Please be sure to read this entire post because this story takes a surprising twist of incredibly good news full of hope at the end.
I recently had a vivid image pop in my head during prayer time of a cat reaching its big, hideously ugly paw out towards a mouse. In this vision, I knew the cat and mouse to both be in the House of God. The mouse was God’s children and the cat was Satan.
This is truth. The cat is in the House with the mouse.
The cat was playing with the mouse with its fierce, long, menacing claws. It put fear in the mouse making the mouse run around wildly not knowing where to go. But it did not kill the mouse. Before the cat could get a firm grip on the mouse, the mouse found a hiding place in the wall of the House where the cat could not reach.
Another truth we need to know is the House will protect the mouse.
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.Psalm 91:1-4
In this Psalm, the Psalmist shows us that God alone is our hiding place. If we choose the Most High as our Lord and Savior, He will be our refuge and place of safety. He will cover us with His mighty feathers and shelter us with His wings. He will be our House of protection from the enemy. He will hide us away from the enemy’s reach. He will even hide us away from the enemy’s sight!
In my vision, the House of God did just this – the mouse ran into the wall outside of the cat’s reach and sight.
As I was praying and seeing this vision, at first I was stunned that the cat was allowed in the very House of God. But then God reminded me of Job. In the Scripture below, we see Satan in front of the Throne of God in God’s House. The Word goes on to tell us that Job had an open door of pride that gave permission for Satan to enter his house.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Job 1:6-12
Like Job, we can unknowingly allow access for the cat to come into our house as well.
It’s important to have an intimate relationship with God so that any possible open doors we may have can be identified and closed. Some examples could be fear, pride, lust, and jealousy.
Scripture tells us that we are God’s Temple which makes us God’s House. I don’t mean to be confusing so let me explain. I’m speaking literally of our church buildings as God’s House and I am also speaking spiritually of God’s House being within each of us as the Church.
In the book of Job, we see that Satan is allowed into the very presence of God so we shouldn’t be surprised to find him within our churches. Satan is the master deceiver and his goal is to divert our attention away from God by attempting to steal our identity. If he can convince us that we are not the chosen children of God, he succeeds in messing with our thinking which in turn diverts us from our main job of discipleship and leading people to Jesus.
Our goal in this life should be one thing and one thing only – to empty hell and populate heaven.
To do this, we need to learn to spot the cat in God’s house. We can only do this when we know God’s Word because Satan twists God’s Word ever-so-slightly casting doubt on us and on Jesus. When we get God’s Word deep within us, we’re able to spot the deception.
There are so many benefits to reading God’s Word daily but the one that stands out for the purpose of today’s post is that it gives us the only weapon needed to fight the enemy. In Ephesians 6, Paul tells us that God’s Word is our Sword of defense.
In Matthew 4, when Satan was tempting Jesus by distorting the Word, we see Jesus serving the Word right back to Satan. Every hit Satan made, Jesus responded with, “It is written…” And Satan backed off and left Jesus alone that day.
The Word of God prevailed for Jesus and it will prevail for us – every time!
But before we can say, “It is written…” we must know what it says, right? If we don’t know what it says, there’s no way we can stand on it when we are facing the enemy.
Let me share one more layer to this message.
We need these enemies in our life and they will benefit us but only when we are fully equipped and prepared to stand against them. Yes, you read that correctly.
Predators have a purpose.
In nature, predators actually help keep the herds healthy by not allowing them to get complacent in one area. If herds were to get complacent in one area, they would soon be eating their own waste which would bring disease and death to their numbers. Predators keep herds moving to new land.
Predators in our spiritual life are necessary as well. You probably think I’m crazy about now but let me explain. If we did not have to be on our toes to stand firm against our spiritual predators, how easy would it be to get complacent in our prayer life and our time with God and His Word!
Complacency is not good.
It brings spiritual disease and death. We cannot afford to ignore or, even worse, be unaware that we are in warfare with the enemy. If we’re not one step in front of the enemy, we’re in his camp.
It’s important to get daily doses of the Word to give us wisdom and spiritual armor.
Let me bring this post to a close with the surprising twist that God showed me a week or so after my vision of the cat and the mouse. This is so encouraging and edifying I can’t wait to share!
As I was praying into that vision for more revelation and insight, God spoke clearly to my heart telling me that a lot of things look a certain way when actually it is but a mere shadow of the true reality. A friend of mine recently said that Satan uses fun-house mirrors to distort our vision of reality. This is what God showed me about the cat and the mouse.
GOD IS THE CAT.
He is the Lion of Judah and He is “The” Cat toying with Satan, who is really the mouse. Boom! There’s the amazing surprise twist!!
Do you see it? Satan wanted me to focus on him and him alone as the big, fierce cat. When all along he was just imitating God, who is the real Cat! God uses Satan and toys with him as the cat and mouse in my vision. Satan is a pawn God uses to strengthen and build up His children.
It is up to us to see what we see.
We can make the choice to see God as “The” CAT and Satan as the mouse. Or we can make the choice to see Satan as the cat and us as the mouse. It’s our call.
Choose today to see the Lion of Judah! Keep your focus on Him and Him alone.
I hope this word encouraged you as much as it did me. God really grew my faith in this word and that’s my hope for you in my sharing it. I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Stay in the Light and Love always,
Eva
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