Many Voices

As I walked the streets of Little Haiti, Florida, and felt the feeling of disappointment overwhelm me as every gate was locked and every knock of the door was ignored. But there, a woman sat at the end of the sidewalk, I went and shared the Gospel with her, we shared moments, she listened, I listened, but the prayer was what moved me. I prayed for her, laid my hands on her, as did the rest of my group, and the second I spoke one word... An extremely loud car honking its horn, continuously, my first thought... "you've got to be kidding me." I paused for a moment waiting for it to stop, did it? Haha, no it did not, in fact it never stopped until I said amen and we all opened our eyes. Literally from the second I began to pray until the second I stopped, the unusually loud car horn screamed. I was amazed at the timing of it... it was spiritual warfare, the devil was trying to stop me, distract me, distract the woman, distract the group. I was speaking Christ and the devil was trying to stop that, the devil was trying to speak by silencing Christ. Did she hear a word I prayed? I'm not sure, but I know God did, I know she continued to bow her head and close her eyes as I prayed, as the car horn screamed, I spoke louder, hoping God would echo my voice to her.

I share this story with you all, not for praise, not for you to want to go on a mission trip, or for you to know that spiritual warfare is real, though the latter two are good. My purpose is saying all this is the fact that we live in a world right now where a thousand voices are screaming at us (the car horn), but God is also speaking, and we need to make sure we are listening to His voice. The devil and God are both speaking. When we make time to be silent with God, the devil is screaming. When we are still, the devil is moving. When we make time for God, the devil is squirming and seething with anger. He tries as many schemes to stop us from focusing on God. So when we are listening for God to speak, the devil is speaking too, watch who you listen to. Compare what you're hearing to scriptures, take it to an elder, a leader you trust, who is deeply rooted in their faith.  Are we choosing to listen to the words that are easy to hear, rather than the difficult ones? The devil loves to speak words dripping with honey, music to our ears, pleasing to the eye, he tempts the flesh with desire and want. The devil disguised as an angel. Like the big bad wolf, hiding under sheep skin.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

I say this to remind you to be alert, not to make you fear, because with God on your side you should fear nothing. But now that as God is active, so is the devil, he moves sneakily, he makes wrong sound oh so right, and he makes lies sound like truth. He now has so many avenues to get to you, social media, tv, the news, etc. Watch out for the devils schemes, watch for Jesus' second coming. Be alert of the evil that surrounds, but also be alert, be ready for the trumpet sounds. Please ask for wisdom to discern between the voices of the the devil and the Holy Spirit. They both speak. Whose voice are you going to allow to echo and whose voice will you ignore?