Barking Dog

Yesterday afternoon I took time to go over to the church and pray. I highly recommend going to the prayer time your church has to offer or take a lunch or dinner break and go spend time at your church at the altar and pray. There is just something about being at the altar and praying that makes a difference for me when I pray. Don't get me wrong praying during my quiet time is always good when I am not being interrupted by the kids, my husband or just family life stuff. Being at the altar is a special place for me. Anyway on Tuesday nights we have designated it as Praise n Prayer. Occasionally we have one other person that shows up besides ourselves. Yes that sounds bad and yes it does upset us that no one comes out. Does it shock us, not really we generally only have 10 people come out for mid week services. Our largest services are our Sunday morning and evening services.

Anyway, the last few months have been rather difficult on me personally. With my gall bladder surgery and my knee problems and now my surgery coming up on Monday I have just been in a funk mentally. So I went to spend time alone with God, just Him and me at the altar. It was so good. In fact I plan to go this afternoon before our midweek service just to pray and give God the praise He so deserves. But I have to tell you sometimes when you are at the altar its not always a nice feel good situation. Sometimes you get rebuked by the Lord and that doesn't always feel so good! That is what happened to me yesterday.

You see behind the parsonage and next to the church is another home and a caged, mean pit bull. Now please don't write me and tell me you own a pit bull and its a sweet loving dog. I know that all pits are not mean. But this one is and has attacked other dogs and has bitten at least one child. Why it has not been put down I don't know, but we are constantly stressing to our kids to stay away from the cage and they are basically scared to even be on that side of the back yard anyway. This dog does nothing but bark mostly at his shadow but he is always barking at something usually at 3 in the morning or some other odd hour of the night. Anyway, what God showed me was rather hard to accept but I realized He was right. You see while I was praying the dog started barking again. It was a distraction to me and it really was bothering me.

That is when the Lord showed me that my focus has not been on Him the last few months. I wanted to argue but realized it was the truth. He showed me that satan is just like that barking dog. He barks and barks and barks and instead of believing on the promises of God, praying and reading His word I have been letting the barking of satan dictate my life. You see satan does all he can to distract us by barking. Those barks (noise) can come in any form he can imagine and he is not that imaginative he uses the same tactics all the time. His favorites to distract me are: financial problems, health related problems, self esteem issues, my weight, past hurts, ect.

What God showed me is this: satan is going to keep barking!

We have to decide if we are going to listen to his lies

or are we going to listen to God's promises?

As for me I am taking a stand and plan to use God's word as ear muffs to block the barking of satan. I plan to stand on God's promises and not satan's lies. I am a child of the King of Kings, the Creator of all things, The Alpha and Omega. His Word tells me that the steps of a righteous man/woman are order by Him and as long as we are following Him and seeking after Him for direction then whatever comes our way is not a surprise to Him and we can rest assure that He has a plan to get us around, over or through the difficult times. Sometimes you have to walk through the fire - He will be there, you'll not be burned! Sometimes you have to walk through the waters (floods) - He will be there, you'll not be drowned! For He is always with His children!

There is a song we use to sing in church it goes a little like this:

Whose report will you believe?

I will believe the report of the Lord.

His report says I am healed,

His report says I am free,

His report says victory!

So who do you plan to believe today?

Do you plan to listen to the barking dog?

Or like me do you plan to listen to God's

promises and make your stand?