Be Joyful O Earth

 If you are alive you are indeed in a spiritual battle of good verses evil whether you mean to be or not. You may be in the process of trying on different kinds of armor. You may have even grown up in church only to be discouraged for one reason or another only to leave with no plan to return. The Creator of all things still has His eye on you, dear one. Did you know that He still cares? (1 Peter 5:7)

God has an enemy who was cast out of heaven because he wanted the throne for himself (Isaiah 14:12, Luke 10:18). To be sure, Satan is no match for Yahweh, our Creator, but he is extremely dangerous to unprotected humans. Satan hates God and all of creation and his goal is either to be worshiped or to destroy those who will not do so. He has been at his work for thousands of years and he studies just how to deceive and to destroy (1 Peter 5:8) each person ever born. He uses the most deceived people to devise wicked schemes to bring down innocent people who merely want to live peaceful lives (Psalm 37:12, 14).

Yahweh laughs at their wicked schemes (Psalm 37:13) and you can also, but you need the proper attire (Matthew 22:11). The first humans Yahweh made were Adam and Eve. They lived in a perfect world with the best of everything (Genesis 3). They only had one simple rule, “do not eat from the designated forbidden tree in the garden.” The unpopular term is “sin,” but dear soul, it is a real thing.

Satan tricked them and they failed, but God promised a solution which would be a future deliverer. Until that time would come, there would need to be animal blood sacrifices (Genesis 3:21) following only Yahweh’s instructions for atonement of sin for all humans, a reminder of the consequences of sin and also of the coming Messiah.

Many people devised their own ways apart from God, seeking eternal life, believing that it was good enough, but it turned out to be false religion. Satan has devised a counterfeit for everything Yahweh has spoken into being to keep the masses confused and oppressed: fake religion, fake prophets, fake messiahs, fake churches, fake preachers, fake church people, fake news, fake history, fake kings and queens, you name it (1 John 5:19) – all of this to make people believe that judgment is also fake. Satan’s ultimate fate, the lake of fire, is sealed along with a third of angelic beings who are demonic and those whose names who are not written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 20:10-15).

There is only one way to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, one must know the Lamb. Who is this Lamb? He is Yeshua, (John 1:29) also known as Jesus. He was born through the power of the Holy Spirit through a young virgin named Mary (Matthew 1:23), He lived as a human being, yet did not sin (1 Peter 2:22). He became the once and for all perfect blood sacrifice and atonement for sin, dying on a Roman cross, for which the animal sacrifices were a mere foreshadowing (Hebrews 9:11-14).

All you need to do is turn away from the worldly destructive path and follow Him, become like a small child following a good father, (Matthew 18:2-4) learn His ways, hear His voice, love for Him will indeed grow. He will pick you up when you fall and comfort your boo boos, and then gently show you how to do better next time (Proverbs 3:5-6) because He loves you and cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). He wants you to tell Him everything even though He already knows it (Psalm 139:3-4).

You might say that this is not the picture of the warrior you had in mind for yourself. But He will give you strength and power to fulfill anything and everything that He assigns you to do.