At night I frequently get hit with weird symptoms that don't trouble me during the day. Last night it came to me that they are quite literally attacks. I feel like the enemy is trying to get me to fall for reality as he defines it, not as it was defined by God at Calvary. I mean, you can reason all you want about how it would be normal for the body to suppress certain things during the day and then have to deal with them at night. But some things just don't add up. Acne will appear one day and disappear the next, then reappear on the third. I've been having trouble with foot odor, a classic sign my body is dealing with something. But in the mornings my tongue is a healthy pink, a clear indication that my body is clean and detoxed.
When you take a stand for health, as I did in my last post, and claim that "the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe" (Eph. 1.19) is sufficient for my physical body... When you determine to walk by faith, not by sight... Then the enemy inevitably comes to you and says, "Well, you're banking all on something supernatural, something that just can't be. This is reality, what you see around you, and I control it."
The enemy is wily. He comes at us with the very thing that is calculated to distract us from keeping our eyes turned upon the One who is the Answer to everything. The very thing that makes walking by faith and not by sight so difficult for me, personally.
There is a phrase we use in our family, "standing against" something. I have been standing against this cough for two weeks. Sometimes I get so lost in a sea of symptoms that I forget what it means to stand and have to remind myself. I think it means to go on as if the thing were not there. This means taking Christ as your strength. It means cheerfully going on with the daily tasks, without deigning to acknowledge your symptom by so much as a complaint. I'm not advocating an all-in-your-head form of denial, à la Christian Science. I'm saying there is overcoming power, and it is obedience for me to avail myself of it.
Somebody, probably Oswald Chambers, says that God can do a lot with us in sleep because we are not consciously at war with Him. At our house, we look upon sleep as a divine appointment with God. I think that is one reason that these symptoms flare up in the night, for both me and Damian. The enemy would very much like to keep us from that appointment.
So last night I tried to just ignore my symptoms and go to sleep. After a while, it became apparent that something stronger was needed. I have been learning that the key to an overcoming life for me is praise - vocal and sonant thanksgiving. When you are feeling tired, dejected, or sick, the hardest thing in the world to do is open your mouth and speak or sing praise aloud. But it dispels the funk every time, if only for those few measures of speech.
My mom would have a "praise fest," where she gets her autoharp out and sings - or maybe shouts - praises to the Lord. I feel a little inhibited by the fact that I live in a town home with neighbors on both sides... especially at night. So instead of singing, I remembered that "the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends" (Job 42.10) and I got on my knees. I started at A and prayed for everyone I could think of whose name began with each letter of the alphabet. The cough calmed immediately. I made it to G before I got very sleepy and went to bed. (If your name begins with one of those letters, I hope I prayed for you. But I keep remembering other people: "Oh, Andy starts with A... and I forgot Dotti when I was on D...")
I'm sticking with the Reality I see in the Scriptures, however things may appear.
Lift Jesus higher
Lift Jesus higher
Lift Him up for the world to see
He said, "If I be lifted up from the earth
I will draw all men unto Me"
This healing's mine
This healing's mine
It is mine, though I cannot see
He said, "I am the Lord that healeth thee, O my child
I am the Lord that healeth thee"
This healing's mine
This healing's mine
It is mine, though I cannot see
By His wounds I am healed, 1 Peter 2.24
It is written, it is sure, it is for me
This healing's mine
This healing's mine
It is mine, though I cannot see
The Sun of Righteousness arose with my healing in His wings
And my foes I shall tread under my feet
This healing's mine
This healing's mine
It is mine, though I cannot see
I dance and sing, shout and rejoice, for the power of His Voice
For the Lord has turned my captivity
I've come for bread
I've come for bread
It's the children's bread I need
It pleases You for me to come
Of Your Word this is the sum
I am here for bread, O Lord, feed me
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