News and Updates
March 1, 2024
David Copeland · March 1, 2024
Newsletter · Volume: 24 Issue: 3
Last month, I began writing about a dream I had a few weeks ago. In that dream, I was with a group of people in a particular location (I didn’t recognize where I was, but it seemed to be in a rural area, in a run-down resort, or an abandoned vacation place). It was definitely an outdoor setting, with a run-down house we could go in and out of and get out of the sun.
The place was full of lions, both inside and outside. While they didn’t seem to be hungry, I knew they were there to intimidate us, and several distinct things stood out to me:
1.These lions could attack us at any time.
2.We could not run from them; if we ran, they would chase us and catch us, and we would become a snack to them.
3.We shouldn’t keep our backs turned to them; we must always be watching them in case they tried to attack. I can remember being very tired from the constant looking….watching…paying attention….being concerned that at any moment, they could jump and attack one of my team. I also remember waking up exhausted, physically exhausted. I felt like a truck had ran over me. I immediately remembered 1 Peter 5:8:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings (afflictions) are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” NKJV
The second thing that stands out to me in the dream is we cannot not run. Never turn your back to the enemy!
When you look at the armor of God, it has no physical protection on the backside. We should never turn our back on our enemy. The devil is always “seeking whom he may devour.”
Look at Ephesians 6:14-17
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; NKJV
We can stand against the “wiles” of the devil because Jesus has already obtained the victory for us and granted us the privilege of sitting with Him in heavenly places!
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-7 NKJV
The third thing I notice here is we must always be watching. Or in other words, stay focused! Pay attention!
In Matthew 24, Jesus tell us this way:
42.Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Luke spells it out this way:
Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Friends, no matter what you are going through or the challenges you may be facing, stay focused on the end game. Jesus is coming. And if He doesn’t come in our lifetime, we will go to Him. You may be totally exhausted in your current situation, but pay attention to what His Word says to you daily. If He cares for the sparrows, the flowers, and the grass, surely He loves you too much to leave you in a den of lions forever!