This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis [ts@godspeak.net]

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                       Struggles and Overcoming

Dear child of Mine, don't allow yourself to feel overwhelmed with a
sense of failure when an old issue suddenly raises it's head in your
life again.  Yes, I know you thought that you had already gained the
victory over it, and I know you are dismayed to see it rise to the
surface again.  But I say to you: I am not disappointed with you and I
am not upset.  I am at work in you to transform you and make you even
more like My Own dear Son.  I am changing you from deep within to more
closely resemble My character and My nature; I want you to be more like
Me.

This struggle is not an attack of the enemy, nor is it an attack of the
flesh.  You have not lost the ground that you had previously gained over
this thing.  What you are experiencing is not a setback; for I have
allowed this thing to come to the surface again so that you might gain
a greater victory over it.

Yes, I know that it does not feel like you are gaining victory when you
struggle with this old issue once again--it feels more like defeat.  I
know that you feel like you are loosing ground instead of gaining it.
But take heart, child of Mine, for things are not always as they appear.

Child, I have ordained victory for you and I am the One Who accomplishes
that victory in your life as you submit to Me.  This struggle is not a
case of victory or defeat (no matter how much it feels like one). It is a
case of character development, for My Holy Spirit is deep at work within
you, changing your very nature and helping you to grow and mature.  He is
removing the holds that your enemy, the devil, had over you.

One of My goals for you is that you are able to say the same thing that
My Son Jesus said just before He fulfilled My destiny for Him. He said,
"The prince of this world is coming [but] he has no hold on Me."*
Likewise, it is My desire that Satan have no hold over you in this area.
I want you to be free from this thing, that you might serve Me
unencumbered, so that the devil will not be able to take you out or
defeat you in this area.

You thought that you had won victory over this thing before, and in a
sense you did.  You had gained the measure of victory over it that I had
appointed to you for that time.  Know that there are battles where I take
the ground a little at a time, instead of all at once.  Then I leave you
to hold the ground you have already gained before I ask you to capture
even more territory. That is what has been going on with this thing in
your life.  You gained a victory and you held it for the appointed time,
and that pleased Me.  But now it is time to go deeper and to gain an even
greater measure of victory.  And that is why I have allowed this thing
to surface in your life again.

Do not be dismayed and do not loose heart. Do not allow the enemy's
accusations and condemnation to take a hold of you. You are in this
struggle not because you have failed and lost ground, but because I have
called to you into this battle at this time.  It is not My intent to
abandon you in this struggle, but to war with you and to help you win a
more complete victory.  Look to Me and know that I am with you in this
and that I will empower you to win the battle.  I am at work to release
a greater measure of My character within you and a greater measure of
My glory upon you. This struggle is but a step in that process.  Keep
walking forward with Me, keep taking the ground that I ask you to take.
Then you will see My glory come into every aspect of your life and being,
for it is (and always has been) My intent to work My glory in you and
to give you complete victory.

That is what we are doing right now as you face this old struggle once
again. I am asking you to take more ground and to gain a greater victory
in this area.  So do not be surprised to find yourself in this battle
once again, for I will empower you every step of the way.


* John 14:30