And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be about the things of My Father?” Luke 2:49.
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. Matthew 24:45-47.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
In many of the parables My Son told there was a master and there were servants, and the servants were blessed, rewarded, and even waited upon by the master when the master came and found them busy about his affairs, and not just their own. And why were some busy and others not? What made the difference? Whether the servants were focused and committed to their work for the master seeking his best interests above their own or they were easily distracted from the master’s business by the lure of other things and their own lusts and self-ambition. They did not realize the promotion to the things they were seeking in all the wrong directions was theirs when they were busy about the master’s affairs instead of their own.
The one who seeks only himself, brings himself to ruin, but the one that brings himself to naught for Me discovers who HE IS.
And today’s life lesson of what to do when Satan attacks is “Be busy about your Heavenly Father’s Business.” When Satan attacks if you are busy about My business he cannot even get your attention. An idle life and empty mind invite him in and to bring at least seven demons with him to stay in the empty place.
Jesus was always very busy with My affairs. Even at twelve years old He was seeking ways to serve Me and do what I directed Him. Mary and Joseph were searching for Him when they had gone up for the Passover and did not find him in the caravan headed home. When they came back to Jerusalem looking for Him, they found Him in the temple teaching the elders by questioning and giving them answers and what did He tell them when questioned why He had gone there? That He had to be busy about My affairs, not just His own. And He stayed busy with it all day every day and all night every night for His brief life on earth. And the devil could not touch Him or get any part in Him. Jesus was too committed and too busy to be bothered.
My servant Paul was committed to being busy with My affairs and counted all the other things he used to so earnestly seek as important as rubbish.
But we are looking here at what to do when Satan attacks. To discover that I would like to take you to the first parable My Son told that He said that if you do not understand this one you will not understand the others. Mark 4:13.
This parable is about a sower sowing seed. He is seeking to grow a harvest. He throws out the seed to plant it upon the earth but some falls on the footpath by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred. Mark 4:4-8.
And then My Son explained it for you who have ears to hear. The seed the sower is sowing is My Word. So the soil He speaks of is the condition of the hearts of those who hear the Word. And He names four types of hearts, and three subcategories in the final type, in those who hear the Word.
First, is the lowest level of hearing and it does not ever get into the heart. I call this the people of “NO POSITION.” That is, their hearts have no place for My Word. They take no position on it, they do not stand on it, they just ignore it. This is a hard heart, a callous heart, or just an indifferent heart that sees no value in the Word and has no interest in knowing it. This type of heart finds the Word foolish and boring. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts so it cannot plant. Often they are scoffers and doubters. They gave it no position in their lives so no transition of their lives from darkness to light took place. Mark 4:14-15. This group never even puts their toe into the living water flowing from My throne that I showed Ezekiel in a vision.
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21.
The second group is more open to My Word, but I call this group: “FIRST OPPOSITION,” meaning at the first hint of opposition to the Word they experience in their lives, they are gone. That is, when they hear the Word with My magnificent promises of salvation, healing, provision, peace, etc., they immediately receive it with gladness; but they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. When the devil shoots a few fiery arrows at them and they experience symptoms contrary to My promises or some other form of tribulation or persecution arises for the Word’s sake, immediately they stumble and pull out of the battle. They surrender to the devil and decide My Word does not work at FIRST OPPOSITION. These are quitters and not overcomers. Mark 4:16-17. They put their toe into to the living water flowing from My throne, but they pull it back out if the water is the least bit agitated.
The third group is more open to My Word and Satan must wage more serious attacks to take these down, but he succeeds with this group because THEY HAVE NO SENSE OF MISSION. It other words, they do not understand the hope of My calling, the riches of My inheritance in those who believe, and the greatness of the surpassing power I have put into them in My Word, so they are easily distracted and pulled off into destructive and idle detours. They are the ones I liken to being sown among thorns; they hear the Word and it begins to grow in their hearts, but the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of the flesh, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19. This group gets into the living water flowing from My throne up to their ankles but then they can walk out the minute they find something more attractive to them.
Samson was of this category. I had given him an amazing mission to judge and govern My people Israel and save them from the captivity of the Philistines, but he had no sense of the greatness of his mission and got taken in by the lusts and desiring of other things that he gave preeminence to instead of being busy about My business, which would have given him the true desires of his heart, but he got all entangled in the thorns the devil planted and he permitted to grow in the field of his heart.
The devil played this game with Eve. She lost the sense of her mission at first opposition, got entangled by the thorns of deceitful desires that appealed to her pride and was taken out of her great commission.
Now we come to the fourth group which consists of those who have TAKEN HOLD OF THE GREAT COMMISSION and are “all in,” so to speak, in their commitment to Me and being busy about My affairs of saving souls and bringing all to the knowledge of the truth that is in Jesus (the great commission given to you by Jesus as His last instruction of you on earth, Matthew 28:18-20). These are swimming in the living water coming from My throne and traveling on the flow of the Spirit. Their hearts are good ground, they hear the Word sown into them, accept it as truth, and refuse to give up until the harvest comes. But even in these good and generous hearts there is a difference for some bear fruit thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred. Mark 4:20. Why? Jesus explains, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” Mark 4:24-25.
The amount of diligence and commitment you are willing to put into knowing and doing My Word, the more you will be given in harvest from the Word, whether it be revelation, impartation, healing, purification, restoration, provision, multiplication, and every other promise you locate as if on a treasure hunt in My Word. But above all, the more you take hold onto My Word and do it, the more I will reveal to you of your mission that I have entrusted to you. And once you have My Word on My vision for your life, then you can RUN with it.
The first group is totally stone cold to My Word, the second and third are lukewarm, and the fourth group is hot.
It is all about keeping busy about My affairs and then the devil cannot steal, burn out, or choke off the Word in you. He simply can find no place to enter into your busy committed life.
I gave Jeremiah My vision for his life since before I formed him in his mother’s womb to be a prophet to the nations. And once he got that Word planted in his heart, you could not stop him. It became a fire in his heart.
How do you know what to be busy with to be about My affairs each day? “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” Matthew 24:45-47.
You have to hear from Me, for My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me, they will not follow the voice of the stranger. And I tell you how to hear from Me, “when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Matthew 6:7.
When you take the time to step aside and hear from Me what I want you to do, then you are strong and cannot be pulled aside by opposition, thorns, fiery darts, or any of the other of the devil’s schemes to entrap you and get the Word out of you, for you have My Word to act upon. And you will immediately begin to see the results.
How do you pray in this secret place to discern My instructions? You come in worship expecting to hear. And then you get past the distractions that the devil will try to throw in your way by praying in tongues. But you must do as My servant Paul and pray in tongues and with your understanding. In other words, interpret your own tongues as led by My Spirit. This is not cut and dried, as you press into praying in the Spirit with tongues, then begin to say a word in your language of English, or whatever your native language is from the country you were raised in. And then another word, and another one, as you continue to intersperse the words with tongues, and if you sense a wrong lead go with another and you will know as you hit the right words and suddenly you will have the revelation I want to give you. At other times as you quiet your thoughts in worship and focus on Me with expectancy, you will hear immediately what I want you to do. And usually it will just be one simple thing. Do not reject it because you think it is beneath you. When My prophet Elisha gave Naaman the word to go dip in the Jordan River seven times, Naaman in his pride rejected it and was offended by it because it seemed to him so contrary to his expectations of how he would get healed. But he was surrounded by those who cared about him and were determined he would lay down his pride and do the Word I had given him. And he repented and did it and got his miracle of healing that he longed for but almost let the devil steal from him by rejecting the Word. Do not despise small beginnings. My Word to you could be to help another person in their mission, like I did with Luke for Paul. Like I did at first with Elisha for Elijah, but then I promoted him to step up to take the prophetic office. I did that with Joshua too, for many years he had not been prominent but gave his life in serving Moses. But he was in preparation for his amazing mission as he learned from Moses.
Never give the devil a chance to steal your mission by filling you with proud thoughts that are offended at humble tasks. The least one among you is the greatest, for the greatest one among you is the one who serves the rest, and that is what My Son did and I have given Him the Name above every other name. He was busy about My affairs more than any other has ever been and so I exalted Him in glory beyond all others.
If you will keep yourself focused on your mission the devil will never be able to put you out of commission. He will find out you are in for the long haul. You will check him every time so that the game is continually over. But he will always try to get you to play a new one. He keeps thinking he will eventually win, but if you are hearing from Me, he never will.
I love you. Come to Me. I have a new Word for you every day. I make all things new.