Cackletta Conquered

To get results, there has to be some kind of push, some kind of up the ante intensity. As an example: a child is conceived, and starts to grow. The mom feels a little funny, because something is different, and then, everything is different, and said mom can smell the raw meat in the grocery store. Before she knows it, what used to be a flat stomach, is moving around, as though she has swallowed some kind of alien! Feeling sick is somehow naturally normal, and when the time comes, she is told, You must push and then stop when told to, to prevent tearing. 

Let's just say the woman in the example above gained a bit of extra chocolate weight during pregnancy, and had to work really hard to deflate and de-puff after the little alien became an outdoor adorable baby, delivered into the arms of his daddy. Said new mom knew what fitness felt like, and knew the freedom of a body that worked efficiently, competently, confidently. She really didn't like wearing her husbands t-shirts, and feeling the snugness around her midsection. SHE felt like an alien now, in her own body, and had to do something NOW, to regain a semblance of herself that felt threatened and lost in the weight she lugged here there and everywhere. 

There had to be a push, a shove, a hard moving of the needle in the direction she wanted to go. The scale never lies, telling many a story about what went into a body and stayed. Pushing the number or needle goes in both directions, and extremes must be taken for too much of anything, good or bad, to take place. Too much food in, scale number shoots up. Too much exercise, scale number goes down. If we were goldilocks, we would know what just right feels and looks like, and maybe that is what we must all learn: but dear reader, few of us ever do, isn't that right?

Extremes are statements that belie inner workings. To be called an extremist is an insult, since leaning too heavily in one direction can throw a person out of balance, injuring equilibrium and homeostasis of the emotional, psychological, and spiritual varieties (of course, the physical is always impacted too, with extreme thoughts and actions).  Dear one, we are out of balance now; do you see this with me? The left and right leanings have us wobbling. Evil is loudly proclaiming victory, while the godly have just risen from a cozy slumber, having fallen asleep in utter complacency. Awoken from ease and the comfort of never having had to fight, the saints are being readied to march, to push back. We know this:

And I say also unto thee. That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18)

It is our time, as the battle rages in the spiritual realm while manifesting in the physical. 

Here are the enlightening notes I read from Matthew Henry's Commentary On The Whole Bible this morning:

He foresaw they would destroy themselves at last, but as yet he would reprieve them, and give them space to repent. The slowness of God's processes against sinners must be construed to the honour of his mercy, not the impeachment of his justice (page 430).

This is a reference to the kings of ancient Israel, and dear reader, we can apply this example of God's merciful approach to todays earthly kings, because we see them in their obvious sin, and yet they are permitted to rule and reign wickedly, giving them space to repent. God remains just, and gives us time to recalibrate to Christ when we have gone astray. 

Now, I have mentioned the saints have risen from their beds, and we find them presently wiping sleep from their eyes, readying themselves to do the work that God has called them to. We do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers: in other words, our battle is a spiritual one!

While our battle is of a spiritual nature, we must acknowledge again, that wickedness, AND holiness, manifest in the physical realm, and they always have, dear one! So, with this having been stated, I will take you on a short story trip, to make our next point poignant. 

Have you ever played Mario Brothers? I have obsessively played some Atari, and then Gameboy Mario Brothers games. I tell you I was HOOKED, on killing the witch that held princess peach captive at the end of one of those games. To get rid of monsters, in games and real life, many blows must be landed. They have to be swiped at and hit repeatedly, and understanding their pattern of movement helps with when and how to strike and weaken them. The same goes for the spiritual realm. Demons are relentlessly restless. Their only task is to mislead, manipulate, and maim souls, winning them to the dark side. As created beings, they have seen and heard all the silly excuses humans make to justify sin, and they are right there, ready to encourage us to keep it up, at the expense of our relationship with God. Our natural inclination to lean away from God gives the devil and his workers an advantage: course correction, or being straightened up, only happens when Christ is our strength. 

With short story trip concluded, I urge you to sense and feel the spiritual realm if you have not yet tried and tasted. There is a bitter sweetness in the air, a pull and push in only two possible directions. One pulls sinners to fiery eternal hell, the other pushes saints away from the flames, to the haven of heaven. 

Here is the observation given by Matthew Henry in his Commentary:

To weaken a factious party gradually, when it is not safe to provoke, often proves the way to ruin effectually. Justice strikes surely by striking slowly, and is often executed most prudently when it is not executed presently (page 430).

Dear one, let us weaken the factious party gradually, blow upon blow. Let us study them and find where they are frail, feeble, fragile and delicate, and hit them over and over again until they show signs of cracking and crumbling. It is just and right to fight lies with truth. It is advantageous to meet the enemy out in the battle field, knowing that we do not meet them in our own strength... it is God that will frighten them, have their knees knocking in terror, and have them running at the rustling of leaves. 

Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another (Daniel 5:6)

The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1)

And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth (Leviticus 26:36)

This is how the story ends, dear one... and I leave you now to ponder and pray about the role you plan to play while the world as we know it, comes to its end.