These little things, these little words, these little things that come against us and get us distracted, out of the Spirit, out of the river of God… What is your focus? What does get you out of the river? What frustrates you? What distracts you? Let us learn how important it is not to let the little foxes enter into our garden. But today is the time to come away!
Song of Solomon 2:13-16 talks about removing little foxes that spoil the vines! “The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.”
Who are we? We are the Bride of Christ. The manifestation of everything that the Old Testament tried to bring in the natural. What does the vine produce? The Spirit of God in our lives – the fruit of the Spirit. When we are in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26), there is no way to walk outside the garden. If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in it. This is the only way to maintain what God has given us. These fruit mentioned in Galatians 5 is the fruit of somebody who walks in the Spirit. They come from the vine - Jesus Christ - and the Holy Spirit.
What are the foxes? The things that lead us to walk in the old nature of the old man. And this shuts up the kingdom of God. Then we start moving by observation again. Because the kingdom of God is not by observation, but flesh will cause us to walk by observation. It’s everything that moves you by observation. What do foxes get us to do? To walk in the flesh and to produce the works thereof (Galatians 5:19-21). None that walks in the flesh shall inherit the kingdom of God. We know these works are visible, but what about these little things (foxes) that we can barely see? What about the little things that rob our fruit?
What do foxes do? They eat grapes. They dig down in the roots. They gnaw on the roots and the vine, separating them or weakening them in the Spirit. They make us weak as well. They get us in our flesh. Foxes eat the grapes that produce the new wine of the Church. Jesus was always referring to this. Foxes rob the fruit of the vineyard. But a good vinedresser takes good care of His garden! These are what Solomon’s warning the bride (BRIDE OF Christ) to declare, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes” (Song of Solomon 2:15). When Christ came to Earth, He also used the familiar vineyard as a connection showing that we are to be one with Him, connected to Him. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Spirit. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abided in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” (John 15:5). He also said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit” (John 15:8). God’s purpose for us and for His son Jesus was to bring His glory! Jesus being the first fruit of many brothers, who are us! Jesus brought much glory to His Father, and they were one. If we are dead to the flesh, little foxes cannot touch our vine. They cannot rob us of the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? Romans 14:16-18 answers that: it is not denomination, it is not the building, it is not family, it is not friends, it is not your career, it is not your title. It is righteous, peace, and joy (all fruit of the Spirit) in the Holy Spirit.
The kingdom of God means to be submitted to the Spirit of God. The kingdom of God means to walk in the Spirit. I am not talking about the kingdom of heaven. This is a place where we go to when we leave this Earth. But the kingdom of God means to manifest the place we are going to before we leave this Earth. Jesus said that in Him is eternal life, and God is Spirit. Also, when He began to do His ministry of reconciliation, He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). He was carrying it within Him and releasing it into the darkness. Bearing much fruit means to manifest that by living in the Spirit. God is training us to live this way. Jesus was a master of throwing pearls in the right place. The Holy Spirit is teaching us how to stay and not be distracted by the little foxes. When we start ignoring the foxes, we will live in the Spirit. The devil knows your weak point. He knows what irritates you, who irritates you, and your imperfections. He will use people around you to remove you out of the Spirit of God because when you are off the vine, you are no earthly good. We cannot be carnally minded. We must have all the wisdom of God. Being carnally minded, we become frustrated with things around us. Nothing from down here should affect us. We should be numb to the fleshly fears and anxieties that so easily get us out of the Spirit!
Now let’s look at some things that take your peace and your joy…These little FOXES that speak to us. We need not to receive everything we see and hear. We cannot let people from the outside affect us. When we have a word from God, we need to avoid the strange voices! We have not gotten this far by hearing the voices of foxes but by hearing the voice of God. What stops us from our progress? Fear of failure – which is birthed out of our own pride. Because when you are dead, you don’t care how you look. Opinions of man – Are you sure God told you to do this? Opposition – from the devil. Unbelief!
Here is an apostolic picture of foxes coming in to stop the work of God. There was a man called Nehemiah, and God told him to build the walls and the gates. Who was the distraction for Nehemiah? Sanballat and Tobiah (Nehemiah 5). What did Nehemiah do to oppose them? He ignored them! Ask Balaam (Numbers 22). You cannot curse what God has blessed (Numbers 25:1-18)! Every idle word spoken by man will be accountable (Matthew 12:36). Nehemiah did not follow the voice of the stranger. When our hearts are not pure, we start hearing the voices of the foxes. That is when the foxes can find a branch to sit on and steal from you. But I will not be one of them! God says, “Come away with Me.” I will go away with Him and hide myself in the Spirit, in the cleft of the rock, in the secret place.
Nehemiah stood in the instruction of the voice of God! He kept meditating on the Word that came from God. We must do the same. If we hear God’s voice, He Himself will justify us if we are His. He is for us. (Romans 8:30-33). What should we say to these little foxes, to Sanballat and Tobiah, to the anti-Christ spirit? Jesus told us what to tell that fox. He said, “And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected” (Luke 13:32). Just like Sanballat and Tobiah tried to get Nehemiah distracted and stop the work, so did these foxes. They tried to make Jesus leave the city where He was supposed to be. These pharisees tried to be a strange voice to Christ to stop the work. Then Jesus ends His words by saying, “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:39). Jesus was blessed wherever He put His feet. He told those foxes to tell Herod, another fox, another distraction, you cannot stop the plans of God, and you cannot cut it short. My destiny will be completed on my Father’s watch. All you need to know is: If God is for you, who can be against you (Romans 8:31)? If God is for us, we need to be for one another. We are not satisfied until we hear and see chains falling off people. My prayer, my will, my food is to do His will, and what satisfies me is to preach the Gospel of Christ and hear the chains falling off because that means the kingdom has come!
I am not looking to man, I am looking to God, and He will move my steps. It is God who justified us. Hebrews 13:6-8 encourages me and reaffirms to me that the Lord is my shepherd. We follow the faith of those who went ahead of us. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He is the alpha and omega. He is in us; the Spirit is in Me. I will not let anybody rob me, no foxes. I am being trained to be fruitful and to multiply. God is the God of multiplication. I may have had a few less fruit last year, but this year and in the years ahead, I will be more fruitful. I will let Him cut any branches so I can produce more and more fruit and so that fruit will remain.
God is on the throne. The minute we put ourselves on the throne, we begin to fall! The moment we are on the throne, we lose faith! Are we hidden in Him? Then He is on the throne. The moment we take His place, we start being insecure because our security is in Christ. The moment we put ourselves on the throne, we hear all kinds of voices. When you begin to be the ruler of your own voice, when you start moving in the flesh to move things faster, you are becoming your own king. You start looking for facts instead of faith! When you start living by observation and facts, you start moving out of faith. There was a storm (Luke 8:19-25). That storm was a big fox for the disciples. Jesus mentioned the importance of not only hearing the Word (voice) of God but also doing it (verse 21). Here is the importance of having the Word that became flesh (Jesus) and doing it! The disciples could have rested on the Word (Jesus – who was in the boat). The Word was resting, and the disciples got nervous and woke Him up. But Jesus had said and promised them, “We are going to the other side. Come away with me, my beloved one”… He said, “We are going onto the other side,” so it does not matter what gets in between that Word. If God said it, then that is it!
Who is in the boat with you? The problems or the answers? Jesus is the answer to every problem. Is the word resting in you, or are you resisting it? Always remember, there is always a fox sent your way. So, remember, resist the fox. Ignore it. Abide and rest in Him. He is the Word of God. Give no place to the devil. Move in the fruit of the Spirit, and the devil will have no control over you anymore. Control makes you react to something…Be under the control of the Spirit, and you will react to Him. Who is the boat with you? A bunch of foxes or the King of Peace? Under the pressure of life, stay under the Spirit of God and move in peace and in joy. This is our inheritance. Fear is a fox. When you sleep in the storm, when you ignore Sanballat and Tobiah, they will say, “What kind of man is this?” Who receives glory when our flesh reacts? The enemy. Everything else starts obeying you when you obey the Spirit. Focus on the Word of God, not on the mountains, not on the fox. Trust in the Lord; trust in the Word. Lean not on yourself or your own efforts.
Facts that counteract faith and Truth! They can just be sent by the enemy. Always remember, with God, all things are possible no matter what man says. In the passage of Luke 8:19-25, He said, “We are going across” (verse 22)! Then He slept. But His words never did. He does not have to hold our hand or keep whispering it to us every second! We are going across! Did the disciples stand on His Word, or did they let their focus be on the fact that there was a storm that just popped up? That was a little fox that became a BIG fox to them. Focus on His Word, not on the storm, not on the fox! Not on the mountain! Trust in the Lord! Let’s change it to trust in the Word! Every day, there is a contrary report! News reports do not make the Truth. The Truth is Jesus Christ is Lord! He gave you His Word! People will let us down. God will NOT let us down! This is why our own words will hurt us, but His Word will guide us into all Truth and into the place He has prepared for us.
“Father, thank you because your Word went forth as an arrow in your quiver. We will be encouraged and fed with faith. We will be a peculiar people standing on the Word of God, doing the impossible.” If God is for us, who can be against us? I don’t want to hear my own self, but only the voice of the Lord. “Father, help me to be submerged in the river of God, like thunder and lightning. What can man do? If God is for me, who can be against me?” I will chase away every little fox, every little accusation, every lying spirit, everything that begins to make me fear. I will feast on the lamb; I will eat His flesh and drink His blood. I will stand in the middle of tribulation; my heritage is the kingdom of God, and I will take it by force! Every little fox will be put away, and I am coming away with my beloved! Unbelief is sin! Don’t listen to facts. Facts are lies if they don’t align with His words. If you are looking unto yourself, there is sin in you. It is not okay to fear. Fear brings torment. Perfect love cast away every fox in our garden! I will tell that fox, “I am coming away with My beloved. I am crossing over as the Lord has said! Amen.”
Shane W Roessiger
FULL MESSAGE: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FY3gKUpGNw0&si=k4mSOj2v7sXfvWWO
FREE HOT BUFFET: https://www.youtube.com/user/behouseoftruth/videos
FREE BOOKS: https://www.hothouseoftruth.com/free-book-download/
Comments (0)
Add a Comment