The Train of His Robe

Isaiah 6:1

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple."

A few weeks ago, the Lord showed me something about the above verse that I had never seen before. We were singing the song, "I See the Lord" at the ministry Mark and I lead, Restore, and this verse stood out to me:

"The train of His robe fills the temple
a cloud of heavenly worshippers surrounding His throne.
Let's join with them now,
crying Holy, Holy is the Lamb, the Lamb alone."

I had sung this song several times, but this time the words, "train of His robe" jumped out at me.  You know how that happens sometimes when we're reading the Bible and a portion of scripture that you've read several times all of a sudden just jumps out at you?  It's timely, and usually just when you need it!  This was what happened to me when I was singing this portion of the song.

I just kept thinking about it and wondering what the train of His robe really is because I don't think I ever stopped to give it a lot of thought in the past, other than to acknowledge that I figured it meant His glory, His presence, but I knew this time, the Lord had something else to show me.

So I spent some time looking up the meaning of the train of His robe, and I was amazed and encouraged by what I found!

In days of old, when kings went out to battle, after a king was victorious in the battle over his enemy, he would cut off the corner of the defeated king's robe and add it on to the train of his own robe as a sign of his victory over his enemy.  The more victories he won, the longer his train would become!

Wow!  How powerful and symbolic is that!

So the Lord wanted me to be reminded that He is victorious!  He has conquered every foe, every enemy, every sickness, every relationship issue, every addiction, fear, worry, cares of life, insecurity, weakness, storms, and trials.  On our behalf, He has conquered it all.  Because we have this promise, this assurance, this truth, when we come into His presence, our focus can be on how great and awesome He is and how great His victory!  So great that His train can’t be measured!
Is the enemy of your soul coming after you today?  Rest in the promise that the Lord has already conquered the enemy for you.   The battle has been won for you!  The enemy of our souls has been vanquished once and for all and the Lord is victorious!

The verses that come to mind are Colossians 2:15:

"He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him."

And Psalm 68:18:

“You have ascended on high. You have led away captive a train of vanquished foes; You have received gifts of men, yes, of the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell there with them."

Be encouraged and walk in the victory He has already provided for you today!

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

I had written this a few years ago, as you can see from the date here, on my "Notes" section of FB; however, I forgot to add it here. :)

April 19, 2013 at 9:10am

A few weeks ago, I came under a major attack in my mind to the extent that I started to question everything I believed about who I was as a Christian and even my worth to the Lord and others.

There was a couple of situations that I had been focusing on which were bothering me.  No details, but because of being focused on what I was seeing and hearing I started feeling:

Insecure, inferior, comparing myself with others and their experiences with the Lord; my failures, my past, my weaknesses were magnified; my position in the Lord and even in ministry; feeling God’s disapproval; rejected; I questioned my identity, my value to others and to God; rejection; feeling like a fake and that God didn’t care about me; believed that I didn’t hear from God and not only that, anything I had heard from him in the past was probably just me and not the Lord.

I shared all this with my husband, and even though he recognized this as an attack and I was believing lies, I couldn’t see it.  I felt dead inside.

This lasted for a couple of days and then I happened to see a friend of mine, someone who I trust and has given sound advice before and I know has a strong relationship with the Lord.  She asked me how I was doing and I told her not okay.  She asked me if I wanted to chat and so I told her everything that I had been going through.  The night before seeing this friend I started to have a glimmer come through my mind that perhaps I was under attack.  So when I was talking with her she confirmed that that was exactly what was going on.

However, she was also firm with me for believing the lies of the enemy and how I was to handle it.

The enemy knows our weaknesses.  Some of my weaknesses is in the battle of the mind and comparing myself with others, and feelings of inadequacy and being a disappointment to God.  The enemy attacks my mind and I’ve had to combat those attacks and remind myself of what the word says.  However, I was weak and so succumbed to those attacks and started believing all the lies.  I would venture to say that we all deal with the "battle in the mind".  Our battle for the most part is won and lost in the mind.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are told to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  We need to fill our minds with the truth to come against the lies that come against us.  When we get distracted and focused on the things that we shouldn’t be focused on and take our mind off the Lord and what he tells us to focus on then we are vulnerable to come under attack.  The bible says in Phil 4:8:

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

We need to fill our minds with the truth at all times and confess it every day.  We can’t get lazy in our battle against the enemy.  He is out to "kill, steal and destroy "(John 10:10)  us and because he knows the areas in our lives that we are weak he will attack us in those place.

The bible tells us in Eph 6:10-18 to put on the armour that God has given us, not just once but every day to come against the attacks of the enemy.

"A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.  For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.  Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.  Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.  For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.  In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.  Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere."

I do transcription work, and one of the jobs I am working for have three men who are on trial at this time and all are quite elderly and not well.  One of them was in hospital recently and so an expert was testifying on the health of this defendant who had been sick in the hospital for a time.  He made this statement:

“There is no evidence of any remaining damage from that fall that he had. It certainly would have affected his confidence with his standing and walking, and when you're not confident standing then you do feel dizzy and you feel more unsteady, and that's the probable consequence of the fall.”

Wow, this was quite a revelation to me and really spoke to me about our walk with the Lord.  If we are not confident in our stand with him then we are subject to feel insecure and unsure of our walk and our stand.  This is why we need to have our armour on, be grounded in the truth of the Word, so that when the attacks come against us, those firey darts, such as temptations, deceptions and accusations (distractions the enemy will bring our way to get us off track with the Lord), we will be able to stand because we will be confident in the Lord and in His power within us to fight against these attacks.

After speaking with my friend for quite some time I started to see the truth of what I had been under, an attack against my mind, and that I had been believing the lie.  The bible tells us in 2 Cor 10:3-5:

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

What are strongholds?  Strongholds are incorrect thinking patterns based on deception and accusations that we hold onto; a battle based on error and not truth, which can affect our feelings and emotions.

I had to ask the Lord to forgive me and cleanse me for believing these lies, and “exalting” these lies above who God is in my life and the truth of what He says in His Word.

The bible tells us in John 10:10 that Jesus came to give us life and in abundance.

Every day we need to make a choice.  We need to remember that we are in a battle, a war, and we are soldiers in this battle.  Just as a soldier would not go into battle without arming himself, we need to arm ourselves with the weapons of our warfare as well (the blood of Jesus, the word of our testimony, confessing the Word, and putting on the armour that we have been given).  Without these weapons and without knowing the manual (the Word) we will be defeated every time the enemy comes against us.  We need to know what God says about us in His Word so that when the enemy comes against us and tries to get us to believe the lies in the battle of the mind that we will be able to come against him with the Word of truth that we know.

Psalm 9:9 says:

"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed  a stronghold in times of trouble."

Psalm 18:2-3:

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:16-19:

"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.  He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.  They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.  He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."

Psalm 18:37-39:

"I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.  I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.  You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me."

So how do we know that we are listening to the wrong voice?

• It will bring you condemnation vs. correction
• You will have a lack of peace
• It will cause you to turn away from God instead of toward Him
• You will feel that there is no way out vs. a way out
• You will want to alienate yourself from others

We all have been given an assignment from the Lord.  If you remember Esther, she was used of the Lord for Him to use "for such a time as this" to save His people when they enemy was planning their destruction.  That was Esther's assignment.  What is your assignment?  If the enemy can keep us distracted by focusing on those temptations, deceptions and accusations, the lies and firey darts he brings to our mind, then we will miss our assignment.  You were born for such a time as this.

Recently, I heard someone make a statement something like this, that we were all born for a "time such as this".  We have all been given an assignment.  Think about the days we are living in and what is going on around the world.  The reason why we have been born "for such a time as this" is because the Lord has confidence that we have what it takes to live in "such a time as this".  He has an assignment for you!  You are important to God and He has a great plan for your life!  The enemy doesn't want to see that fulfilled so he will do whatever it takes, by attacking us in our weaknesses and shooting those firey darts at us constantly so he can take us out of that plan.

We are not alone!  God has given us Himself, His Word, His armour, and others to help in our times of trouble and in the battles we face.  When we are under attack, seek refuge in Him, in His Word, and seek out wise counsel from those who can come alongside you to support you and speak truth into your heart so that you can get back up on your feet again.  John 8:32 says:

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”