In the
Presence of My Enemies
I wrote what you are about to
read back in January of 2011, when we were in South Africa. A friend of mine
posted it on her World Race blog and then really encouraged me to post it for
myself. I never thought much of it at the time but when I got her reply, it
ROCKED MY WORLD!!! It’s a little late but nonetheless, here it is!
As I was reading this scripture
early one morning, the Lord gave me a picture… Read it, roll around in it, pray
it over yourself until you are IN IT, and let the Holy Spirit paint this
picture in your head and on your heart, you Kings and Queens! This is His
desire, His DREAM for YOU! Are you ready!?
“You
prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head
with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” –Psalm 23: 5-6
Picture
this: You are
preparing yourself for battle. You clothe yourself in armor, you sheathe your
sword and you even put on a little war paint. As you step from your tent,
immediately you smell blood in the air and hear the clinging of swords creating
sparks against shields. This is not the sound of battle; this is the
intimidation period before battle. The enemy is valiantly rallying and yelling
at the top of their lungs for you to charge your army forward. But you decided
to take the front yourself. You decide to march on foot through your men,
looking in each man’s eyes as you pass. As you trudge through the mud, your
troops spread out and honor you with words of no fear and courage as you make
your way to the battlefront. You finally see the enemy over the shoulders of
your most brave and talented men, the ones that always take a stand for you.
You keep walking and they let you through. You don’t slow down, you continue
walking towards the enemy alone. The clanging of their war tools begins to slowly
silence, as they are confused. Only one? Only one, the king (or queen) has come
to stand against us all? “This must be a joke”, they think! You walk
with shoulders back, head held high, a glare that inflicts fear, and take your
seat at a table directly in front of the best that the enemy has to offer.
‘Slightly confused’ is no longer the subject, ‘What the hell!!?!?’ is their
thought…. They don’t know what to do. They are frozen as they watch you stuff
your face with the most hearty feast that you have ever laid your eyes on. This
feast is all that you ever desired and asked for, all that you ever needed.
Shortly after you take your first bite, the enemy is no longer even the
simplest of an object. As you are anointed with strength and honor in your taking
of the feast, they don’t know what to do, so they try to intimidate you with
their war cries but your ears refuse to hear it. They try stampeding and
shaking the ground with their biggest beasts but they don’t touch you. You
continue to feast in the presence of the Lord. Your eyes, not once, leave your
table. In fact, you don’t hear a thing, you are so engulfed in what God has
placed before you that nothing can touch you, the enemy is no longer an object
of destruction, much less a distraction. You are anointed over and over with
the best of the Lord and your cup never emptied, as long as you remain at the
table. It never goes dry and the goodness of the Lord is ever before you. The
enemy retreats in fear and confusion, only to return with more, but still, they
leave dragging their knuckles because they realize that they can’t touch you
while you are at the table…. Victory is the praise on your lips! Praise is
the response of your soul as you realize that this is what the Lord grants to
His children in the presence of enemies. Goodness and mercy are yours to claim
as you dwell alone. The table is yours to take. …TAKE IT!!!
�” (I stole
this from her blog!) �”
I
hope this heavenly picture of what battle SHOULD be like has blessed you as
much as it blessed me. Can you picture it?!! Sitting at the banquet table with
our eyes only on what the Lord has provided us…basking in His presence no
matter what is taunting us, stressing us out, striking fear into our hearts or causing
us to worry. If we keep our eyes on the Lord, all else HAS TO bend a knee or
flee. They have no effect on us any longer!!! AMEN!!!!!!
Thank you for helping me
realize how powerful this picture really is even in my own life. 😀 I can’t
help but cry and get overwhelmed at the overflowing love and heart of our Father every single
time I think about when you helped me realize that I AM the king! WOW!!!! THAT
was life changing in itself….
