There are a number of words I hope to share over the next few months or so, but an article written recently here started me thinking again.  It is indeed a battle that we are in – whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.  We can choose to retreat to our comfy castles and hope to avoid the storm, but it will not avail us.

The signs are there – we have seen the storms that are coming and they will rattle us out of our false security. There is, as ever, only one resting place and that is Jesus.  We are given, by the grace of the Lord, time in which to prepare.  Or time to pretend that everything will stay the same. 

The storms to come will bring both adversity and revival, persecution and blessing.  When our false securities are stripped away, so we will have to lean on our real Security.  Or dance away to other false gods.  Indeed, the very storm that will appear a curse will produce the greatest blessing – when we have eyes to see it.

So be of good heart.  The devil does not have the final say.  He lost – and lost a long, long time ago.  All the smoke and mirrors, all the thunder and lightening, all the fierce roaring and raging are no more than the death throes of a wounded beast.

Even when the storm rages around you, when you are beset all around and the devil seems to hold all the cards from an unassailable position, remember it is simply a lie.  He is a usurper apeing God.  He has lost, and he knows it.  His time is short, and getting shorter.

God has already procured the victory.  The gates of hell will never prevail against the Church, His elect.  Yes, the storm may rage, but press into Jesus and there you will find the victory, the victory that was won before the ages ever began.