Little By Little

Monday, December 5th, 2011

Today's Passage: Deuteronomy chapter 7
Memory Verse> Deut. 7:22

God has given us so many awesome and precious promises! I love to read the book of Deuteronomy in the midst of a trial, because God clearly outlines in that book just how much He has invested in us. He lets us know that He will shower blessings upon us in the presence of our enemies-- in fact, He plans to take the land that belongs to our enemies and give it over to us, removing them out of the way as we go along. I must admit that I like the part about about being able to snatch the inheritance from those who refuse to acknowledge Him as God. That gets me charged and ready to walk in that promise right away.

But in all this excitement, the thing that sticks out is not so much that God will bless us and display us before our enemies; it's the fact that He'll EXPOSE us to them for a season. WHAT?! My earthly nature wants to scream, " Uh... Hello, Daddy?! I know You're God and all, but aren't You kinda keeping Your children in the grasp of death, surrounded by enemies? What's all that about?" And that's here His ultimate wisdom kicks in. Our pastors have been ministering to us about why building resistance is necessary for preparation to take the promise. But how is leaving our enemies all around us and taking them out one by one really going to prevent the invasion from taking place?

Even in the natural, God has made this concept clear to us by allowing us to be exposed to foreign and potentially deadly substances. Because we live in a fallen world, sickness is all around us, and we will eventually come in contact with a cold, the flu, or things that are worse. Why does He do this? He knows that the exposure is necessary so that our bodies, which are so efficient at protecting us, will recognize that something FOREIGN is threatening to invade and take over us. Our immune system will then begin to formulate antibodies to prevent this. But it is a PROCESS which takes TIME, and that's the element that makes the difference. We panic when we experience the presence of foreign substances round us, but it would be even more dangerous if God just caused them to disappear without allowing us to have to do anything. That's what the working of faith is all about, building resistance "little by little" so those foreign substances don't just run over us the next time.

What kind of God would He be if He just allowed us to receive the harvest of victory without having to engage in the fight ourselves? We would be weak and anemic, not being able to recognize and RESIST what comes to take us out, and the next potentially deadly substance we come in contact with WILL destroy us. So allow the process of God including us to destroy our enemies "little by little" to take place. Because He loves us, He exposes us to the deadly things in this world that SIN is composed of. The more we recognize its presence, the more power He gives us to fight off its ability to overtake us. But we MUST depend on Him and allow that resistance to be built. How well we do this will show in the next exposure to foreign substances. Are you ready?

Prayer: Father, You tell us in Your Word that You have a plan to destroy our enemy, sin. I declare that today I will trust the strategy You have out in place to defeat its power over me little by little. As I submit to Your will, You make me stronger and prepare me for the next level of trial which is sure to come. I surrender my life to You and rejoice that You will use me to show that sin CAN be defeated. In Jesus' Name, Amen.