THIS AMAZING LITTLE ARTICLE
will help you to learn to embrace and retain your rights the LORD God Almighty has given you! If you are a willing, blood-bought child of God you have the authority and power to put the devil in his rightful place: under your feet!

 

Hebrews 2:1-8
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.  For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.”

 

ONCE UPON A TIME I took a bunch of pens to a job I once had…

This was a place where I dealt with a good amount of people day after day. I enjoyed the work tremendously! And like every work situation, I found pros and cons: things I loved about the job, things I disliked, intensely disliked; and of course, there were things I was indifferent to.

Selah.

This also does include people; the people I worked with regularly and the customers. The customers, beloved, are not always right.

This particular job was not one I could have handled well (or even handled at all) as a teenager. This was the type of employment where one could not be shy. Being at such a position like this would have been stressful, unpleasant…  But at this time of my working career I was not at all shy, not at all intimidated. As a Christian, loving people and serving them was one of my very top priorities. I succeeded in this very well, not only getting to know a lot of customers’ names, but even knowing things about them. All, I repeat, all, glory to God! He has made me a child of His and has helped me beyond measure to get my eyes off of the very real  ‘me, and me alone’ syndrome.

Selah.

One of my greatest references to this declaration was the day a man came into tell of a sorrow in his life. He was in his fifties or sixties. I know this because his mother was about seventy; Susie. And she was one of my beloved. She was a sweet (and precious, of course) older lady who was also kind and most pleasant. There was even a time I was at Rosedale Mall when my husband had the opportunity to meet her! We, all three, loved that!

Susie’s son had come some of the times with Susie but basically, I saw Susie alone. She and I knew we loved each other… Always a pleasure to see her!

Why did he come in? He came in to tell me Susie had died. I wasn’t surprised due to her age. I was so thankful he loved his mother so much that he even wanted to tell me, a cashier, that he was grieved and he knew I should know of her passing. Thankfully, we both spoke of Susie’s new life in Heaven! What a blessing it is to know you are absolutely certain when someone died as a child of God:

 

Psalm 116:15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.

 

Everyone who tells me of the death of their loved one will hear these true words from me!

As you can see, with this part-time job I carried when my children still lived at home, I forged relationships that could not be bought; but could be taught:

 

Matthew 22:34-40
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 

Spreading the truth of God’s love was one of my main objectives here…

Selah.

As I’ve said earlier, at every work situation you will find some things and some people unpleasant. It needs to clearly understood: we are living after The Fall of Adam – and – we are living in the last days:

 

Matthew 24:12
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

 

This has happened, beloved. Hence, not only do most people not love God, nor man, but not even their own family:

 

Matthew 10:32-36
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.  “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn … “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

 

Yes beloved, that’s how bad the world is at this time. Even the babies you’ve nursed may grow into adults who hate you without reason.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT PEN?
Actually, it’s not about one pen; no, it’s about a bunch of pens. One of my favorite career choices before I had my three children was that of a secretary. My best was secretary/receptionist. That company went out of business and I was laid off. It truly took me three months back then to get relief from the sorrow of losing that job! (Please keep in mind I still was not a Christian at that time. I should have handled it a lot better! But that’s how much I loved that job.)

Initially I went to college to hone my secretarial skills: shorthand, (does anybody remember this?) typing, bookkeeping, organization skill. I’d had in my heart since a child to be a secretary, get an apartment, a car, a small dog and live with Aunt Lulu for a few years before I got married. Most of this came to pass…

And in this training at college, attaining an Associate of Arts Degree, I became even better equipped with preparation, organization, and planning. Plus, I vastly started conquering my shyness.

Selah.

Because of my training and desires to do my best in my careers, one day I took a bunch of pens to work and put them in a cup for anyone, but anyone, to use: and, I put one on my work station. One of the cons of this job was always looking for a pen. (I was smart enough to always have one in my pocket. People would come to me to borrow it.) It was because of this that I decided to bless others with pens. I probably brought in about eighteen so all of us would know where a cup of pens was and wouldn’t have to take two, three minutes to scrounge up a one. By the way, the company should always have them easily available. Good for business!

Do you know what happened?
Living in this fallen world, I imagine you can imagine what happened to those pens… Yes! All the pens were moved from the area I set them for all to use! They were now hard to find, or simply not around! I’d find a lot of them (one or so at a time) in the manager’s office where most of us rarely went!  What’s worse is that my pen was taken from my own personal space, my work station!

Beloved, I have learned to take my authority and not tolerate disrespect. Why?

 

Matthew 22:34-40
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 

All people are commanded to love God, to love themselves, and to love others. …

 

So what did I do about these pens being stolen, taken, or made hard to locate for others? Slowly I got them all back. And, I took them home! I kept one in my pocket and purposely used it in front of others who more than likely stole them!

Selah and aha!

BELOVED, what does Satan do; always do?

 

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

Yes, Satan steals, slaughters, (the Koine Greek word for kill in this context and much more graphic) and destroys! That is his agenda.

But not me brother! Not me! Over the years I have kept one of these pens (they were all identical) and each morning as I  do my makeup and go through my makeup bag, I make this declaration: “I’ve kept this pen as a symbol that I have taken back what Satan has stolen from me. I have authority over him! I have authority over his kingdom!”

It’s fun! It’s rewarding! Taking back what he has no right to IS your right!

 

NOTE: one of my favorite victory Scriptures is Revelation 20:10! I’ll make you curious: look it up!

 

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FOR THIS JOY STORY:
(Let’s do it!)

 

1 John 2:12-14
I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

 

James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

 

Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.