Blow Away the Dead Debris!!

Blow Away the Dead Debris

By:: angie c tipton

act now ministries

3.31.2012

Today I headed out to be of service to a lady in our community with a group from my church.  The task at hand was to give a good spring cleaning to her yard which had leaves leftover from autumn. 

I arrived with leaf rake in hand, ready to go.   As I started in, I realized that I was going to be there for a while.  In the area where we were, there is a multitude of trees which, in turn, leaves an over abundance of leaves…or dead debris!   

After I had gotten into a groove as far as the raking goes, someone approached me and offered up a leaf blower.  I have to tell you, I really didn’t want to use it, but, in an effort to be polite, I went ahead, set down the rake, which is much lighter and much, much more quiet, and picked up the leaf blower.  It took a few minutes for me to get a good feel for it as it’s been a while since I’ve used one.  We usually mulch them all up and use them as a great source of nitrogen for our yard, eliminating the need for raking or leaf blowing.  Anyway, with all of the noise and leaves blowing around, I began to hear that still, small voice speaking to me about the task I was in the midst of.  I have to tell you, I just LOVE it when the Lord speaks to me while I’m in the middle of a task like this.  The analogies that God uses to teach me, just simply “blows me away”…pun intended!  J

So…there I was…in the “sea of leaves” and the Lord began to show me how the dead leaves or “debris” is like the dead debris inside of each of us…you know the stuff that needs to be taken out of us to become more refined…more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus.  As I pointed the blower on the top of the leaves, the leaves would blow away quickly and nearly effortlessly, as they hadn’t had time to get compacted and weighted down.  But, the closer to the ground I got, the more difficult it became to move the leaves.  These leaves had been there for quite some time, were compacted and not as easy to blow away.  This is much like the debris in us.  As a Christian begins to work on the debris that God wants out of their life, the surface stuff, often times, is the easiest to deal with and get rid of.  It’s the debris that’s deeper within us…the stuff that’s been there for a while, that can be challenging to get to and deal with.

 At this point, I was “in the zone”…blowing the leaves, listening to the Lord, when suddenly, the blower just quit.  It had run it out of fuel.  The Lord impressed upon me how, many times, when we Christians begin to get to the “hard stuff” in our lives, we tend to back off or even quit, and sometimes we don’t continue to let the Holy Spirit do his work simply because it CAN BE very difficult to deal with some of the deeper issues in our lives.  The key is to stay focused on Him and know that He will complete what He has started in us…if we don’t “run out of fuel”, so to speak...or rather, don’t stop praying, praising and seeking God regularly.  The joy of the Lord is our strength.

I refilled the tank with fuel and tried to start it.  Because I had run it out of fuel, it didn’t start up right away.  I had to mess with the choke to get it just right to start it back up.  When things get difficult for us in our walk with the Lord, don’t just shrink back…praise Him…even if you don’t feel like it…praise Him…even if you can barely eek out the words, “I praise You.” He WILL honor your praise!  Keep on keepin’ on!  Praise is the “fuel” to keep you going in Christ.  Remember it’s always easy to praise God when you’re on the mountain top.  It’s not as easy when you’re in the valley all alone.  But, I believe that when we do praise Him in spite of being in that valley, we will grow and mature even more. 

So, I went on to finish blowing the leaves and found that even below the compacted leaves, there were dead tree limbs and branches.  Oddly enough, this represented any “skeletons” that may be “in the closet”, so to speak.  Many of these branches and limbs were rotting away.  When we have things in our past that we don’t deal with, it’s as if we have these dead rotting bones there that are serving no purpose in our lives whatsoever.  As I walked around blowing the leaves, I found it to be easy to stumble on the branches and limbs.  So, throwing them out of the way was the best remedy.  We should ALL be constantly asking the Lord to take out of us anything in us that He doesn’t WANT in us.  So often, it’s too easy for us to forget about something that happened long ago and not deal with it, forgetting that it’s even there, or worse yet, living in denial about whatever may be there.  God knows SO much better than we do what is within us, how to deal with it and get rid of it, causing our walk to be easier and perhaps keeping us from stumbling.

You know as I kept pressing forward, blowing the leaves to their destination, I didn’t realize how far I had gone until I looked back and saw that I had made great strides in blowing them away.  I could see all kinds of small plant life that had been trying to grow under all the debris.  Yes, it was growing, but not very well!  Just like with God, once you begin to make progress by getting the debris out of the way, that allows the Son to shine and the growth in your life will be amazing, simply amazing!

So, it doesn’t matter if you’re a new Christian or one who’s been on this path for a while.  Blow Away the Dead Debris in your life!  Not one of us has “arrived” yet!  We will ALWAYS, ALWAYS have something to work on in ourselves this side of Heaven.  Ask God on a regular basis to take out of you what He doesn’t want in you.  He IS faithful!  He will show you what and how to “Blow Away the Dead Debris” in your life.         

Don't Wait To Rebuke the Enemy!!

Don’t wait to rebuke the enemy!

By:: angie c tipton

act now ministries

3.26.2012

Well, today I was out riding my bike around the country side.  I found myself wanting to leave out one of the legs of the 22 mile ride.  The reason I wanted to leave it out is because in this 5 mile stretch, there is a dog that is, let’s just say, “less than friendly.” 

This is the beginning of my 4^th spring/summer to ride through this area.  The first couple of summers, every time I went this way, I was with my bestie, and I guess the dog stayed away because there were 2 of us.  So, I’ve known that this dog is there.  But, I had not seen him chase after people before.  Apparently, he really likes to chase after “lone bikers,” which, I must tell you, is rather terrifying!  The first time he chased after me, I didn’t expect it.  This dog came out of nowhere and I nearly fell off of my bike…and this is not some small teacup Yorkie with “little dog” syndrome either.  This dog is an aggressive Boxer that keeps up a pretty good pace! 

The first time this happened, I felt as if the Lord was comparing the attack of this dog with the attack of the enemy.  You see, this dog caught me totally off guard and yes, I was scared!  I really didn’t even know what to do.  I believe the enemy will and does attack like this.  I have to tell you, I’m not afraid of the enemy because I KNOW that in the name of Jesus, I have authority over him.  But, speaking honestly, I have had moments when the enemy came out of nowhere and caught me off guard and for a brief moment until I got my bearings, I was scared.  If the enemy can get us to operate out of fear, he has won the battle…hands down.  Operating in fear means that you, whether consciously or unconsciously, believe what the enemy is saying, doing or threatening more than what you believe God is saying or doing…Yes, it’s true!

So, when I ride my bike past this house, I have learned to stay totally focused and am totally prepared for this dog.  The thing that amazes me is that this dog does not operate the same way 2 times in a row, much like our enemy.  Take today for instance, I saw the dog lying on the grass.  I kept my eyes straight ahead and paid him no attention…I thought I was in the clear.  HA!! He waited until I was nearly past the house and then came at me from behind.  Still, I held my ground.  You see, through having to deal with this dog, the Lord has taught me some of the tactics of the enemy.  Sometimes he comes at you head on.  Sometimes he comes from what appears to be nowhere. And sometimes, he comes at you from behind.  No matter what his plan of attack is, it is ALWAYS to harm us!  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  John 10:10

Now, I have to tell you my husband bought pepper spray for me to use on this dog if I needed to do so.  But, I just haven’t done it…and I don’t really have a good reason for why I haven’t!  I guess I thought that the dog would get used to me and leave me alone…well, that’s just crazy thinking!  I’m beginning to think the dog has me marked and is not going to give up until he has caused me to crash.  Well, he has another thing coming! What I didn’t tell you is that on my ride I have to go past this dog twice…YES, TWICE!  Today was my breaking point!  I decided that I wasn’t going to take this any more and on my way back by, this dog got a healthy dose of pepper spray.  This action, today, was also a lesson on warfare.  Don’t let the enemy mess with you until you’ve had enough and then rebuke him!  Rebuke him or cast him out at the first sign of his appearance!

I know that the enemy, the devil or satan, whatever you prefer to call him, is very subtle at times and we may not even be aware of his tactics at first.  But, as believers, when we are made aware of the appearance of the enemy, we must rebuke him.  Don’t wait to rebuke the enemy!  We have ALL authority in the name of Jesus and spiritual warfare is part of the gig if you’re a believer.  I will even go so far as to say this.  If you are a believer and you find that you don’t have to fight off the enemy, you are probably not doing anything to advance the Kingdom of God.  That may be painful for some of you to hear.  But, it is SO true.  Trust me, the moment that you begin to do something to advance the Kingdom of God, he WILL rare his ugly head. 

¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.  Ephesians 12:12-18 



Be sure to put on the full armor of God, daily!  Plead the blood of Jesus over your home and family, daily!  Everything we need to know to fight the devil is in the bible, but for some reason, it’s not always taught or used.  If you are a Christian, you ARE in a battle!  Be prepared…and don’t wait to rebuke the enemy!  Jesus died to give us that authority…so, use it!