Insight

This morning while I was in prayer with a friend of mine we both received some insight from God that I'd like to share with you!
My friend and I are both to be teachers at women's events coming up soon and we are both in preparation for those talks.

Our Goals: to deliver God's message to these women
Styles of preparation: different
Enemy's Tactics: same

My friend's style is to pour her whole self into the study of scriptures, spending lots of TIME in studying and in prayer (she does this whether she's preparing for a talk or not - she's truly a woman of the Word and a woman seeking to follow after God's own heart).

My style of preparation is more to think about it as I go, seeking out scriptures on the subject here and there, looking up those that come to mind as I ponder the subject, to wait on the Holy Spirit's nudge that this is the time to sit at my computer... and receive His direction for the talk I am going to give.

I think that there is a part of my friend that would love to trade places with me and there's a part of me that would love to trade places with her. She'd love to be able to just sit down at the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, have the inspiration and direction come upon her, and be ready to go.
I, on the other hand, would very much like to have the bolstering that comes from much time spent in God's word...spending hours on my knees....it would make me feel more ready than I feel at this point.

Yet, here we both are....
And it's not to say that she doesn't sit down and receive astounding inspiration from the Holy Spirit...
And it's also not true to say that I don't invest time studying the scriptures.
While our main source of preparation varies, I know that God will speak through us both to the women that we will be teaching.

The common factor and the main point in all of this is that the enemy's tactics are the same for both of us. Lies are his native tongue and he speaks lies, lies, always lies. He's trying to give my friend guilt that that she is trying too hard.....that she is self-seeking in all of her 'excess' prep, not relying enough on God's strength to get her through.
Guess what? The enemy tries to give me guilt by telling me that I should really spend much more time preparing; and that my talk can't possibly be as holy or as anointed as hers, since I've spent a much smaller amount of time in the Word and in preparation.
Ain't he a stinker?
What's great is that the enemy always loses... and he loses big time!
He is losing now and his destiny is to be totally defeated.
God is greater.

I am grateful for the insight this morning. I'm grateful to have a God who through His Holy Spirit draws all people to himself. He loves us deeply, each of us uniquely, is with us continually, leading and guiding all the way!

Jesus has conquered.
Satan's defeated.
The enemy is under my feet.