The joy is overflowing with the illumination that I received from God’s Word while we were doing a devotional with my own cherished family. It’s taken from a popularized verse in Philippians 4:5-6 which says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
My heart was exceedingly rejoicing as I deciphered what I was reading because it tells us about the importance of need in our lives whether you are poor or rich, everyone has a need. It is our Father’s rod to fix our eyes on Him lest our unseen enemy will deceive and mislead us.
Looking at every circumstance through the eyes of God, it will guard our mind and hearts from the enemy’s subtle attack. With God in our mind we can only see what is good for our own protection from Satan’s flaming arrows. No evil, no lies, no sorrows and worries can seize our God-assigned territory because we know our God is more powerful than the destroyer of our body and soul. There’s no weapon that our enemy can form against us because God’s eyes are upon us to protect us from all hidden wiles of Satan.
Try to deviate your focus away from God and it will make you vindictive when you are offended. You will forget that God is your avenger and your paymaster. It will make you vulnerable to Satan’s temptation when trouble comes. It will make your life miserable, hopeless and helpless enough to deprive you from enjoying your God-given life. It will make you ungrateful to God as your Good Shepherd who is determined to bring you back to Him through the redemptive work of His Son on the cross. You will give the enemy a foothold to destroy you and kill you as the consequence of drifting away from the path of righteousness.
But with God in your mind and in your heart you can shout and sing with Kind David in Psalms 16:7-9, “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure.”