Blessed are those who are not ashamed of Jesus Christ, for He will confess them before the Father. Blessed are those who are not offended in Him, for He will not be offended in them. Blessed are those who will receive correction, for they are sons and daughters of God. A correction is taking place in the Church, so that things will be placed in proper order. There is a shaking that the Lord is doing as part of that correction. Some have confused it with the devil coming against them. The reality is that the Lord is shaking the devil out of their lives, and shaking those things out of their lives that the devil can use to gain a foothold in their life. It is a time to stand firm in the faith while receiving His correction. Those who do stand firm are called to help steady those who are experiencing a great shaking in their life (see Matthew 10:32-33, Mark 8:24-38, Galatians 6:1-3, and Hebrews 12:1-12).
The devil does not have the power to rule over a believer’s life, unless the believer gives him a place to do so. Sometimes believers have things in their lives that enable the devil to wreak havoc in their lives. So when they ask the Lord for help, He goes after those things in their lives that the give the devil a foothold. What good is it to kick the enemy out of the house, while keeping the door open for him to re-enter? The door has to be shut in order to keep him out, which means those things that keep the door open have to be removed. When the Father does a work in our lives, sometimes it feels like all hell is breaking loose in our lives, which can be confused with the devil attacking us. This is when we are supposed to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5).
When the Lord does a correction in an individual church, it can appear as if the enemy is at work. It can be an uncomfortable experience for a congregation when He places things in order. 1Peter 4:17 says, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” Again, when things such as division take place in a congregation it is time to see what the source of that division is. There will be a time when those who are not submissive to the will of God that they will be shaken out of the church. If compromise is taking place, the devil has a foothold to work with, and the Lord will expose it for the sake of His Church. The call is endurance: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:12-13, KJV).
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:25-29 (KJV)
