Phew! Great job of making it through last week. You did it! Well done. I just want to commend you, for taking the time to learn and apply. For engaging in spiritual warfare and persevering through the storms. He brought you through! He was one hundred percent faithful to provide for You. He is well pleased with you.Now, for this new week. This week we get to focus on timing. I am some times so frustrated because God’s timing is not the same as mine. Sometimes, He asks me to do things that are so much bigger than I think I can.
Then there are the times I act so much bigger than I actually am.
The scripture that hit my heart this week is:Deuteronomy 7:22 (AMP)
22 And the Lord your God will clear out those nations before you, little by little; you may not consume them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase among you.Nations are places that are independent and powerful. Places created by people coming into unity for a common goal…….hmmmm…..sounds like my thoughts and my emotions. I can see places in my thinking that operate as a “nation.” These places which have been under my rule and I am now allowing God to clear out. I am so grateful and so irritated at the same time about the pace this happens. LITTLE BY LITTLE! Of course I want God to just press the clear button and annihilate all the “Nations” of Jenni.
That would seem so easy, yet sometimes, knowledge is too great. God gave me this example. What if I taught my kindergartners to drive. Even if they could grasp all of the intricacies, they are not mature enough to actually do it. Physically they are too small, emotionally they are too unstable and financially, they could not sustain it. They have to learn to drive when they can actually practice and gain experience. That is what I am like. God knows that I need time to learn and unlearn. He knows when I am ready to sustain the knowledge that He has for me.
“Clear out nations before you.” I went back and read the whole chapter. God had already promised to pluck out the seven mightiest nations in the land of promise for the Isrealites. They were commanded to utterly destroy them. Not to make any covenant with them. God had brought them out of bondage to the land of promise, which was filled with nations to be destroyed. Furthermore, they were to destroy the nations completely and totally. This is a perfect picture of what has been happening in my life. God has brought me out of Pharaoh’s bondage and through the wilderness and now it is my time to enter the land of promise. I do so with God’s word as my sustenance. He will drive out the “nations” before me. But it is I who has to utterly destroy them. It is I who must recognize who the enemy is and not to make covenant with them. It is my time to learn as I go. I develop strength and wisdom as I face and overcome each of these nations. I can only do so through His power.
Listen to what else God says in this chapter.
Deuteronomy 7:17-19 (AMP)
17 If you say in your [minds and] hearts, These nations are greater than we are; how can we dispossess them?
18 You shall not be afraid of them, but remember [earnestly] what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt,
19 The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the people of whom you are afraid.
Oh how this hits my heart. I am in the process of taking the territory which God has given me and oh, how I have been assaulted with the greatness of this task. Some of the ‘nations’ that I am facing are ideas and thoughts I have held all my life. They are ingrained in me. They occupy huge territories in my mind and in my emotions. Territories that I need to take back. One day, I feel like I have the victory and next I feel like I am in the midst of the battle again. The process is little by little, not like a nuclear bomb. That is in God’s power but not mine. As I am growing I am learning how to allow the flow of His power to destroy that enemy. I am growing into Him. I must completely destroy the enemy, who will keep defending the territory. I will do this but only as fast as I can mature to humble myself before Him. God has a very specific plan for my maturing. I can’t grow faster or quicker, I can only grow as He has designed me. I must trust Him for this maturing process. That is so soothing to me for He is so worthy of my trust.
“You may not consume them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase among you.” As I read this, I heard this,”empty territories invite habitation.” If I am not mature enough to hold that territory or possess it in authority then that invites the ‘beasts of the field” to habitat. What are those beasts? In the Strong’s concordance that word beast can be translated “appetites.” The word field is translated “soil.” God created us out of soil. So, I heard this as “You may not consume them quickly, lest the appetites of our flesh, which is soil will increase. We must allow God to grow us big enough to occupy the position or territory that God has ordain for us. Little by little. I have observed the results of too much responsibility given before maturity. It has caused a stunted growth. That is not the kind of growth I want. I want the growth that totally depends on and is purposed by God. His growth plan for me is perfect. Life is a process, let it be His process.
Now your turn……how is your “little by little ” going?
Tapestry ~ Treasures 
I’m reading the mind of the battlefield by Joyce Myers and would really appreciate a study partner to help guide me for a better understanding
Thank you for any assistance you can offer to me
Have a bless day
“Little by little” was our focus this chapter. When I began to read (book) and do my workbook follow- up, I gave a heavy sigh- thinking to myself…”Lord, it’s the “onion” layers…oh my! Pealing back all the layers, layers and layers of stuff in our heads, hearts and life, that make up our personalities…the essence of who we are. I think most of us ladies in this group understand the psychology of this counseling dynamic. It’s the one time we get to release all our emotional baggage, scars, blame, self-ridicule, you name it…dig deep enough…you’ll probably find it under one of the “layers”. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I have a great deal of respect for the study of the psychology of our human anatomy…mind, soul and spirit. Although, I think it is only God who knows the true “reins of a man’s heart”. We use these tools (interpersonal relationship) to gain a better understanding so we can cope during duress, stress, financial losses, life and death trauma, illness and yes, spiritual weakness. Another question I asked was why use the analogy of clearing the land…sounded a little “old testament” for our modern times we live in now. You can clear land fairly quickly with a bulldozer and bobcat. Then when I saw that God said in his word…”lest the beasts would not over take”… I understood why the need for balance in clearing the land. It’s a territorial battle…nature needs to be taken care of and provided a place to habitat.
God’s wisdom requires balance. The same goes for us…as we begin to take the “layers” back and clear our sinful nature “little by little”. Our salvation is secure in Jesus…it is the healing, renewing and restoring that requires God’s balance. Ever get a splinter that somehow managed to get under the skin at an angle that when you pulled it out…some was left behind…deep in there! Quickly, you pull it out and think it’s clean but then it gets rubbed wrong or touched slightly…Ouch! It now requires more probing to find the end of the splinter…either way…left in or taken out, it is discomforting, none the less. So it is when we begin to peel back layers or break up the fallow ground of our life and clear out the garbage left behind. Sin, that only God can see with His holiness because it is so deep in our inner man. Little by little, area by area is all He requires… because He understands our suffering during this process of cleansing, renewing and restoration. Naturally, we will feel condemnation and want to give up or give in to the lies of Satan and be discouraged. That is why God will establish, strengthen, settle and ground you securely because He knows that Satan desires to sift us like wheat. What hope we gain while clearing the ground little by little…stretching our faith and trust in what God will provide to occupy the territories of our mind. Keep on keeping on…tilling the ground for God to occupy and flourish His good and perfect will for a balanced healthy mind, soul and spirit.