To Build, Not To Kill
by
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Jeremiah
Though not in detail, I shared what I was experiencing with a family member, and she told me about a teleconference Bible Study that she was participating in. The man of God was not on my daughter’s Heavy-hitter List, but he is a Heavy-hitter just the same.
The first time I participated in the Bible Study, he was greeting his members when I joined the call. They were talking casually because the Bible Study had not begun yet. Then, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he literally started to weep and speak prophetically.
In essence, he said, “Someone on the line has mishandled a ministry moment and mistreated someone that God gave you to minister to, and you are being attacked by the enemy. But God did not allow the attack to kill you. He allowed it to build you.”
That was my confirmation. Because everything had started with the incident with my friend.
Because this man of God wept while prophesying to me, going forward, I will refer to him as Jeremiah who also wept when he prophesied to God’s people. Therefore, the prophet Jeremiah is referred to by some Bible scholars as the weeping prophet.
The prophet Jeremiah acknowledges his propensity for weeping in Jeremiah 13:17 (NRSV), which says:
But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
On another occasion, when I joined Jeremiah’s teleconference Bible Study, he sounded like he was preaching instead of teaching and I felt like he was talking directly to me. I took notes randomly during the Bible Study. But to my amazement, when I read over them, they formed the following coherent paragraph with powerful words of encouragement:
Rescued! To rescue is to set free! To be delivered from that confinement! If the enemy approaches you with similar circumstances, you have to remind him that you are free! Free from any confinement! God doesn’t do anything halfway! Who the Son sets free is free indeed! Greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world!
Jeremiah’s last two statements are Scriptures –
John 8:36 (NRSV):
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
And 1 John 4:4 (NRSV):
Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
I wrote these Scriptures on index cards, read, and meditated on them daily. The written Word of God was my Medicine. Next to the Presence of God Himself, it was my primary Weapon of warfare. The Scriptures that the Lord gave me personally and through others were specific to my situation. They were tailor-made for me by God.
On a different occasion, at the end of the Bible Study, Jeremiah prophesied to me again. The first time he prophesied to me he did not know who the message was for. This time he knew. He said, “God said that every promise that He has spoken to you is still good.”
Jeremiah’s words gave me hope, comfort, and strength. They were the answer to my prayer to the Lord about my salvation, relationship with Him, and ministry. The Lord used Jeremiah to confirm that in spite of the mishandled ministry moment and the attack, I was still His child, and I was still called according to His purpose.
Romans 11:29 KJV says:
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Something to think about:
Does God have a building project underway in your life?
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About the Book
The book tells the story of how the Lord allowed a spiritual attack in the life of the author to reveal the deception of the enemy and then uses the attack to rebuild the author’s relationship with Himself. In the book, the author uses primarily Scripture and secondarily life experiences and dreams to overcome feelings of abandonment, fear, and questions of Theodicy. This process led to a deeper revelation of God, His grace and mercy, and a stronger relationship with Him. The book shares how her childhood disciplinary model affected her understanding of the discipline of the Lord, warns of how inappropriate grief can adversely affect ministry, and reminds us of God’s desire for us to walk in love.
About the Author
The author is a licensed and ordained minister who holds a Master of Divinity Degree and a Master of Science Degree in Patient Counseling who experienced an unprecedented spiritual attack during the pandemic that she thought a Christian could not experience. The author shares how God allowed her to reconcile her experience with His Word. With transparency, the author shares the reason for the attack and the events that led to it. She also shares how God used the attack, also referred to as the building project, to build rather than kill her. Readers will journey with the author through her experience of spiritual warfare, guided by the Holy Spirit and grounded in Scripture. They will be encouraged to hold on in difficult situations and trust in the Lord.