Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit.” Satan knows the implications of God pouring out His Spirit as He promised in this scripture – the work of the Holy Spirit will increase among human beings. Remember that it is the Spirit of God that convicts sinners of their need for Christ and encourages them to surrender to Him. He is the One that empowers Christians to pray more; He gives understanding of the Word and releases anointing to do exploits for God and grace to live a holy life. We are told in 1st John 3:8 that the Son of God came to destroy the devil’s work. And in John 14:12 Jesus said to the disciples (and by extension to us) “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.” In other words, we have the power, and that is through the Holy Spirit, to spoil the works of the devil.
Since Satan does not want anyone to get born again or for those who are already born again to prosper in their Christian life or ministry, he is definitely not sitting down with his hands folded while the Lord pours out His Holy Spirit. Satan is also doing his own thing to ensure that he counters the work of the Holy Spirit. As a result of the work of Satan and his demons Ephesians 5:16 says that the days are evil. There are, these days, different kinds of sicknesses and diseases including some that were not known about in the past. Human beings, including many Christians, mete out unbelievable wickedness to their fellows. People (even children) are committing suicide; there are accidents that are cutting lives short, fire incidents in many places, armed robbery attacks, assassinations, activities of witches and wizards, oppression, etc. Many are jobless. Many that are employed are either not well paid or have been on the same level for years (nobody thinks of them when it is time for promotion). There are married couples that do not know marital bliss by experience while many others have children that are giving them headaches. Many are confronted by different kinds of battles, etc. There are even Christians who are frustrated because they find themselves in the kind of situation that Paul lamented about in Romans 7:15, “I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate” (Easy-to-Read Version). Bear in mind that the good some people want to do involves exhibiting the good character of Jesus and serving God to His satisfaction.
As a result of the many evils that are happening at this time many are afraid and worried as predicted in Luke 21:26. Many are full of pain and sorrow. Many are running from pillar to post. Even among Christians there are many that are looking for help where there is no help. The truth is, however, that everything is failing. For instance, putting one’s trust in police officers, security officers/gadgets, etc., does not guarantee safety because even officers get hurt or killed and gadgets can be manipulated. We also cannot put our trust in the government, which is made up of human beings whose hands can be tied. Remember the discussion recorded in 2ndKings 6:26-27, which occurred between the king of Israel and a certain woman, “And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?” Remember also what happened in Daniel 6 after evil workers tricked the king into signing a wicked decree that was meant to lead to Daniel’s destruction. When the king realized what had happened, Verse 14 said that he was very upset. He did not want Daniel to be harmed in any way, and he did everything he could to save him. But he failed. Daniel had to be thrown into the den of lions.
You cannot put your trust in your friends or family members either because they can also fail. Even the Bible says that we should not put our faith in our friends (Micah 7:5) nor put our trust in the members of our family (Jeremiah 9:4). Some people put their faith in their doctors, which was one of the offences King Asa of Judah committed against the Lord. 2nd Chronicles 16:12, “In the 39th year of Asa’s rule his feet began to hurt. The pain was terrible. But even though he was suffering, he didn’t look to the Lord for help. All he did was go to the doctors” (NIRV). There is absolutely nothing wrong in a Christian seeing a doctor. However, our trust should be in God working through the doctor and not in the doctor himself/herself. Remember that even the best of doctors can be overcome by the spirit of error if God does not keep it away from them. Unfortunately, there are even Christians who go down to “Egypt” (witches, wizards, magicians, people with familiar spirits, etc.) to look for help, when the Lord clearly said that it would be terrible for those who do so (Isaiah 31:1).
In these perilous times that we live in, we need to believe and act on the Psalmist’s message in Psalm 121:1-8, “I look up to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord. He is the Maker of heaven and earth. He won’t let your foot slip. He who watches over you won’t get tired. In fact, He who watches over Israel won’t get tired or go to sleep. The Lord watches over you. The Lord is like a shade tree at your right hand. The sun won’t harm you during the day. The moon won’t harm you during the night. The Lord will keep you from every kind of harm. He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your life no matter where you go, both now and forever.” The Psalmist even prayed to God in Psalm 108:12-13, “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.”
God is the only source of real help from trouble. Are your eyes fixed on Him?
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