Mon.’s Devo - Weapons of Our Warfare

Read: 1 Chronicles 7:1-8:40; Acts 27:1-20; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 18:22
Issachar means “he will bring a reward”. The names of his sons mean respectively: “worm”, “a blast”, “he will return”, and “guardianship”. It says in 1 Chronicles 12:32 that the children Issachar were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. Jesus was born of earth like a worm and will return at the blast of the trumpet where he will take those who are his with him as his reward.
Issachar had some mighty warriors who knew how to fight.
The next tribe is Benjamin. His name means “son of the right hand”. His son’s names mean “flowing”, “a dromedary: after the first born”, “knowing God”, “quietude”, “he healed”. A dromedary is a runner. So the second son tried hard to copy the first. That is interesting since Benjamin is a picture of the bride of Christ.
They were men of strong physical and character. Interestingly, the tribe of Benjamin reads like a soap opera which is much like the church. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. There are always tares that are sowed among the wheat but that is up to the angels in the end to divide them out.
In Acts, Paul is under the care of the centurion, Julius. Paul gave them a prophecy of what God had shown him that would happen if they left. He saw that they would meet much damage and might even lose their lives if they set sail then. Julius listened, instead, to the owner of the ship who had much more sea experience than Paul. It didn’t make sense to him to stay where they were for the winter. He thought they should get to Phenice and that the wind was favorable for the trip. He could not have seen the storm that was going to arise except by the spirit of God. Paul had seen it in the spirit. It did arise and it was called a Euroclydon which is also called a Levanter in which we get the name Leviathan… meaning a coiled serpent. Satan did not want Paul to get to Rome and testify just as he did not want Jesus to get to the other side of the lake and deliver the man with of all the demons in Mark 4:35-5:20.
Just because we meet opposition if our walk with the Lord, we should not see it as a deadend but a reason to keep pushing forward. If we are walking in the spirit then we will have opposition. We have to learn how to use the weapons God has given us. He has given us the Word as our sword, and the blood of Jesus which is our power. The Holy Spirit is our guide. No weapon forged against us shall prosper.
Lord, help us to use the weapons of our warfare and bring down strongholds in your name.