WILL YOU STAND AGAIN?

The Lord gave me a word a couple of years ago where He was talking about the future and He asked me the question “Will you stand?”.  This was an absolute shock to me at the time and put me back on my hind seat as in my mind there could never be a set of circumstances where I wouldn’t stand in Him.

In the last few weeks I have found myself in those circumstances and even more so in the last few days.  Through physical, financial and emotional circumstances I have been taken to a more broken place than I could have imagined.  What has made this even more harder is that I thought I had been through the 1 Peter 5:10 experience

“But may the God of all grace, who called us to eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

I thought I had done the suffering and had been transformed (Romans 12:2) and was now in a settled place.  But I have now been taken to a deeper place where I am having to really look deep in myself to see what or who am I standing on.  Is it me or is it Christ? You think there is no more that can be broken and moulded but God knows best and he wants to make sure our foundation is all Him and none of us.

I now understand why He asked me will I stand.  When you are stripped down you find what is in your heart is exposed and that there is nothing else you can do, you come to a place of really saying will I stand in the Lord given everything that is happening around me and with me.

Maybe you have had prophetic words over you that have moved through yours or someone else’s freewill choice and it rocks you to the core that a word could be missed because of this.  Maybe you realise your actions (sin) has caused damage to you and others or maybe you are simply put into a deeper battle and you are really tested to the core.  This is where we are asked will we stand.

If we do stand then our sphere of responsibility can grow as the Lord knows he can trust us.  But until you are taken to a position that is impossible for you to handle you cannot answer the question will I stand.  It has to be a Proverbs 3:5 position

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding:

 

SO WHAT IS THE ANSWER TO WILL I STAND?

For me after a lot of soul searching it has come down to the basics.  What is it that is planted in my soul (has my soul been restored?) and who is inside me?

The strong point for me to hold onto during this time is the 30 or so memory verses I have committed to my heart.  When I went over these, with everything going on around me and in my life, something came alive inside me.  I have committed these verses to my heart and as I recited them the reality of each verse and what the Lord has taught me through each of them just made my inside shine because He is inside me and these verses brought His life out in me.

Proverbs 23:7

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he….

These verses are what are in my heart and they bring His light out.

For years these have been my verses and this is the foundational stuff that is inside me.

To be able to stand is to have a foundational laid deep in your heart that is undeniably him.

 

Psalm 17:3

You have tested my heart;

You have visited me in the night;

You have tried me and found nothing;

I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

 

During the last week my mouth has transgressed as I mumbled about things.  But when I came back to what was in my heart it is undeniably Him and he can test me in the night and I pray he will continue to find nothing that is not of Him.

So for me these memory verses are what is inside me.  What is it for you?  Is it memory verses, is it your bible reading, is it an experience or sign and wonder that has happened to you?

Whatever it is hold on to it as no matter what the circumstances are if you find yourself holding on to this thing it reminds you that Christ is inside you and we are one with Him.  It is your heart foundation.

 

Jeremiah 29:3

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

 

We have laid the foundation in our heart and it is Christ.

 

Ephesians 6:13

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 

My circumstances are still fierce but I have done all I can and I put the armour on daily (as we live in a spiritual world and it is a spiritual war) and now I need to stand in rest. It simply comes down to this

 

Will you stand?