Who Are You Listening To?

There is one who accuses us day and night.  He fills our minds with accusations and lies about ourselves and others.  The voice of the accuser is easy to discern.  It is the voice that discourages, beats us down, and condemns. 

 In contrast, the Lord's voice encourages, lifts us up, and lovingly corrects.

"Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.'"  Revelation 12:10 

In John, Chapter 8, we meet a girl caught in sin.  Dirty. Ashamed. Beaten. Accused.
Her accusers pushed her face down into the dust in front of Jesus.  Their true motives were to test Jesus seeking to accuse Him and defraud His identity.  The only problem...no one can defraud the reality of the identity of Christ.  How did Jesus respond to these accusers?  "Then, Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear."

The finger of God came down to defend His daughter and He shunned the voice of her accusers.  

I often have wondered what Jesus wrote.  Did he write a note with words of loving forgiveness to the woman?  Did he write a scripture about God's mercy?  Did he write a list of the accusers' sins or perhaps the names of their girlfriends?  Jesus stood up and firmly said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  Hmmm...funny.  No one raced to go grab a stone.  No one eagerly stood up in response to His challenge. 

Instead, they left.  One by one her accusers left until she was alone with Jesus.  "He said to her, 'Woman, where are those accusers of yours?  Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord,' And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'"   

Our accuser would like nothing better than to defraud the name of Jesus.  Jesus doesn't accuse us.  When the enemy can get us to agree with him that Jesus condemns us, he is seeking to disprove Jesus and claim that He is our accuser.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Jesus defends His daughters and raises them out of the dirt.  He carried away our shame on the cross. He was beaten so we could be made whole and healed.  He was accused so we could be acquitted.

If you wonder why I share my story so freely.  It is because we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.  The accuser loses much ground when we step out and bring what was hidden into the light.  The light of Jesus and His truth overpowers the shadows of secrets.

I praise the Lord for the healing power of His Holy Spirit.  Last weekend, 11 ladies gained new victory at the Deeper Still Retreat as they stepped out of the darkness and into the light.  They let their voices be heard and will not allow the accuser to silence them any longer.  Jesus doesn't want us face down in the dirt, He lifts us up so we can be...

Redeemed. Beautiful. Rejoicing. Radiant.