counterfeit

I learned a great lesson from my mom when I was little -- about counterfeit money, of all things. She explained that when they train people to find counterfeit bills, they spend hours and hours and hours studying the real thing, not the fakes. The reason for this is that there are literally millions of ways that you can change a piece of currency. To try to learn all of the potential variations would be nearly impossible! But they work at knowing the original so well that anything other than what they know just sticks out like my 9 month pregnant belly ... and believe me, that stuck out far. :~)

Armed with that knowledge, I've worked my whole life to know God better than the enemy. I didn't want to spend my precious time here on earth wondering what Satan might be up to. I figured that as long as I knew God -- His voice, His heart, His ways -- that I would know for sure when something was NOT Him. And I must say, it's working. Not necessarily in the way I'd expected, though ...

Imagine my surprise when time and time again it's been my OWN voice that I had to call out as the counterfeit! I'm beginning to realize that the enemy can really just leave us alone when we deceive ourselves far better than he ever could. And yes, I know that the nasty old devil can plant seeds of unbelief or fear or whatever in us ... but man, do we do a great job of watering and harvesting those seeds. God forgive my unbelief! When will I finally believe that God really is who He says He is?? My prayer lately has been "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief." (Mark 9:24)

So here's the incredible praise report that brought this on ....

As you know (and if you don't, just check out my last post), money has been an issue lately. I've really been working out my faith in this area because it's just been such a burden. We've gone through our budget several times and no matter how we've reworked it, we're still getting by without being able to really save or knock out our debt. You should also know that Gregg has a LOT more faith in this area than I do (funny how God works that out, huh?). He doesn't know how or when, but he knows we will win the battle of the budget. He tends to go against the grain in certain areas, too, because he will, without a doubt, ONLY do what he feels God is really calling us to -- regardless of what others may say or think. We'd received some financial counsel from a friend and he strongly recommended that we sell our truck and go down to just having one car. We both just didn't feel like it was a good idea. We had a few reasons, but mainly it was just not something we were at peace with. At that point, I really started to take my thoughts captive for the counterfeits they were and speak truth to my own head. If we are MORE than conquerors in Christ, then surely this battle is as good as won, right??

Well, only two days later, I found out that two separate people had been setting aside tithe money because they didn't have a home church. Both felt God telling them to send a portion of that money to us ... and get this - the amount is equal to what we owe on the truck!! Which means we only have one car payment now!! How incredibly good is God?? And how incredibly important is it for us to not just do what He says, but hear what He says.

So, be encouraged! Listen for the still small voice of your King and don't be afraid to call out the deception of this world ... whether it's your own voice or someone else's :).