2022, as prophesied, has roared in with trouble. From nations in confinement, to rumours of wars, to floods and storms, to the next global medical crisis, everywhere on this earth, times are turbulent.
What to do when trouble comes your way?
No trouble has ever caught the Lord by surprise.
Two millennia ago, Jesus said “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)
A few weeks ago, one of our pastors asked, “When you speak of the troubles we will face in 2022, is this spiritual or physical trouble or both?” (For more, see our Crossover Night sermon. )
When Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble”, He was not talking about just physical conflict, He was talking about spiritual attacks as well.To respond, we must learn about transcending dimensions.
Every physical attack has first started in the spiritual realm. Before violence can become violence on earth, there has been violence in the spiritual realm, that has caused a certain boldness. Activation of realms or the lack thereof, permits certain dimensions to draw closer.
Trouble is both Spiritual and Physical
Physical trouble is what you haven’t stopped in the spiritual. In order for a sickness to manifest in the physical, spiritually, it was not terminated before it could manifest. Before an accident can manifest in the physical, it must be stopped in the spiritual. Somewhere, we missed seeing what the enemy was doing, and we didn’t stop it, so then it translates into the physical realm.
God is giving the grace in this season for His people to pay strong attention to small details. The gentle whispers of the Lord will allow us to win in the spirit realm and have certain victory in our day to day reality. Of essence, is our capacity to see from Heaven’s eyes and respond with Heaven’s authority on the earth.
Heaven’s Perspective brings Clarity
If you see the enemy gathering around the mountain, it is not because angels didn’t fight for you; they just shifted their perimeter. The servant, who awoke to see, in the natural, that the enemy with horses and chariots had surrounded the city, was greatly alarmed. Elisha, who saw in the spirit, was not moved and instead, prayed for his servant to see clearly. When the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, he saw the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha! (see 2 Kings 6)
Being in the same space does not automatically mean the same protection. The servant required spiritual eyes to see clearly. Mercifully, the Man of God prayed his servant would see from Heaven’s perspective so that his faith could be activated. Fear is the enemy of faith.
When the Enemy is Close, God is Closer
We all would like God to fight for us when the enemy is 30,000 ft away. Whenever the enemy gathers in the valley, or below our mountain, physically, it is too close for comfort. Like many, the servant panicked. Physically, we do not want the enemy so close and become afraid. Yet spiritually, there was a huge barrier between what was happening in the physical and the spiritual for Elisha and his servant.
There are warfares in the spirit realm that causes things invisible to become visible. which is what unfolded. Elisha prayed and then his fearful servant transformed into one amazed by the army of God in his midst.
When the Syrians came against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So the Lord struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha (2 Kings 6:19). After marching the enemy straight into Samaria, the Syrians did not raid Israel again!
What no man could do in the natural, the Lord moved in the supernatural through a Man of God who could see in the spirit realm and maintain his peace in the Lord.
To Hear Clearly, Peace is Essential.
For King David, trouble abounded in his life. From bears and lions, to a demon possessed father-in-law throwing javelins, to coups d’etats by his own sons, turmoil and suffering were his close companions.Yet consider David’s perspective in Psalm 37:1, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” David powerfully understood that trouble is temporary and then exhorts, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.”
Trouble does not Dictate our Response
David’s focused heart on God was his super power.
The constancy of David’s trust in the Lord, to do good and dwell in the land, to make faithfulness a closer friend than any other, enacted kingdom realities and ushered David into favour that no other king would ever encounter, other than Jesus.
David’s tried and tested life in God attests, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
What we Gaze upon Matters
We can’t delight in God and fret about the enemy at the same time. Our brains and hearts can’t be meditating on two opposing realities. We must choose the better and delight in the Lover of our soul. As we see clearly and stay sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, trouble will be vanquished, for what we demolish in the spirit, will be arrested in our physical reality!
In this year of great upheaval and great victory, may our delight in God be our focus, and His ways, our strategy and His heart our delight!
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