April 6, 2009

"Jenna..

remember my faithfulness to you in the past!" ...this has been my challenge from the Lord over the past few years. Over the last year, I have also sensed a need to have a heart of gratitude in the midst of all circumstances.

As I was reading from Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman today, I felt challenged in a new way...

2 Kings 6: 8-22...in this passage Elisha is surrounded by the Arameans and their horses and chariots. They are ready to capture him and Elisha's servant is afraid. "Elisha prayed, 'O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."

Cowman says, "Once our eyes are opened to God, we will see all the events of our lives, whether great or small, joyful or sad, as a "chariot" for our souls." He goes on to say, "On the other hand, even the smallest trial may become an object crushing everything in its path into misery and despair if we allow it."

The difference then...is in how we view them. "If we simply lie down, allowing them to roll over and crush us, they become an uncontrollable car of destruction. Yet if we climb onto them, as riding in a car of victory, they become chariots of God to triumphantly take us onward and upward."

"There is not much the Lord can do with a crushed soul...we need to better understand these attacks of the Enemy on our spirit and how to resist them. He seeks to 'wear out the saints of the most High' (Dan. 7:25) through a prolonged siege, until we finally, out of sheer weakness, surrender all hope of victory."

"Lord, open my eyes so I may see"...

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