How to Recognize God’s presence, when all you see is chaos
Updated: Jun 26, 2019
Unfamiliar life occurrences are faith-shaking because of the lack of experience in knowing what to do to help the situation get better. These types of seasons differ from our day-to-day struggles; these are seasons that are uncharted territory full of the unexpected. The unfamiliarity can cause many mental distractions to arise. What we think are the most trying seasons of our lives can take a toll on our surroundings, whether it be in your home, your marriage, your relationships with others, even your finances and sometimes our health. In times like these, what direction is your focus being influenced? Have you ever focused so much attention on trying to utilize every avenue of your capabilities to help your situation get better only find yourself even more exhausted from when you first started? I know I have. Doing it all yourself can get exhausting.
Praying through the uncharted territory of life experiences is one of the most faith strengthening strategies one could ever do for themselves.
Some seasons in life just feel like a crazy roller coaster ride that won’t let up, the twists, the turns, the highs, the lows, the gut-wrenching drops. You know at the end of every rollercoaster ride they display images of you during particular moments of the ride as a token of remembrance? Well, that’s kind of what God began to show me in my rollercoaster season.
One particular night during my time of prayer, God brought to mind clips of certain people and actual intuitive situations as a token of remembrance. He was reminding me, He was still in the middle of my situation. He was right there influencing His mercy and grace even in the midst of all chaos. The recap of seeing His presence in the midst of my situation began to make all the big distractions look small and weak compared to His Sovereignty.
God is the supreme authority, and all things are under His control both in the heavens and here on earth. I realized Satan was trying to get me to lose focus through distractions. And at that very moment, the noisome voices from my mind began to drown out and a great peace came over me that surpassed all my understanding.
With just a few words, His Spirit whispered, “open your eyes that you may see.” Immediately, I knew what He meant.
I am not alone in this battle,
and neither are you!
God says that fight belongs to Him; therefore, with your spiritual eyes see who is for you. The Lord of hosts, God’s angels are they who God sends forth to fight your battles according to His will.
Elisha described horses and chariots of fire that encompasses around us ( 2Kings 6:17), and Zechariah 6 they are described as the four winds or the spirits of the heaven with four distinct colors that symbolized God’s universal judgments; red that represented (war, bloodshed), black for (famine, death), white for (joy and victory), and grizzled that represented (death through judgment).
God’s Spirit will not rest until His enemies, and the enemies of His people are judged. Therefore, these four assemblies go out after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth, patrolling, watching, and protecting. Hebrews 1:7 calls them ministering spirits, “Heaven’s Host” are all ministering spirits sent forth by God to help fight for us according to His will, counterworking Satan's "going to and fro in the earth" ( Job 1:7).
John Calvin said that these angels we’re correlated to horsemen on chariots because “These ride swiftly as it were through the whole world to execute what God commands them.” If Zechariah had the technology of today, he might picture the angels in fast cars or fighter jets, showing how swiftly and powerfully they move across the earth to accomplish God’s purpose (Guzik, 2018).
I pray that God may open your eyes that you may recognize the fight that is in the unseen, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them (2Kings 6:16- 17). This is where scriptures plays a significant role in spiritual warfare in renewing the mind to the right kind of godly-thinking because scriptures like Ephesians 6:12 say we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
It’s a critical strategy of redirecting every anxious thought through the word of God. If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31) And any weapon formed against me shall not prosper (Isaiah 54:17) and many more. I want to encourage you today if you're going through an unfamiliar season that is testing your faith or you know someone who is; remind them to look for God‘s fingerprints in the midst of the situation. Take a step back from life’s rollercoaster ride, ask God to show you clips of His presence in that moment of condition; whether it was particular people He sent to speak life into you at a specific time, or whether it may have been situational that was so intuitive it had no conscious reasoning to how it happened. And when He reveals these things to you, give thanks. For if the battle still wages, He will not rest. Your circumstances may not change today, but God can change the way you recognize the situation.
Psalms 91
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”
References
Baker, W., & Zodhiates, S. (2008).The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible (p. 2198). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.
Guzik, D. (2018). ZECHARIAH 6 – A KING AND PRIEST. Retrieved from Empowering Word: https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/zechariah-6/
Text2Pic. (2017, October 10). Retrieved from http://text2picapp.com.