Do you ever feel like you just need a fresh flow of God’s Spirit in your heart? There is nothing more refreshing than to be washed over in the Presence of God. It is easy to get bombarded by all the things that need to get done, thoughts and activity.
Shout to the Heavens!
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two- edged sword in their hand.
Psalm 149:6
Sometimes all the stuff just accumulates and you need to give some exuberant praise to God to knock it off your shoulders. Take a moment to lift up your hands as high as you can, then give God a big long shout of praise. Keep doing that for about 5 to 10 minutes. It may be by then that you will have a hard time stopping!
Love God, Hate Evil
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
Proverbs 8:13
It is so important for us to love God. We need to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. At the same time we need to have a vehement hatred of evil and the sin associated with it. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It also says that the fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil. Did you know that the “Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force” What is God trying to say here Is there a sanctified form of violence I’ve found it to be true that if you are not violent against sin and evil it is possible that you will express degrees harshness and anger toward people in some form. Our war is not with flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).
Heaven’s Violence
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 11:12
Jesus was not soft with evil. He was very tough about it, very confronting. In the same way, in our personal lives we need to have some authoritative confrontations against darkness that is contrary to the life of God. Paul says that we are to “cast down” vain imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).
And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Luke 10:18-19
Jesus said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. That means it was quick and immediate with no delay. These two pictures are much alike. We see the violent throwing down of Satan by God. Realize that when you are taking captive thoughts, high things that are evil confronting your mind, you cast them down just as God cast down the devil.
Lift Him Up, Cast It Down!
When you are in your times of praise exalting Jesus, exalting His greatness and authority there is also a time to cast down those thoughts that are contrary to God’s heart and Spirit. God wants us to experience breakthroughs in our lives. Many people say they love God, but is it equally true that they hate evil I think this is the litmus test of true love for God. We demonstrate our love for God by our lack of toleration for evil in our own hearts. The Word of God is the cleansing agent for our lives.
Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:10
When the light of His Word opens our eyes to know what is evil, then that is our opportunity to deal with it. We do not go looking for evil or search our hearts for sin. Please don’t do that. Welcome the Holy Spirit to flood your heart and then He will bring things to the top of the water. As we are yielded to the Holy Spirit, planting His Word within us, we will have eyes to recognize evil. It many times comes in a form that is pleasant or seems acceptable. Some evil is obvious, other times it does take Holy Spirit discernment to see it. God will help you as you lean into Him. Let His praise continually be in your mouth and have a joyful, peaceful and glorious day with God!