NO-SEE-UMS are AWFUL! (But keep reading, because I was given a cool correlation to share with you.)
In Dakota News Now, writer Emelia Roberts recently wrote an article were she said this: ‘They are small enough to miss, but are leaving a huge mark on Sioux Falls residents this fall. No-see-ums, also known as Biting Midges, are out in full force during the last few weeks. Families enjoying the season outdoors said the bugs quickly spoiled the fun.’
NOW PAY ATTENTION>>>
“I’m just sitting here, watching the kids, and they will come up and bite me on my hands and on my neck a lot,” said Sioux Falls resident Judy Middlebrook. “The more I’m covered, the more I like it because then you can’t feel it. But once they start, you just want to go inside, and you don’t want to stay outside, and it’s so nice to be outside.”
DID YOU CATCH THAT?
The woman said that the more we’re covered, the more we like it because then we can’t feel it. In case you’re not familiar with these vicious little bugs, they are tiny and their bites hurt a lot! I was just outside and got one bite that drove me back inside, with the pain lingering even now. They literally cut into your skin and inject you with their saliva, which causes you to bleed and not clot, and then your body releases histamine to counter the foreign invasion that it views as a threat. The histamine causes swelling and itchiness, but it’s just doing it’s job under God’s original design.
NOW GET THIS>>>
Among other odd symptoms which overwhelm the nervous system, an abundance of histamine will cause numbness in your body. Just as Judy said in the article, “The more I’m covered, the more I like it because then you can’t feel it.”
HOLY SPIRIT SAID THIS TO ME… “People either pay attention the first time and choose to have nothing to do with the thing that is hurting them, or they stay in it and become numb to it.”
HERE’S WHERE IT GETS GOOD>>>
In Revelation 12, there is an intense scene described as a woman gives ‘birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”” The child (understood by scholars to be either Jesus Christ or the body of Christ, the Church) is then “snatched up to God and to his throne” (v. 5) as “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads” (v. 3) has expectantly positioned itself to devour the child the moment he was born. His plan didn’t work because the child was snatched up to God instead.
In the Biblical account, “Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.” (v. 7) The great dragon was no match for the army of God, and he and his angels lost their place in heaven. They were all hurled down to the earth, and they were enraged. In verse 9 of Revelation 12, it describes the great dragon as “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.”
NOW RECOGNIZE THIS>>>
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring–those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. – Revelation 12:17 NIV
TO CONNECT WHAT HOLY SPIRIT SAID…
Just as being covered in no-see-um bites can surround us to the point of not feeling them, we are covered in bites by the devil and his angels, and they are persistent in their goal to lead us astray. Just as we feel the sting of the first bite and make a choice to stay and take it or choose to find a safer environment, we experience the sting of sin, the sting of discernment between right and wrong, or the sting of awareness of a disconnect between God’s Word and a false teaching thanks to the conviction of Holy Spirit.
BUT, if we stay and do life among the devil and his angels, we WILL grow numb. WE GROW NUMB to false doctrine, believing what our denomination says even when it is counter to the Word of God. WE GROW NUMB to sin, justifying behaviors that follow culture but go against God’s Words. WE GROW NUMB to speaking word curses over ourselves, believing that our emotions define us instead of living with a renewed mind in Christ. WE GROW NUMB to the words of others who speak a false identity about us that goes against our God-given identity.
WE GREW NUMB because eventually we grew tired, we gave into the temptation to stay, and we forgot that the initial sting really hurt. You may even now defend your reason for staying where you are… in a church that preaches more from tradition than the fullness of every verse of the Bible, in a belief that is grounded in a political stance rather than the Word of God, or having a mindset that values acceptance of everyone as they are rather than loving others to desire a transformational relationship with Jesus.
IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO AWAKEN TO GOD’S TRUTH FOR YOU…
Remember that the devil and his angels are waging war against the brothers and sisters of Jesus, the son of God. They are like pesky and persistent no-see-ums, unseen until they bite you, and they are at war with all “who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17)
Choose this moment to get away from the “no-see-ums” that have waged war against you. MOVE TOWARD THE SAFETY IN GOD’S WORD, seek truth, keep God’s commands, speak aloud your testimony of what God has done in your life, and awaken to every area that you have gone numb in.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: “WAKE UP, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5:8-16 NIV