Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

• 1 John 4:1-6

Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.

• Revelation 12:4

I had a day without water scheduled.  The water company gave a nebulous three-hour window to turn the water off.  Once off, I had to call the plumber to install a new shutoff valve inside the house in case something breaks.  As it was, it was the old shutoff valve that broke.  And if the plumber finished before three in the afternoon, then the water would be restored the same day.

But I woke up at three in the morning and I could not go back to sleep.  I was being hounded for back-taxes, on income that was not taxable.  Someone or something was eating at me about something that I said to the pastor, meant as encouragement.  And there is a dumpster parked where my car is supposed to be parked.  And if I spent a night without water, would I sleep the next night?

I realized this had nothing to do with the water company, a plumber, a tax collector, a dumpster, or anything I said to the pastor.  It was a Spiritual battle.

When you get spiritual battles, you are either way off track and Satan is trying to get you to go onto his side.  Or you are drawing nearer to God and Satan is trying to mess with you.

I took it as the latter.  The distractions were slowing down my writing progress.  The distractions robbed me of my peace of mind, giving me a piece of their mind instead.  And all because I was trying to focus on what was God’s Will.

Then, without thinking about a Scripture, 1 John 4:4 popped into my mind.

I was in bed, trying in vain to go back to sleep, and a voice kept saying, “Greater is He, Greater is He!”  The entire verse started coming into view.

Then I thought of how a pastor had said that a third of the angels fell with Satan.  The Bible does not specifically say that, but they interpret Revelation 12:4 to mean that.  So, our God is greater, and our angels outnumber Satan’s angels two to one.

I can get through this and be closer to Jesus in the process.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.