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| JAMES Lesson #6 When the tough stuff hits, the first thing you wonder is �What�s happening to me?� We live in the illusion that bad stuff only happens to other people or at the movie theater � WRONG. It�s important that you understand what IS happening to you so that you can stand when it comes. Turn to Revelation 12:13 Who is the �dragon?� Mark it. It�s Satan. He persecutes �a woman.� The �woman� is a picture of Israel. Read verse 1. This woman, �Israel,� is clothed with the sun, has the moon under her feet and wears a crown of twelve stars on her head. She�s pregnant. From what nationality did Jesus come? Jewish. What is Israel made up of? Twelve tribes. How many stars does she have on her crown? Twelve. Read on through verses 3-4. What did the dragon�s tail do? Swept away 1/3 of the stars of heaven, where? To earth. When the Bible talks about �stars� it�s usually a reference to angels. Read on through verse 5-6. This woman gives birth to a male or female? Male. Mark that. A male who �is to� or who �has� ruled? Who IS to rule. He hasn�t yet. Mark that. In these verses you have a picture of a Jewish nation, who, through Mary, a virgin, birthed a Son. He was born from the seed of God. If you think back through the story, a decree went out to kill all the Jewish babies 2 years and younger-(Matthew 2:16) when Jesus was born. You see in Revelation 12:4 that the dragon stood before the woman waiting to devour her child. I�ve always thought that Satan�s big move in this picture was his attempt to �kill Jesus� � kill the woman�s baby. Remember how we looked at the word �deceive,� and found that it meant : �specifically effecting the mind as to effect behavior?� Yes, Herod tried to deceive the Magi into believing that he wanted to �come and worship the baby too,� � and yes, Satan tried to �kill� Jesus through Herod � but don�t you think honestly, that Satan was smart enough to know that he wouldn�t be able to kill Jesus? So � with that thought think a little deeper. BE A JEWISH MOTHER. BE A JEWISH FATHER. It�s Monday morning. The kids are barely out of bed yet. You go out to the front porch to pick up the newspaper, cup of coffee in hand. Just as you approach the door it slams open, knocking you to the floor � coffee flies everywhere and military men step over you and begin moving through your house. You hear your children scream and watch as they are thrown into the front yard. You�re helpless and out numbered � unable to get to your kids, only to watch them beheaded on your front lawn. Lifeless, beheaded : infant, age 1, and age 2 Now let me ask you a question. Who would you HATE? Herod? Why did this happen in the first place? Because of that �king that was supposedly born!� Do you see the bigger deception here? Jesus does get killed � but it�s not as a baby � and it�s not by Herod. There�s a hatred sewn through �deception� that very specifically effected minds and very specifically effected behavior. Satan saw to it that the Jewish nation hated Jesus before He ever got on His feet � And that the Gentile nation was enraged to destroy Him before He was even known - AND GOD ALLOWED IT. It wasn�t Jew and it wasn�t Gentile that ordered the execution of Jesus: It was God. It says that Jesus is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron � that�s a picture of judgment. Has it happened yet? No. Jesus did die. He was buried. He did come to life again. But � He did not rule. He was caught up into heaven � to come back again. � That�s Revelation12:5 After verse 5 there is a great big chunk of time that reaches right up to the end of time where in verse 6, the woman flees into the wilderness where she has a place prepared for her by God. Verse 6 and verse 14 are referring to the same period of time. When you read verse 14 you�ll see the phrase �time times and half a time.� That equals 3.5 years. In verse 15 you see Satan trying to kill Israel with a literal flood as she flees into the wilderness. This could get really confusing � we�re not studying Revelation right now so I�m not going to go into any more detail. I wanted to give you enough of the picture that you would see the birth of Christ, Satan�s agenda to destroy Him � and the fact that during the last 3.5 years of time Satan is thrown out of heaven and in fury goes after Israel (verse 17). We don�t visually �see� the war that�s going on in the heavenlies- �the cause� � but we do see the �effect� in our own lives� and many times don�t understand what�s happening. We are living in a window of time where Satan very much has access to the throne of God and accuses us constantly. There is a war happening between good and bad angels, over us. Just as Satan accused God of giving so many perks to Job that Job willingly followed the �goodie trail� � so he will with you. God will never give Satan permission to act on his accusations unless you can win. He ..I repeat..HE will always make a way out for you. (I Corinthians 10:13) It will usually NOT be the way out that YOU would choose: Example: (we will get into this a lot in chapters 2-3 of James) Satan to God: The only reason she loves you is because you�ve given her a home, kids and a husband. God says: Take her on. Dissention breaks out between you and your husband. Your finances get hit hard. You�re kids are making you crazy. Affection and warmth? You�ve GOT to be kidding. Home�s becoming a place to avoid. You feel worthless as a mother and as a wife. Things are spinning out of control. Someone please help me � I�m lost. SATAN: Introduce male: recently divorced/ or in an unhappy marriage/ or in a pretty good marriage � willing to listen, care, pray with, help out Response? INSTANT DESIRE He cares: He listens: He�s there for me: He prays: I can trust Him: He� Loves me? CHOICE: God�s way out: FLEE, RUN, TURN AWAY � acknowledge your desire to Me and to someone who will hold you accountable � someone who�d actually make you mad because they�ll stand in the way of your emotions and not allow you to do what your body screams to do�Let ME work with the dissention in your marriage. Let ME help you with your kids and finances. Let ME hold you and provide the attention you need. RUN TO ME- Result: Lots of hard work: Lots of forgiveness and communication. Lots of healing: Lots of restored hope. Lots of work in the area of trust/give/take and setting boundaries. Lots of work in discovering what God has to say about the role of a woman and a role of a man � discovering what God has to say about who�s in charge- about how to love- about how to meet the needs of the other person�and what those needs are- In obedience/with lots of work: a home restored/ and wholeness. BIG KEY: Pray with someone for your husband and kids daily: You�ll begin to see them through the eyes of God, not your own- Or- MY WAY OUT: It won�t hurt if I reach just a little bit�just have a conversation�just entertain the thought�it�s just in my head anyway� right? (we�re going to talk about this a LOT more later) Result: I�ve had an affair. My husband is devastated. I have 3 children. I�m torn emotionally. I have deep feelings for the other man. The choices we�ve made have messed up two families. I�ve already messed up everything. Somebody�s got to get hurt. I�ll never get it right with my family � I want out. Choice? Divorce. Note: In �my own wisdom� that IS the only way out because in my own strength I can�t fix it. God says: Ask for wisdom: and I will give it how? Abundantly and WITHOUT REPROACH: WITHOUT BLAME: God is not about the business of putting your face into the ground and stomping on the back of your head 25 times to make sure you realize how badly you�ve messed things up. He KNOWS you KNOW how badly you�ve messed things up..and He�s ANXIOUS to help you walk out of the mess. The requirement? TOTAL OBEDIENCE: (no matter how bad it hurts) and a lot of hard work. The reward? Maturity � wholeness- and incredible gratitude and passion for the heart of God. Satan brings a trial ONLY THROUGH GOD�S PERMISSION. Don�t forget that. With that permission is always a way out. Who is Satan anyway? Where did he come from? If God created all things, did He create Satan too? Turn to Ezekiel 28: I want to show you how Satan �empowers� men- This chapter starts out as a word given to an earthly king � the King of Tyre: in verses 1-10. Then all of a sudden it shifts in verse 12-13. All of a sudden this word of prophecy is talking to Satan who is controlling the King of Tyre. Look at verse 12. Take up a word to the king of Tyre (sounds like an earthly king right?) � Keep reading through verse 13. Where was he? In Eden. There were only 3 besides God in the garden of Eden. Adam, Even and Satan right? Read on through verse 15 and see how Satan is described making sure you circle the word �UNTIL� at the end of the verse. He�s described as the most incredible angel heaven holds: UNTIL: and then through verse 19 you read about what is to become of him. THIS is where your conflict is coming from. Get it: It�s not your wife. It�s not your husband. It�s not your kids. It�s not your body. It�s not your boss or your mother or your father or your job or lack of one. You DO have an enemy: He�s a liar, an accuser, a murderer, a DECEIVER � He will work through things closest to you to test the WORD OF GOD in your life � not only accusing YOU, but accusing GOD � Your part in the battle involves a choice: to believe what God says To believe what you see and hear- a lie set against God We are in a battle: The trials you are up against are all things that are used to �condition� you to believe a lie. We will go into great depth over this in chapter 2 and 3. But for now, remember that absolutely NOTHING can happen in your life unless GOD ALLOWS it. If He ALLOWS it, HE is the one who holds the map for the way out. If you can get this early you�ll save yourself a lot of pain � Regardless of where you are in the �messing up process,� � God still holds the answers for how you not only stand � but you win. Any other way out will leave you in pieces�. The intent of the trial? -learn to not look at what you see � look at Me -learn to not listen to what you hear �listen to Me -learn to obey no matter what it feels like-I know how much your heart can take -and trust My heart �it�s totally for you- You can ALWAYS win. GOD. Don�t place the focus of your trust in His hands- Trust His love for you. �copyright 2001 Jim and Robin Hibschman |
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