Renee🌻

THIS is War

It never ceases to amaze me, the tactics the enemy brings against my soul. And every single saint who is trying to live for God, for that matter. Continually, he will poke and prod and harass and badger and torment, planting his seeds of doubt and unworthiness into our minds.

Why do we fall for his lies?

Because he catches us when we are tired mentally, physically and emotionally. Most of the time, he is the one who puts us in this state in the first place. He knows where to pack the punches against us.

A fellow blogger at Words From the Wheel wrote, Ye Shall Be Witnesses, sharing her recent struggles. This touched my heart so much!

She didn’t know that while she was struggling with her own thoughts of unworthiness and laying herself bare, the Lord was using her to speak a truth to me!

Being awakened for several nights in a row can take a huge toll on the old body and mind. There again, another tactic of the enemy.

It’s time to expose our enemy. We have to get real, because there is always someone else who needs help to make it through their trials, too.

I am still learning when we are a threat to the enemy, he will have us beating ourselves up black and blue over feelings of unworthiness, imperfections, weaknesses, faults and failures.

But the truth is, God has and always will use the imperfect. He takes the weak to confound the wise. He’s not concerned over how many times we didn’t get it right. But how many times we tried and still try to get it right.

We may miss the mark along the way. Peter did. And so did every other character in the Bible. We have to stay in a state of repentance and be obedient.

Personally, I don’t think it’s the failing part that bothers me quite as bad as the actual fear of what others will think of me if and when I mess up. When a person is already questioning things, it makes it that much harder for their lives to be laid open for the whole world to see.

But God hasn’t called us to be comfortable. As I Corinthians 4:9-10 says, we are made spectacles unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are called to be fools for Christ’s sake, as strange as that may sound, but yet we are wise in Christ. We are also weak, but yet strong. Honorable, but yet despised.

It’s all about being willing no matter how hard the walk gets.
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God wasn’t about to turn His back on Peter when he failed.

Do you know how we know it wasn’t in Jesus’ plan to write Peter off for his failure?

Written right there in tell-tale words of red, He spoke to Peter before His betrayal.

“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭22:31-32‬ ‭

First He warns him of the enemy’s intentions/tactics.

He then prays for him. Notice, Jesus didn’t pray that he fail not, but that his faith fail not.

Jesus knew the first thing that failure would do is shake his faith (trust and confidence) in Jesus. And also shake his self-confidence. God already knew flesh is prone to failure, because Jesus is the only perfect One.

If Jesus knew all of this, why did He not just spare Peter from failure?

Because failure would change Peter from the inside out. Brokenness has a way of doing that. It causes us to humble ourselves before God. We place ourselves under a microscope. We examine ourselves, remove all the impurities in repentance and look towards God as our main source for help.

Jesus knew to be used of Him, it can only come from failure. Trial and error. Trying and trying again.

Jesus had full confidence in Peter that he would learn from this trial. He spoke words of life and promise to Peter that things would get better when He said to him, WHEN (not if) you are converted, (changed for a new purpose) strengthen your brethren.

No matter how bad things get in our lives, we need to remember God’s TRUTHS about us.

  • We are WORTHY only because of the Blood! Period. He shed that precious Blood to pay the price for our imperfections and sins.
  • We are LOVED. He didn’t have to die for us, but it was His LOVE for us that held Him to that cross. There is nothing we can do to stop that kind of love. It’s unconditional. We can’t earn it. He gives it freely, because we are His children. And that love is fierce!
  • We are OVERCOMERS by the BLOOD and the “word” of our TESTIMONY. There’s that word again. Blood. And we know that blood can get a little messy. I’ve said it before, when we get cut, we bleed. Wounds hurt, troubles hurt. But our messes cannot be compared to the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE HIS BLOOD made covering every wound the enemy would ever inflict on our soul.

I love the fact, that by the time my friend had finished her post, she had already encouraged herself in the Holy Ghost! By sharing, she was strengthening the brethren! By using her gift of encouragement it helped me, and there is no telling who else will be touched in the process!

In the conclusion of this matter, I will leave you with the title of a recent sermon in our revival….

Sometimes we need to tell it like it is.

We need to open our mouths and speak God’s Word and Truth into the universe. God’s Word does NOT return void! It accomplishes what it pleases. By doing so, we are declaring our victory in Christ ahead of time.

Stay strong! Keep praying. Continue in obedience. God has already prayed for you! 🙌🏼💃🏼

War by Charles Jenkins

44 comments

  1. Rings so true! Evil will push your buttons in any way he can. Just pure hate. I fail more than I’d like but yea, the key is even if you fail never stop believing and striving. This helped me today so thanks!

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    • Brian, you are so welcome! You are so right! The key is NEVER EVER GIVE UP! 💃🏼🙌🏼💯 Carry on and keep believing, Brian! As you can see, none of us are alone! 😄

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  2. Oh my goodness, Renee!! When you shared that part about Jesus and Peter in Luke 22, I literally BAWLED!! I have NEVER seen that!!! Oh, how joyful!! What a blessing to know Jesus sees our inner turmoil and catastrophe before we ever even go through it! Thank you, dear sister, for sharing this!! YOU TOO have strengthened the brethren… at least this one!! 😉

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    • Girl I have never seen it either! When that scripture popped in my mind, and I looked it up….it completely blew me away! God is so understanding of our every situation. I wish we weren’t so hard on ourselves. He really believes in His children.
      Awe and thanks, Stacey. That means so much to me! 😢 I’m so glad you could have your moment of tears. God is so good! 🙌🏼 Another thing I never knew until someone pointed out, our tears are counted as worship to God. I had to shed a few tears myself over this fact with Peter. 💜🙏🏼

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  3. I’m just in awe of God and how he uses you to touch many lives and hearts, your words are heaven sent, and as Sister #1 encouraged herself and you, now I am encouraged through Holy Ghost, praise God for an on time powerful encouragement needed by many in this world. I’m sitting still imagining Jesus praying for each of us, and the imaginary is beautiful! Thank you Renee Greene for a much needed encouragement!

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    • Welcome! Debbie, you always make me want to cry! But that’s a good thing. You are and have always been an encouragement so many days for me! I’m so glad God uses you in this gift! For that is what you and your friendship are to me! 💜 It just gives me chills to imagine Jesus calling my name in prayer and even singing over me while He’s at it. We are truly blessed to be covered in His Grace! 💜🤗

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  5. This is so encouraging Renee and something I needed to hear. I was beating myself about something last week and have been praying and trying to not let the enemy make me feel defeated about it. You words that Jesus has already prayed for you and even if I fail, God can use that and make an impact. I am going to have this approach.
    Thank you dear Renee 💙

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    • Manu, I’m realizing by reading all the comments on this post, the enemy has been using that tactic a lot on God’s children lately. But so thankful that if Jesus helped Peter lift his head again, He will help us! We are all surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses! And we are not alone! 🙌🏼💯🙏🏼

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  8. Renee, your post rang true in my soul, especially about the enemy of our soul. If he can keep us defeated instead of being joyful we are the daughter of the King, the only real King, then he has won. We need to refuse those putting us down thoughts, and think on the things that are true, who we are in Christ and who He is for us. Blessings.

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    • Amen! So true, Betty! We defeat the enemy of our soul by thinking on “whatsoever things are true!” The truth is, as you said, we are daughters and sons of the Most High King! And HE LOVES Us no matter what!

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  9. Praise God Renee!! You ha e hit a chord in my heart as well!! ❤️ The line where you mentioned — “it’s not much about the failure, but what others will think about me”… is so so true.. This post was really very encouraging to me! May God use you more for His glory! 🙌

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  13. Not only Stacey’s post or yours, Renee—but all the comments here too! Yes, I too am very touched exactly at the moment I need it most. Thank you. Indeed this is war. 🤗🤸‍♀️💓

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    • You are welcome! I am so thankful and grateful God knows the way we should take, Nina. He always sends a word to help us on our way. I could not count the many times someone has blessed me with a word of kindness, a shared song, a prayer, that was just what I needed for that day. It’s also a blessing when we can be a blessing to someone else. Thank you for sharing your heart! I thank God for you! 💜

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      • That is exactly how I felt when I read Stacey’s post—right after a good crying worship session. The right word sent at the right moment. Wow. Then I read your post. This is war. Subtle and insidious. Trying to bring us down when we are already weakened. I don’t think so. But, as in any war—sometimes you have to change your strategy. Retreat for a bit and regain your strength. Pray. Cry. And then get back in the good fight. I thank God for you too sweet tea sister! 💖

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  14. As I began reading this post, my thoughts were already filling with the Word from Ephesians 6:10-17. Later, I find the riveting song by Charles Jenkins. I felt like I was at the biggest pep rally of faith ever . . . for Jesus! God’s peace Renee.

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    • Thank you for your prayers of God’s Grace and peace, Richard. I so appreciate them! Whether we like it or not, there is an enemy of our soul. I’m glad we have the armor you referred to in Ephesians though. God has not left us defenseless! We have the shield of faith, the sword of truth and so much more! Praise the Lord for that! 🙌🏼

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