You are going to LOVE today's "Faith To Faith" by Gloria Copeland! Especially if you have had more than enough of the devil trying to have a say in your life!
Discourage the Devil
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall
separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name
as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy:
for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their
fathers unto the prophets. Luke 6:22-23
Do you want to know how to depress the devil? Just follow
the instructions in that last verse. When persecution comes, when friends or
family criticize you because you lay hands on the sick and believe in healing,
and when co-workers call you a fanatic because you love Jesus and aren't afraid
to say so, rejoice! Shout hallelujah and leap for joy!
I tell you that will discourage the devil to no end. He's
expecting that persecution to hurt you. He's expecting it to damage your faith,
to wipe you out and to leave you in dismay.
I'm not saying you should enjoy the persecution itself. But
you can learn to overlook the discomfort of those things by focusing your
attention on the reward that's coming and the fact that Jesus said you are
blessed.
The Apostle Paul certainly knew how to do that. He was an
expert on rejoicing in the midst of persecution. Satan was constantly stirring
up trouble for him. But do you know what he said about all that persecution? He
said it was not even worth considering compared to the glory that was about to
be revealed.
If Paul could rejoice in the midst of beatings, stonings,
shipwrecks, imprisonment and almost every other kind of persecution, you can
too!
Just do what he did. When he was told by the Holy Ghost that
bonds and afflictions awaited him, he said, "But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course
with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24).
Don't get all caught up in what people think and what people
say down here on earth. Get caught up in pleasing the Lord. Get caught up in
finishing your course with joy. Get caught up in the glorious hope that's
ahead. For that hope is enough to make anyone—under any circumstance—leap for
joy!
AMEN and AMEN! Now back that all up with Hillsong UNITED and "Not Today"!Shalom In Him!
