It's time for Encouragement & Victory (9 views)
From:  David (DavidABrown)     Apr-26 10:58 am  
To:  ALL    
 
  865.1  
 
Source: www.WalkinginTruth.org
It's Time To 
Run Through A Troop 
 
How do you view your life...your circumstances...your trials...? 
Do you feel as though you are being chased down by enemy troops or are you reigning in majesty as the triumphant one? 
Has the enemy convinced you that God is against you rather than for you? 
 
Life can be very difficult at times - there is no doubt about it. 
 
It's interesting to note that, throughout the Scriptures, we find life and its trials described -  using army imagery. 
 
The following are some examples - 
 
Job 7:1 - "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?..." 
 
In this particular verse, life is termed "an appointed time" - a determined time for man upon this earth. It's compared to the military service of a soldier. A man enlists for a given time or term and endures  hardships - filled with hazard and toil - until discharged or relieved by death.  
 
Job 14:14 - "If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." 
 
Once again, man's "appointed time" is mentioned. It's comparable to a soldier's enlistment of hard service or a warfare of some sort. He is expected to endure his trials with patience until some sort of relief - "change" - comes - whether by deliverance or death. 
 
In Isaiah 40:2, God gave the mandate to the Prophet Isaiah to "Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her..." 
 
What was the message that the Prophet was to cry out loud to the people of God? 
What words could he speak that would remove the troubles from their hearts and actually revive them? 
 
The Word of the Lord continued onward to say - "...that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned..." 
 
"Her warfare" is expressed as the enlistment of a soldier in an "appointed time" of hard service for his country. It entails hardships, toils, privations, and dangers. 
 
Isaiah was commissioned by God to tell His people that their long and painful enlistment was over. The trials, calamities, and desolations that they were subjected to because of their sins were numbered and finished. Their "iniquities were pardoned," and God was graciously satisfied. 
 
Have you ever felt as though your life was likened unto the enlistment of a solder in a given time of hard service? 
Perhaps you felt as though it was a constant "boot camp" or training camp filled with grueling and continuous exercises that were very taxing on the flesh. 
 
Job felt this way. 
And he actually took it a step further in believing that God was at war with him. 
 
The following Scriptures offer an explanation of his feelings - 
 
Job 6:4 - "...the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me." 
 
These "terrors" were likened unto armies that were set in battle against him and surrounded him on all sides. 
 
Job 10:17 - "Thou renewest Thy witnesses against me, and increasest Thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me." 
 
Job's friends felt as though God was sending calamities his way as "witnesses" or proofs that he was wicked and evil. These uncommon troubles - they surmised - were evident tokens of His displeasure with His servant. 
 
Job Himself pictured his reverses in life as "changes and wars." 
The "changes" were portrayed as soldiers on duty - keeping watch until relieved by a succeeding guard. 
The attacks - that He felt God was sending his way - were like arrows or afflictions - following one right after another. 
The "war" was likened unto a whole army - a host of troubles - rushing upon him to overtake him. 
 
Job 19:12 - "His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle." 
 
His adversities, present troubles, and miseries were depicted as armies or "troops" of soldiers or bands of robbers sent on commission by God to attack him. 
They "raise up their way" against him - In other words, they position themselves to lay siege and attack. 
They "encamp round about my tabernacle" - As an army besieges an assigned city - encamping by it oftentimes for months or years to cut off all its supplies and reduce it to famine - even so have his difficulties sought to do so in his life. 
 
Have you ever felt as though God was at war with you? 
Did it ever seem as though He sent His "terrors," "witnesses," "changes," "war," and "troops" your way - in the form of great calamities, troubles, afflictions, miseries, privations, and fiery trials - to break you down? 
 
Job was mistaken in his view of things. 
He thought God was warring against him when all along He was bragging on His favored servant. 
 
Think about it - the times  - when you feel that God has sent His "troops" against you - may actually be the times when He's been bragging on you before Satan and all of heaven! 
 
Life may seem as difficult as the enlisted service of a soldier. 
At times, it may seem as though God has set his "terrors" and "troops" against you.
But the truth of the matter is - His church is His army, and they are victorious and glorious! 
 
Song of Solomon 6:4 paints an awesome picture of this mighty army for us - "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners." 
 
Here the Church is compared to the capitals of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. 
"Tirzah" - being the city in the midst of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim - was the capital. Its name signified something beautiful, delightful, gracious, pleasant, or acceptable. 
"comely as Jerusalem" - Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, was called the perfection of beauty. 
"terrible as an army with banners" - What is represented here is an awe-inspiring, majestic, warlike image of the Church - the army of the Lord. 
 
In drawing this picture, King Solomon alluded to the caravans in the East and the manner in which they traveled - especially by night. These caravans were divided into companies called cottors. Each cottor was distinguished by the particular brazier or long pole on which they carried their lights. Some had as many as ten or twelve lights shaped in different forms - triangular, an M, or N, etc. An entire caravan, composed of many thousands of pilgrims with their distinct braziers of lights,  traveling at night through the land, would produce a very majestic appearance. 
 
In this particular verse, Solomon painted an awe-inspiring picture of the Bride of Christ as she stands today. With her lamps burning, she is indeed "terrible" as she travels through the "night" of life. 
 
This awesome illustration of the Church is one that the devil does not want any of us to see. 
 
But we must ask ourselves - What makes this company so glorious?  
 
We believe that the answer can be found in the words of David, as recorded in Psalm 18:29 - "For by Thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall." 
 
The devil wants us to focus on our circumstances as being mighty "troops" or armies set against us. 
He will fight to the death to keep us from knowing that "through God" we can "run through a troop." 
In other words, no matter which circumstances set themselves against us as a band of soldiers or a mighty host of enemies - we can overcome every one of them, securing the victory each time. 
 
How do we do it? 
 
"By Thee" 
"By my God" 
 
If our present situations and circumstances are standing in our way, then, by the help and grace of Almighty God, we can and will run right through them. 
 
Glory to God! 
 
From this day forward, God wants us to perceive things differently. 
Instead of seeing our present troubles as being mighty armies encamped around us, He wants us to see ourselves - through the Power of the Holy Spirit - breaking through each one. 
 
It's time to "run through a troop." 
No longer will we allow the enemy to stop us or depress us with his lies. 
 
Yes, the "troops" may be there surrounding us - but not for long! 
Today, we are running through them.
 
Indeed, it is true! 
Nothing can stand in our way!
 
God is not against us.
He is for us.
 
Devil, you are a liar! 
 
And "...If God be for us, who can be against us?"(Romans 8:31)
 
May God Bless His Word.
Connie
 
www.WalkinginTruth.org
 
Connie Giordano 
P. O. Box 383016
Duncanville, TX. 75138-3016
 
Copyright 2004 by Connie Giordano  
 


David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
