen us as we wait on Him.​

James 1:2-4
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.​

When we fall into temptations, our faith is being tried through fire. We are tried in fire to be purified just like gold. Those trying times bring about the fruit of patience, and when the fruit of patience has her perfect work or is perfected in that test, then you are perfected and entire, and you come out wanting nothing or lacking nothing that the Lord desired for you to obtain through that trial. His goal is to mold us and make us as we ought to be. If we were already there then there'd be no need for the trial, but the trial comes to take us there - to take us to that level in God where we walk as Christ walked, which is in victory over the enemy.​

Romans 5:1-4
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.​

Christ has given us access to the grace of God, and it is because of His grace and through His grace that we are able to stand even when we have been wounded and the devil is trying to make our hope be deferred. But because of the grace of God, instead of hope being deferred, we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God. As long as our eyes are on God, then we will continue to hope in the glory of God and remain steadfast when being tried through tribulation.​

Romans 5:3-4
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:​

Hope is birthed out of tribulation... when our eyes remain focused on God during the tribulation. When we allow the devil to focus our attention in on the wounds that come from our tribulation and how long the tribulation is lasting, then our hope is deferred and we eventually become hopeless. But when we focus on the glory that will come out of those tribulations, then we allow tribulation to give birth to hope in our lives, and that hope will carry us on to destiny and purpose. Tribulation worketh patience. Patience worketh experience. And experience worketh hope. That is the process.​

4. Finally Hebrews 12:1-2 admonishes us to keep LOOKING unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith - Our eyes have to have a solid focus on the goal ahead of us in order for us to attain that goal. That is what will keep our hope from being deferred even though we get wounded along the way.​

We stay focused by looking unto Jesus. Jesus is the Word. So that means our eyes have to be centered upon the Word. When we get wounded, we're gonna need to comfort ourselves with the SCRIPTURES. Psalms 119:92 says, Unless Your word had been my delight, I should have perished in my affliction. We have to let our delight be in the Word of God when we go through times of affliction. Otherwise, those afflictions will cause us to perish. But God said He will quicken us with His Word. So no matter how wounded we get, the Word can revive.​

Psalms 119:50
This is the comfort and consolation in my affliction that Your word has revived me and given me life.​

Psalms 119:77
Let Your merciful kindness be for me comfort according to Your word and let Your tender mercies come unto me that I may live for Your word is my delight.​

Psalms 119:93
I will never forget Your word because with it You have quickened me.​

So in order to keep looking unto Jesus, we must keep looking into the Word of God and delight ourselves in it. That is where our comfort will come from when we are hurting. That is what will keep us focused on the Author and the Finisher of our faith.​

God's Word renews our hope during times when our hope seems to be deferred. The Word will become flesh (or alive) to us and quicken us and give us strength to continue on in the race even though we have been wounded along the way.​

~​

God bless you. I pray this strengthened and encouraged you as much as it did for me. I pray God continue to strengthen you to endure hardness as a good soldier, and that you forever keep your eyes focused on Jesus who IS the Author and the Finisher of your faith. He will NOT leave you undone, but He is a FINISHER of that which He began in you, and He will see you through unto completion. I pray God stir up faith in you to believe the report of the Lord, and to walk in victory over every lie of the enemy over your life. Let the Truth of God's Word rule and reign in your life and reject every lie of the devil. God has not forgotten you. He has not thrown you away. He will not abandon you during times of trouble. He said He'll be WITH YOU IN TROUBLE. And He is with you, and He's carrying you all the way. No matter how wounded you get, God is there. He loves you and He's strengthening you right now. In Jesus' name. Amen.​

~jazzy~​

1 Corinthians 1:9
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.​