Fighting Discouragement: Six Butts

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

Okay, I’m thinking you might have read today’s title and thought, Opps, that’s another one of Pastor Tim’s type-o’s. Well actually, it’s not! We have some activity going on around our house that made me think of a day many years ago when our children were 4, 6, 8, and 10 years old.

When our kids were little, it seemed like most every year, one of the kids would get strep throat from someone at school and then pass it along to Renee and I and each of their siblings. I’m not kidding when I say this seemed to be a yearly experience for at least four years. We’ve always been a huggy, kissy, family which isn’t a good thing when you have someone in your family infected with an infectious sickness. One by one we all got it and got it quickly! It wasn’t fun and it wasn’t quick. It was two sick parents with a lot of whiny ornery kids who were all hurting. By the time the forth year rolled around and one of us got it again, Renee and I prayed and immediately packed all of us up in the car and headed straight to the doctor’s office. After three years in a row, they knew us all by name. Each of us got tested and each of us were positive for strep throat. We knew the options that would be given us. We could each take three pills a day for the next ten days or get one shot in the butt. Trying to keep track of that many pills with the kids for that long was a no can do! And so, Renee and I opted for the shot in the butt for us all. They brought all six of us in a room one by one and told us to pull down our pants, bend over, and gave each of us a shot—six butts total. And then we headed home to recover.

If you’ve read Fresh Manna for any length of time, you know I believe in Biblical healing. Renee and I always prayed for the protection of our family and for healing many times. And we saw many miraculous recoveries to the glory of God! But when we hade to line up our six butts for a shot, I was feeling discouraged.

We all go through those tough moments and difficult circumstances where our mind is struggling to understand what’s going on? We know God’s word promises His help and we purpose to stand in faith upon them. I remember going home and having a long talk with the Lord. Lord, is there anything I’m doing wrong? Is there anything I’m doing that I shouldn’t be that has allowed this to happen? Why is this happening Lord?

I hope you know those are dangerous questions! Why? Because the devil seizes those opportunities to speak to your doubts. It’s often not the Lord you’ll hear speak first to those questions. It’s the devil and he’ll point out every infraction you’ve committed in action or in your heart and mind, lyingly confirming your the problem. He’ll confirm you’re an evil person and that’s why Hell has broke loose in your life. The devil shouts to be heard and too often, that’s who Christians listen to. And that’s what I heard that day. That is, until I got in a quiet place with the Lord and He spoke two things to my heart. First, Romans 8:1 (NIV) “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”, and, Luke 10:19 (NIV) “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”

When I heard those voices I knew immediately that the devil was trying to inflame my doubts, but the Lord immediately came and freed and strengthened my heart. He is not the author of confusion or chaos in our life. He’s the answer and solution. I knew immediately what He wanted me to do. I began to pray over each of us thanking God for His precious promises in our life. And then, healing came quickly. And them I felt moved and I began to pray about this being the last year this would happen, and it never happening again in Jesus name. The Lord reminded me again that He’d given me authority to overcome all the power of the enemy! That was the last year any of us every got strep throat again.

Some times we just need to rise up in who God made us to be in Christ Jesus and take the authority He has given us in the name of Jesus to defeat those lying devils trying to discourage us and undermine our faith with the goal of taking us down. And so today, with Covid trying to take down four of the six of us in my house right now, I am rising up again. There will be no more line up of six butts in my family and no more onslaught of the devil! In Jesus name.

Isaiah 54:17 (NLT2) “But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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