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Pray. Obey. Slay.
Jon Burgess“Then the dragon tried to drown the woman with a flood of water that flowed from his mouth. But the earth helped her by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that gushed out from the mouth of the dragon. And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children—all who keep God’s commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus. Then the dragon took his stand on the shore beside the sea.”
Revelation 12:15-18
It's time to slay the dragon! Though there are various interpretations of the prophetic imagery of the Book of Revelation there are a few things that are crystal clear regardless of your theological paradigm. Jesus Wins. Satan Loses. Those who are with Jesus will win in the end though enduring many trials. Those who are with Satan will lose though enjoying a brief but ultimately unsatisfying romp with sin. God loves us. Satan hates us. When man fell into sin in Genesis so did nature. Fallen nature can destroy us but our God will defend us. The Saints will take their stand through obedience to God's commands and through the living out of their testimony. Satan will take his stand against us seeking to tempt us to sin and silence our testimony. "When then enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall life up a standard against him." Isaiah 59:19
Isaiah 59:19 says "when" not "if" the enemy comes in like a flood. The country is reeling from the destruction of Hurricane Harvey and the ensuing floods in Houston. Florida is bracing itself for the worst as Category 5 Hurricane Irma has just pummeled the Caribbean islands and is headed towards Haiti. This certainly feels like the dragon trying to drown God's people describes in Revelation 12. So, what are The Saints supposed to do in the face of such storms? We take our stand. How?
Pray: By raising up a standard in the Spirit through prayer. In Matthew 8 the disciples thought they were going to drown. Jesus spoke "Peace Be Still" and the wind and the waves obeyed Him. We have this authority in the Name of Jesus. In fact Cyndi and I were just praying this scripture this morning. Our nephew Zack is at College in Florida. We take our stand in prayer.
Obey: By raising up a standard through obedience. Revelation 12 makes it clear that the enemy cannot win when the people of God are obeying His commands. The quickest way to calm the storms in our lives is repent for our rebellion and to do what He's asked us to. For some of us we need to give financially to Disaster Relief Funds at work in Houston, Haiti, and other areas affected by the storms. When one brother or sister is under water, we all are.
Slay: By raising up a standard through Scripture. We won't get far fighting the forces of darkness with good feelings, wishes, and fairy dust. We will prevail by winning the way Jesus did! The Word of His Testimony was the Word of God! When Satan was coming in like a flood with his crafty words and half truths in the wilderness (Mt 4), how did Jesus overcome? The same way we will! By taking His stand in scripture. Every lie Jesus would combat with the truth. We must do the same in these last days.
My son Justice and I slayed a dragon this morning. In the early hours of the morning Justice came into our room after having a bad dream. He told us how he and Jaxon were camping and these snakes came. No one could stop them, not even the adults! A snake bit his brother Jaxon and then bit him and he woke up. He was scared. We took our stand: We prayed. We obeyed by walking in faith together. We slayed by standing on the promise of scripture: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." Luke 10:19
In the Mighty Name of Jesus we say "peace be still" to Hurricane Irma. No more destruction. No more lives. We pray for immediate dissipation and loss of strength and that the trajectory would switch and head back to sea and the world would know God is in charge! We pray for the families of the ten who died and for the homes and properties destroyed to be restored. You are bigger then this storm and we put our trust in You!
