As A Lion Seeking Whom He May Devour

As A Lion Seeking Whom He May Devour

Have you ever gotten to the end of a day and thought, "Wow, instead of jumping out of bed this morning, I should have just rolled over, pulled the covers up way over my head, and never moved a muscle?"

Wanting to go back, redo the entire day and begin it by taking the solemn oath of a monk by not speaking a single word to anyone!

WHY?

Because it ended up being a super lousy day!

Or to put it in the words of the title to a popular children's book,

"Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"!

That's the kind of day I had today.

I totally blew it!

Nothing bad

happened

to me!

"I" was

the bad

that happened

to me!

Then unfortunately "my bad" spread like an out of control wildfire to my husband!

My sweet, loving, gentle, "bend over backwards for me" hubby got hit dead on with my nasty attitude.  

I was snippy, snappy and sarcastic!

Why?

Simply because I wasn't feeling well.

The symptoms of my chronic illness were bothering me big time so therefore of course that gives me a free pass to be gloomy, grumpy and grouchy.

Right?

WRONG!

I must have apologized to Brian one million times, well at least ten times, throughout the day and evening!

As I now lay here in bed thinking back over the day, I know I certainly don't deserve Brian's forgiveness and I definitely should not be forgiven by the Lord.

But fortunately I am on both accounts!

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
I John 1:9 

The day began well.

Attitude was in check.

The Lord met with me during my devotions in an AMAZING way!

The devotional which I'm currently using had me reading about the rapture!

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
I Thessalonians 4:16-17

And all

God's people said,

AMEN!

After reading and praying, I spent quite some time praising the Lord through music.

I love to worship my Saviour through the gift of song.

The music was playing LOUD on my new Wonderboom, and I was singing along LOUDLY, most of the time with tears of JOY and THANKS streaming down my face.

However, my attitude seemed to take a sudden 180 right about the time the Bible reading, prayer, music, praise and worship ended. 

While I was singing I knew the Lord was hearing me, and probably some of my neighbors, but someone else heard me as well.

The adversary.

The devil.

The one who despises me because of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

He knows my soul is already secure in the Lord, but he'll do whatever it takes to get me distracted, to get my focus off my Saviour, and, wow, did he ever accomplish his purpose.

As he set the trap of getting me consumed with not feeling well, my attitude quickly slid downhill and all the praise to the Lord from earlier quickly flew out the window and was replaced with self-pity, discontentment, pure ugliness.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
I Peter 5:8

Lest I give the evil one way more credit due him, I need to remind myself that he can't steal anything from me which I freely hand over to him.

He may have laid the snare, but the choice to get caught up in it was ALL mine!

It truly grieves my heart how easily I fall time and time again into this same trap of thinking it's okay to use my chronic illness as an excuse for having a bad attitude.  

Yes, I may not feel well.

Yes, I have challenging days.

Yes, I become tired and overwhelmed from constantly battling the physical symptoms.

BUT 

my praise

and thanks

far out weigh

my complaints!

Or so it should!

As a child of God, this life is the worst it will ever get for me! The Bible declares that my life is but a vapour, and then comes Heaven!

And while I'm here on this earth, I have JESUS with me at ALL times, what more could I want?

So the next time the devil tries to bombard my mind with his LlES, and his attempts to get me distracted, I need to make sure my mind is already filled to capacity with the truth of God's Word!

kingjamesbibleonline.org

"Thank You, Lord, for opening my eyes even though it's painful to see what I've been allowing in my life. Thank You for being a God of amazing grace and a God of second and third chances. Thank You, Father, for never giving up on me even on the days when I totally blow it. I love You, Lord, more than I can put into words.
In Jesus' Name, Amen."


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May God Bless You,

Barb

2 Comments

  • Linda

    March 16, 2018 at 6:28 pm Reply

    I agree, Barb, we need the truths of God's Word - we need to be saturated in them! The enemy can try all sorts of things - but he doesn't have to the last say, does he? We know his tricks but we can still be ensnared temporarily, then we wake up to it and speak truth to the lies and we have the victory in Christ. I think most of us can identify with your post, Barb - we all do the same one time or another. Amen to the words of your prayer " Thank you for being a God of amazing grace and a God of second and third chances" - and even more! It's amazing that He doesn't give up on us!!
    Sending loads and loads of love and hugs from me to you❤️❤️❤️

    • Barb

      March 17, 2018 at 7:35 pm Reply

      Linda, thank you so much for your great words of encouragement, they mean so very much to me, and for letting me know that I'm certainly not alone in my struggle with the evil one. BUT what a wonderful TRUTH to know that "greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world". Your comments are always a blessing to me. your friendship is an even greater blessing. Sending you buckets of hugs, love and appreciation!!!

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