Before the Morning...

“God says to you THIS day: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”* The new day is coming! “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.”** God’s word will be fulfilled in YOUR LIFE!!!”

I sat there, listening to the CD of a past sermon from our church. There were hoots and hollers in the congregation from other saints, who were, likewise, receiving an encouraging word from the Lord; my voice was among them. You know how that can be – the preacher speaks on a topic, reads some passages – and then the Spirit downloads something to you personally, one that resonates with your spirit and speaks to your situation. This was no exception. The words were being read; a passage being spoken on the coming new day: the breakthrough is “just around the corner,” and the congregation was going crazy. I remember being apart of its jubilation: the Lord was speaking to me! Yes! I knew it was coming; my new day was just around the next bend! I could smell it, taste it; the breakthrough is mine! I receive it! Praise God! The sermon finished, I pressed eject on my CD player. I had heard the sermon before, and though at the time it was given, I was invigorated by the promise from God for the “new day” dawning…now, I winced. Shortly after the new day’s promise on that Sunday morning, my life had taken a turn into a long dark season of night…

It’s not that I was discouraged, or doubtful. I believed the word WAS real, that the promise of the new day WOULD come to pass…but now, I realized that, when the promise of the new day is made, darkness irrevocably follows. Why? Because, in God’s time table – the day begins in the evening, to separate from the previous day, and prepare for the new day:

“And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” (Gen. 1:5)

In the Jewish calendar, a new day begins at the sunSET of the previous day! In other words, the next day’s start is in darkness, before the light emerges. But we never think about it that way. For us, the new day is equivalent with the light dawning; new days mean “sunRISE” to us…and this is also true – the sunrise is the fulfillment of the promise; the consummation of a new day. Dawn is the manifestation or birth of the promise, but it only comes AFTER the preparation and development cultivated during the dark night.

On God’s time table, every word, every promise, every creation begins in darkness before it is brought to the light. For Creation, the world was in darkness and a void, then, it burst into light. For the child, he is first fashioned in the secret darkness of the womb before he is birthed into light. For the flower, its seed must be planted deep into the darkness of the earth, before it sprouts into the light of the sun. Likewise, whatever God has promised you, whatever prophetic vision He has placed in your heart for your life, it must be fashioned and molded in the darkness of your soul and circumstances before it can spring forth into the light of your life.

So why does the Lord give us these promises of “new days” dawning, when really, we will be seeing darkness first? Because, to God, there is no power in the darkness!

“(Jesus) having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Col. 2:15).

"Death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor. 15:54)

The darkness is only a miniscule detail that is necessary in order to produce the beauty and wonder of the light. For us, it is the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps us going; that helps us “hang on” to overcome and receive the reward at the end of the course. It is the assurance that God’s Word is true, and even though the darkness tarries, we can wait for the fulfillment of that Word, knowing that the light WILL dawn at the end of the long night.

“For the (promise) awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” (Hab. 2:3)

Do not be disillusioned if you feel that your promise from God seems to have been a mistake. If your circumstances say “night” – rest assured, you are in the position of birthing a new day. The day is coming; it always dawns after the death of the previous day. Darkness IS the beginning of the day, and at the fullness of time, the dawn will be born in light.

You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light.” (2 Sam. 22:29)




*(Isa. 43:19)
**(Isa. 60:1)

Pressure's On

Tears were streaming down my cheeks; my eyes red, and face flushed, I clinched my jaw, grinding my teeth as my last ditch effort to keep my mouth shut. I was so tired, so agitated, wondering why in the world I was doing this thing that I so disliked. I wanted to say it; everything in me, the frustration, the heartache, the pit in my stomach, screamed at me to release one phrase, one word to express my truest feelings of this particular moment, of this particular “duty”…my mouth cracked open, and deeply inhaled, I managed to say, “I ha…”but instead of the word, a wail replaced it as it crossed my lips; sobbing ensued, but without the curse to accompany it…I won again, narrowly escaping the temptation to libel the very thing God had led me to do…

Have you ever felt called to do something, something you were excited about on the one hand, but nervous about on the next, and once you started it, you quickly wondered why in the world you were doing it? After all, you really DON’T like it, the ins and outs of all the duties, deadlines, assignments, whatever, it all builds up to a towering mountain of disdain, and everything in you wants to quit, wants to give in, maybe I was wrong, see ya! End of story; missed God, that was a mistake…

And sometimes you’d be right. There are times, when we feel led by God to do something, whether it’s go back to school, start a new job, or even enter into a dating relationship, and we’re in it a little while and all of a sudden, we realize we do NOT like what we’re doing, and that our “call” was a wide miss. In times like this, you shake the dust off your feet and move on.

But there are other times when, you know God has led you into it. You weighed and measured the costs and benefits of this decision, this job, this degree/certification, this relationship: you knew what you were getting into, kind of, and you knew that God was calling you to it. And, if God calls you, it’s better to walk in the hardship of obedience with a little suffering, than the ease of disobedience with a lot of it.

So – you say “yes” to this new position, new contract, new calling, and you get into it, and suddenly, the pressure’s on! The costs are way outweighing the benefits now, you become engulfed in deadlines, conflict management dilemmas, endless phone calls, administrative mayhem, dealing with petty offenses, familial responsibilities, on and on, the negatives of your new calling/position pile up up up until you can no longer see beyond them. The feelings of hate, frustration, and anxiety hit you like a slap of a tidal wave. You fight the urge to quit, to give in, to scream with all your might: “I HATE THIS!!!!”

But there’s the problem. The enemy wants you to curse your position, wants you to release your anger on the situation; he wants you to badmouth, complain, criticize, do everything he says about you to the very thing the God of glory asked you to do…

“The power of life and death are in the tongue…” (Prov. 19:21)

The power of life and death are in our tongues! If we curse it, it will be cursed. By articulating those feelings, we bring us that much closer to aborting our path of obedience, that much closer to preventing God’s purposes from coming to pass in our lives. And this is what the enemy wants. He wants us out of the will of God, wants us to quit, to choose mediocrity, to forfeit our place on the narrow road…and he typically begins applying his hardest pressure just before the birth of a breakthrough.

“The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.” (Rev. 12:4)

Just as the enemy was waiting for the woman to give birth, knowing that a new life was forming, so the enemy waits on us, seeing when our time for delivery is at hand…and he prowls, roaring and seething, intimidating us, wearing us down, throwing out everything he can muster in order to get us to abort the process and forego our breakthrough.

He can’t compete with God’s promises from God’s end, but he can get us off track on ours. This was the battle I faced with this new thing in my life. It was apparent God had called me into it; I was supposed to proceed, even if there were things about it I didn’t like. But suddenly, a few weeks into, I became entrenched in all the negativities, related to this responsibility, and everything in me struggled to persevere, to keep going, to NOT say what I wanted to say, to refrain from articulating what I was feeling…and then it dawned on me…something was just ahead.

Why else would the enemy work so hard on getting me all uptight and frustrated? Why else, would he be so relentless in dashing my head with thoughts and emotions of how much I despised the opportunity afforded to me? Why else was it so hard to see the good in it, the very reasons I was called to do it? It must mean…I’m almost to the other side! Something in this situation is about to bring forth a new life, a life, which God wants me to have and enjoy…and the enemy wishes to steal. I have to stick with it! I have to bless it! I have to persevere! If I submit to God’s will to do this, and I resist the devil’s temptations to use my lips as his mouthpiece of death, then the devil WILL flee (ref. Jms. 4:7) and the good thing, which the Lord promised me, will shortly come to pass.

I’m not there yet; I’m still in the resisting stage; but I know that good things are coming, and until then, I will rejoice in the Lord always.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Hab. 3:17-18, emphasis mine)

The Cry that Heaven Heard

It was a humid, pleasantly warm early summer morning. The skies were gray, heavy, threatening with rain. The birds were quieter, some chirping, but it was mostly a calm, contemplative morning. I had just finished my “Breakfast with Jesus” upstairs when suddenly, the peace of this morning was broken by a frantic chorus of barking and yelping, the racket coming from downstairs. I quickly arose from my desk, heading down the stairs with a quicker step to discover what in the world was going on with my dogs to cause such a ruckus. I came to the stairwell and stopped: there they were – standing steadfast, alert, and all in uproar, staring out the window of the backdoor. “What is wrong with you guys?!” They barely acknowledged my presence, panicking at something beyond the glass of their “barrier.”

I peered out the window, looking all over the backyard to see what could have startled my little “noise alarms” so (for they do insist on barking at every noise imaginable). After a quick perusal, there! At the foot of one of our trees, I saw a most curious sight. Not desiring to allow the dogs through the backdoor (and possibly interfere with what I had seen), I went around the house to exit through the other backdoor so that I could further investigate the drama I thought I had witnessed. I cautiously approached the tree, and saw before me two squirrels, both on the ground, in a bizarre entanglement. One was obviously a youngling, small, trembling, frozen with his feet planted on the ground, as if he had fallen from the nest and dared not move from his position. The other was a large, full grown male, and by the looks of it, was aggressive, ornery, and domineering. I initially assumed that the larger squirrel was there to assist the baby back up the tree and return it to the safety of the nest. But as I watched, it became evident that help was NOT this squirrel’s agenda. I was astonished by this larger male’s behavior. The baby squirrel showed it was fully capable of climbing the tree on its own, attempting to climb up the trunk numerous times. However, every attempt he made was thwarted by the larger squirrel. No sooner would the baby climb a few feet up the trunk, then the male reach up, grab his hind legs, and roughly pull him back down, then hover over him and press him into the ground.

While this debacle was underway, I heard a clatter and swishing of leaves from the branch above me. Another squirrel, I assumed it was the mother, began to descend upon the scene, my guess was to come to the aid of this younger victim. The larger male, however, scurried right up, pushing and thrashing mother about, until he chased her away.

Meanwhile, the baby made his way up the trunk of the tree some more and even reached one of the lower branches, but he did not get far; the male, returning from his distraction, came right up to the babe and pulled it down, down, down, to the ground, resuming his bullying.

I was repulsed! The baby was terrified; eyes wide, not strong enough to defend himself, forced to be the recipient to relentless punches and tugs. Every time he tried his hardest to get up the tree, the bigger, stronger, faster squirrel would knock him right back down. Moreover, the mother was helpless to come to her baby’s aid. Every time she returned, she was thrashed and driven away, prevented from doing the very thing her mother instincts were telling her to do.

I didn’t know what to do. I felt as helpless as the baby squirrel, wanting to do something, but not knowing what! I knew squirrels were aggressively protective of their little ones, but I had NEVER heard of a squirrel being aggressively antagonistic towards them! Should I interfere? How? Would the male attack me? What about the mother? In my sincerity to assist, I might be viewed as another enemy!

I did the only thing I knew to do – I prayed. I prayed for the protection of the baby, for the strength of his mother, and for the dispersement of the male bully. The drama continued for several minutes. The mother would come down only to be chased off by the male, and the baby would climb up just so high, only to be knocked down to the ground under further abuse.

In resignation, I began to back away, when, a remarkable thing happened. As the male was making another advance, the baby faced him head on, lifted his head, laid back his ears, opened his tiny mouth and (((((((SCREEEEEECH)))))))) He screamed! High, loud, piercing. The male jumped back, confused and bewildered. He stood there, blinking a minute, astonished that such a loud noise could come from such a weak and docile source. He began his approach again, and the baby opened his mouth, ((((((SCREEEEEECH))))). The male squirrel was stumped. He did not leave, but he did not approach either. Suddenly, I heard a thunder of pattering on the roof, and swishing through the trees. Then, ((((SWISH SWISH, CHEEP CHEEP CHEEEP, SCRATCH SCRATCH, CLATTER, CLATTER)))) the tree was shaking, swaying, leaves ripping, twigs cracking, a whirlwind of five or six squirrels came swirling toward the male aggressor! Within in moments the male and the other squirrels vanished in a clamor, into the trees, and over the roof, living the little one alone on the ground. For a few moments, the baby squirrel just sat there, waiting, pensive, eyes wide. Then, pointedly, steadily, it reached for the trunk of the tree, and climbed up, up, up, right back to its nest.

I was amazed! Though far weaker than his assailant, the baby squirrel had a powerful ally – the screech of his voice, which called his family to his rescue.

I couldn’t help but reflect upon the parallel of what we have in Jesus Christ.

“In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him, into His ears…He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.” (Ps. 18:6; 17)

When the baby squirrel was silent, the domineering male was all over him. Pushing him around, keeping him pinned to the ground. Every effort to right himself was quickly frustrated by the rambunctious bullying of the stronger animal. But when he called for help, the tables were turned where the assailant became the victim, and the baby was rescued from his pursuer.

In this life, we will be confronted with all types of trials and struggles, inevitable misfortunes prevalent in this life. These tribulations knock us “out of our nests” of comfort and ease, and force us to make the decision to either get up again, or surrender to defeat. THIS is when the battle is waged, for the enemy, lurking around like a lion, waits for an opportunity to leap upon us in our weakened state, endeavoring to keep us down, pestering us with guilt, shame, despair, depression, aiming to subdue us in the bondage of defeat. Sadly, we let him do it, keeping our mouths shut, agreeing with his words as if they were our own, thereby, allowing his assaults to continue. Our efforts to “get back on our feet” are half-hearted and short-lived, falling prey to his assaults, which come in full-force at such times, he menacingly feeding our insecurities and fears, while we succumb to his badgering his words were truth. Our despondency grows increasingly oppressive, so much so that even our friends’, family’s, and neighbors’ attempts to cheer us or assist us, fall on deaf ears – we refuse comfort or aid because of the thick fog enveloping us, an immense veil of the enemy’s attacks, influencing us to believe that either we do not deserve any help, or do not desire it.

It’s a long vicious cycle, down, down, into a black hole of despair with no relief, no release…but there IS a way out of this vortex of gloom. The name of Jesus!

“At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that JESUS IS LORD!” (ref. Phil. 2:10-11 emphasis mine)

Jesus’s name is above every name, throwing the darkest demons into the deepest pits of hell, dispersing the thickest fogs into the furthest oblivions, walloping the harshest bullies to kingdom come! We call on His name, and the enemy must flee! (ref. Jms. 4:7). Jesus will come to us, leaving the throne of heaven, with smoke billowing from His nostrils, His lighting bolts splitting the canopies, His rage crushing the mountains, charging into the fray to rescue His beloved from the mouth of the lion (ref. Ps. 18:6-19).

The baby squirrel eventually made his way back into the nest, from which he came, but only AFTER his enemy had been put away by the cry of his voice. So we, too, will be restored to our proper placement, and we will get back up on our feet, but only after we cry out to the Lord, Who will put away our enemy, saving us from his vicious snare.

“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.” (Ps. 34:17)