Anchored in His Word - Fowler's Snare & Deadly Pestilence

I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."  Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.  Psalm 91:2-3

What are the fowler's snares and deadly pestilence in your life?

I asked myself this question last week when we began memorizing these verses in a group of which I'm a part. 

Fowler's snares - traps of the enemy, lies he tells me that I buy into.
"You are not loved.  You are not cherished.  You don't fit in anywhere.  God can't/won't use you..."
The list goes on and on.

Deadily Pestilence - sin or distractions I allow to keep me from God's Presence.  Too much time on the computer, watching TV, even spending too much time doing things that are "good" such as preparing thing for homeschooling my kids.

Question:
Do I truly believe that He is my refuge, my fortress?  Do I truly trust Him?  When I'm in need of shelter from the storms in life, when those snares block my path, when the deadly pestilence stalks me, do I turn to Him?  Or do I turn to myself or other things of this world?  How do I further develop that trust?

Answer:
The same as any other relationship, by spending time with Him.  The more time I spend with Him, the better I understand His character and know that I can always trust Him.

Anchored in God's Word

Isn't it amazing how the Lord works to pull a bunch of separate events in our lives together into one big beautiful picture?  The Lord has been speaking to me lately about being anchored in His Word.  He has done it through a book I'm reading, verses I'm memorizing and through my every day interactions with people in my life.

We have always been told that we should memorize God's Word, that we should be reading Scripture daily in order to fight the enemy.  That we should be putting on the armor of God everyday.  But do we really understand why and the great importance of it?  God is working in His people right now, He is preparing us for something and if we are not anchored in Him and His Word we very well may be left behind in the dust when it all breaks loose.

Here are some tidbits I've "gathered" the past week about this.

Rick Warren - Don't ever try to argue with the Devil.  He's better at arguing than you are, having had thousands of years to practice.  You can't bluff Satan with logic or your opinion, but you can use the weapon that makes him tremble - the truth of God.

Psalm 91:1 - He who dwells in the Shelter of the Most High shall rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

This is KEY!!  I need to rest in God and His Word.

I'm also rereading The Final Quest by Rick Joyner.  I found it very profound the first time I read it but this time it seems to be speaking to me so much more.  In the first part of the book Rick is part of the army of God fighting the army of the Accuser of the Brethren.  The Lord's Army is on a mountain with many ledges during the fight.

Ephesians 6 speaks of the armor of God.  The Word of God is our sword.  This is our weapon to fight off the attacks of the enemy.  It is also our anchor.

In The Final Quest the ledge Rick is on is narrow and slippery, so he uses his sword to anchor himself.  He drives it into the ledge and ties himself to it.  When he does this he hears God say:

"You have used the wisdom that will enable you to keep climbing.  Many have fallen because they did not use their sword properly to anchor themselves."

Then later he writes "I spent every free moment that I got trying to drive my sword deeper in to the ledge, or trying to tie myself more securely to it.  Every time I did this, Wisdom would stand beside me so I knew that it was very important."

This is after he describes some on the ledge using the swords to drive off the vultures attacking them but being more easily knocked off the ledge.

**  We MUST be anchored in His Word!!  **

If this was not clear enough I then received the weekly Facts of the Matter email. Last week started a 3 part series about Truth, Identify and Purpose. This first week was about Truth and talked specifically about being anchored in God's Truth and living it out in our lives!

As I continued to read the Final Quest later in the week there came a point in the book where some of the Christians wanted to go down and fight the enemy.  After discussion they decide to stay where they are. When they make this decision Rick hears the voice of the Lord say, "A second time you have chosen wisdom. You cannot win if you try to fight the enemy on his own ground, but you must remain on My Holy mountain."

We need to make sure that we don't try to fight the enemy ourselves - we must do it while staying within the Lord's protection.  For me this was in line with my verse for the week (Psalm 91:1) and the quote from Rick Warren which I had read.
At this point Joyner realizes that they have once again made a huge and important decision with just a discussion amoungst themselves. He resolves at this point to make no decisions in the future without prayer. He realizes how without prayer we can so easily fall. As he makes this decision Wisdom grabs his arms and confirms that he must consult the Lord in prayer before making decisions. As Wisdom confirms this he pulls Joyner towards him and at this point Joyner realizes that without even knowing it he had strayed over to the edge of the ledge he was on. At this point Wisdom says to him "Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. In this life you can fall from any level."
 
So last week's theme, at least for me was "Be Anchored in God's Word!"  I don't know how the message could be clearer!  God's Word tells us in the end many will fall away.  I believe this is because there will be so many messages out there that we will not know what to believe.  And I believe God will start working in ways that are outside of the boxes we have put Him in.  Many will be offended when He does not do things they way we expect Him to (since when has He limited Himself to what we think!?)  My concern has been how can I be sure that I'm not offended when God begins to move mightly in this world.  How can I be sure that I don't fall for the deceptions of the enemy and walk with the Lord.  As Rick Warren points out above, the enemy is very wise and deceptive.  I can't in my own human wisdom discern what is Truth and what is his twisted version of truth.  How do I set aside my expectations so I am open to whatever the Lord wills for me? 
 
The only answer is to be anchored in God's Word.  To spend so much time with Him and in His Presence that I will easily recognize His Voice when He calls to me.  He is my shepard,  He is your shepard.  Do you know His Voice?
 
But wait!  There's more!
 
To be continued . . .