Feb 3

Written by: Julie Arduini
2/3/2010 3:54 PM 

I'm on Chapter 7 of the late Jill Austin's book, Dancing with Destiny.

The more I talk with others, listen to services, read devotionals...it's always coming back to the same theme: dreams.

We all have dreams and we either never realized them or they were crushed somehow. It's time to get those dreams back.

Maybe not how you think they are meant to be, but how God created the dream to be in and through you. I'm seeing this take place with women and it's exciting. But one thing this chapter reminds me... You have to contend for your dreams.

Like I said, your dreams are a creation of Our Creator, God. Your Heavenly Father. You also are God's creation. That means an automatic fight with the defeated one. I'm not sure why it surprises people when they learn the devil is real and hates you.

It's. his. job.

The message God is sharing with me is that this truth shouldn't scare us off or make us quit. If Christ is your Savior, you have as much power as Christ did on Resurrection day.

You already are on the winning team.

And the one who is after you is the defeated one, not you.

With our own eyes we're seeing a literal shaking in the world. Governments are changing, sometimes overnight. What we thought would always be stable is either unstable or outright gone. Thing is, that shouldn't surprise us either. The Bible states wars, rumors of war, shakings, famine...and well, here we are.

1 Peter 5:8 NIV tells us, Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Jill shares three Biblical examples where warfare took place in a natural sense and a spiritual sense. The people God used weren't perfect. But they were ready and they trusted God.

I strongly suggest you locate a Bible and look up Rahab, Deborah and Joshua show us how God works, and what we can learn from these people. I learned that I need to speak Ephesians 6:10-18 over me and my family every day.

The battle is inevitable, you don't have to believe. But this chapter reminds me battles are the real deal. I want to suit up and be ready.