The Other 666

The Other 666

⁶⁶ And so from that time on many of the disciples turned their backs on Jesus and refused to be associated with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to his twelve, “And you—do you also want to leave?”⁶⁸ Peter spoke up and said, “But Lord, where would we go? No one but you gives us the revelation of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We’re fully convinced that you are the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God, and we believe in you!”

This week started out rather interesting for me. A lot of things went wrong, a lot of situations that I found myself in were unfair, and I frankly was “over it” as far as spiritual warfare goes. I felt like a front line soldier being told to go out on his/her 25th tour of duty, it was just too much. I cannot say I handled everything that was thrown at me perfectly, but with the grace of God I sincerely did the best that I could do and with the resources I had at my disposal I did all that I could do. As many of you know being an intercessor can feel like you are always living on the edge of some catastrophe or dodging some bullets matrix style that are headed in your direction. This week, OK let’s be real – this YEAR, has given a lot of us a run for our money so to speak.
The other interesting part of this week is that I kept hearing the number 666 in various parts of my day. When I paid for my breakfast the total was $6.66. When I made a sale at work, the total came to $666. Also when bought something else later in the week the total was $6.66. At first I was a little apprehensive about all of this, not really knowing what to make of it. I know that 666 is referred to as the “Mark of the Beast” in Revelations 13:16-18 and is a symbol for antichrist. I also believe that 666 has different significance to people who participate in occult practices from different sources that I have studied that teach on symbolism in our culture. I wasn’t sure what all of this could be communicating to me, but at the very least I did perceive it to be some sort of threat aimed at me specifically. Instead of becoming fearful, and especially with all of the other things that I was dealing with, I decided not to focus on it but to turn it over to the Lord and let Him real to me what the 666 could mean in relation to myself. And reveal He did! As I was reading through one of the Christian books that has recently captivated me I saw the verse John 6:66 and what the author of that book was saying made so much sense. The section in the chapter was about giving up on the promise or direction from God before seeing the manifestation of it. That whole message really spoke to me, because this entire year seemed to be a test of whether or not I would stay faithful to God in the rough times.

So many challenging and difficult to accept things have happened this year, even though I feel like I have grown in my faith, walk, and devotion to Him the whole time. I am writing this to you as a warning and encouragement to hold on to your faith in Christ regardless of what comes your way, regardless of how long the wait is, or regardless of the evil that provokes you to “curse God and die” like Job’s wife advised him to do (Job 2:9). Yes the 666 is the enemy/antichrist at work, but his role in this type of situation is not just to merely deceive you in to participating in false worship. No, the evil one wants you, or in this case – wanted me, to abandon the mission and ultimately walk away from God like those disciples who followed Jesus in crowds did. They became offended at Jesus’ request to eat His body and drink His blood. Because their motives were not right they misunderstood what Jesus was asking them to do. He wasn’t asking them to go against Jewish Kosher rules or to become cannibals, He was asking them to fully take in the new covenant that would be established by His sacrifice on the Cross. He was asking for a deeper commitment from them and for them to assess how badly did they want to follow Jesus. While I was going through a lot of painful and uncomfortable things this week, apparently I was being challenged in the same area. I honestly believe that God brought me through all of what I went through simply for the fact that I had already settled it in my heart, mind, spirit, and will that I was not turning back on God regardless of how hard things got and God honored that by assisting me, comforting me, encouraging me, and strengthening me when I needed it most. He was truly a Way Maker for me this week even though He showed me a different perspective of His character in it. Another thing is that praise was important to do even when I did not really feel like it. It can get hard to praise God when a lot of things are not going well and there does not seem to be any hope in sight. The one hope we always have is in praise, this is because it reminds us of all of the times God has come through for us in the past and if He did it in the past He is more than able to take care of our present and future!

The goal of the evil one is to distract, overwhelm, and bombard the Children of God with so many spiritual and natural attacks that eventually we would get off track and fall out our place in God. But I say not so! Let’s agree with God to complete our assignments and finish our course with His help so that He will get all of the glory and the honor! With God on our side “who can stand against us?” and “What can separate us from the love of God?” (Romans 8:31-39). Christ with in us is the Hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27) and that glory is only revealed when we stay in pursuit, following, obeying, and trusting in Him. Every time the enemy rears his ugly head let us remind our Savior like Peter did in John 6:68-69 (TPT) and say, “But Lord, where would we go? No one but You gives us the revelation of eternal life. We’re fully convinced that You are the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God, and we believe in You!”

Let’s Pray: Father God thank You for bringing us through this year. There have been challenges and obstacles along the way, but Lord You remained faithful, constant, vigilant, ant trustworthy through it all. Lord we do not like the rough times, the place of struggle, or the test of commitment, but You help us to endure and to “take up our cross” when we need to. Lord many of us are weary, feeling worn down and worn out because of the numerous battles and challenges that we faced, but we thank You and lift You up because You were with us we never faced any of that alone! Lord thank You for stepping in to fight for and alongside us when the battle was raging and the enemy attempted to surround us. Lord thank You for reaching down and pulling us out of the quicksand of doubt, worry, panic, and fear. Lord thank You for setting us on the Rock of our Salvation and establishing us in a joyful, peaceful, and prosperous place. Lord thank You that we will not go in to 2019 the same way nor carry over any of 2018’s baggage and junk. Lord thank You for re-prioritizing our lives to allow us to better participate in Your plans. Lord let us not faint before reaching the finish line and help us to finish this year, this season, and this time of learning strong. Lord be glorified in the fruit from this year’s toil and let the harvest of souls and lives transformed be reaped in abundance in the Mighty name of Jesus so be it!

As always, thank you for reading and please share with someone who needs an encouraging word!

Blessings Always!

Dionne Renae