TODAY IS…

a terrific day to realize that the blessings come before the battle.

“Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.”  Mark 1:12 NASB

Have you ever noticed how sometimes we will have days where we feel exceptionally close to God?

On those days, it seems as if we are blessed more than usual. Even though we know that He is always with us, some days we feel so close that we are certain that all of His attention is focused on us. We feel that we are full of the Holy Spirit to the point of overflowing. Our day ends with us thanking God with more emphasis than normal, and we go to sleep.

During the night, things begin to change.

We toss and we turn. We have disturbing dreams and we wake up in the morning feeling disconcerted and ill at ease. Perhaps this unsettled feeling continues for the remainder of the day. Our mood is not anywhere near as upbeat as the day before. We feel like we are under attack by the forces of darkness and we ask God to help us fend off the attack. Our minds somehow identify our buoyant feelings of yesterday as being the target of Satan’s attack of our sleep and today.

But is this the case?

If we think about it for a moment, we remember that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit before He went out into the desert and was tempted by Satan for 40 days. He was blessed before He went into battle so that He could more readily resist temptation and win the battle.

God knows when we are headed for battle and is there to strengthen us beforehand.

Peter and John prayed for God’s blessing to help them battle doubt as they preached the Word of God.

“And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the Word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31 NASB).

Whenever we know we are going to have to face difficulties, it is reassuring to know that all we have to do is turn to God and seek His blessing beforehand. Our “battles” may be small, like asking for a raise, or speaking in public. Others may loom large before us. Perhaps we have an addiction that needs to be confronted. The situations that can come before us in which God’s blessing will come in handy are numerous and quite varied, but each battle is better fought with God’s blessing.

There will be times that the Lord Himself will see what we cannot. We will experience a closeness that we weren’t expecting. We can bask in the glow of God’s benevolence and then carry the blessing with us as we face any attack Satan may mount.

And after we have won the battle, we must remember to thank God for the blessing He gave us before the battle..

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson