When You Are More Than A Sitting Duck – UNITE Linky

This morning, the dogs were barking like crazy. I peek out the corner of my laptop, to the window in front of me.

There, I spot a coyote, large, fluffy tail, racing across the property by our house.

I jump up, get my son, and spy the property for the predator whose been devouring the fowl all around us.

The field appears empty. And yet, the coyote is hiding.  Anyone who knows the coyote’s tactics understands it.

His approach? He watches for opportunity, then takes the innocent, weak, and vulnerable…when it seems no one is looking. 

I let our dogs out and we see a duck in the field, at least a football field away from the pond it lives at.

It leaps up, tries to fly, but can’t.

It glides long enough for our boxer to not snatch the corner it, soars for a second, and then lands just out of reach of our invisible fence.

I watch him for awhile. Understanding, that likely the coyote had wounded him, but now his life was even more in danger because his wing had been clipped, and couldn’t rise in the air because of it.

Hop up, coast, soar, land again. Over and over he would try….

But no matter what, he was literally a sitting duck, out in a field, waiting for the coyote in the bushes to jump out and get him.

At the lake last year, where my husband and I like to go to, we saw a Canadian goose.

Same thing. His wing had been injured, and he couldn’t fly south this past winter.

My husband and I wondered if He would make it through the long, cold, winter.

But the other day, we spotted him waddling confident. He survived winter, but the other geese and even ducks failed to congregate with him.

And I wonder how many of us feel like that?

Like ducks that can’t fly. Fowl, caught in a field, just waiting for the enemy who prowls to jump out and devour us.

And even if we’ve made it through long, hard seasons, we feel broken, maimed, just barely surviving, holding on in hopes that we just might make it until spring.

But friends, God has not left us bruised reeds, ducks with clipped wings, fowl, wandering, savaging for something, in hopes to survive…just a little bit longer.

God has empowered us, made us more than conquerors; redeemed, restored us as ambassadors of The One who shed His blood for you and me.

And yet, in a world with so much dark in it, it can be easy to forget our identity.

The enemy lurks trying to tag, label, or intimidate us, rejoicing in wickedness, like Isaiah telling us, “Calling good evil, and evil good.” (Isaiah 5:20)

And yet, we are people whose eyes are fixed on Him, not on wickedness or the praises of men.

We live honestly, integrous, righteous…

Not for what we can get, but because our conscious is pure and our identity is in Him…

Not in our own reputations.

Let me stop writing and just quote scripture. Will you please take some time to read it?

2 Corinthians 4:1

Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as we received mercy [from God, granting us salvation, opportunities, and blessings], we do not get discouraged nor lose our motivation.

² But we have renounced the disgraceful things hidden because of shame; not walking in trickery or adulterating the word of God, but by stating the truth [openly and plainly], we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

³ But even if our gospel is [in some sense] hidden [behind a veil], it is hidden [only] to those who are perishing;

⁴ among them the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving to prevent them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁵ For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves [merely] as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give us the Light of the knowledge of the glory and majesty of God [clearly revealed] in the face of Christ.

⁷ But we have this precious treasure [the good news about salvation] in [unworthy] earthen vessels [of human frailty], so that the grandeur and surpassing greatness of the power will be [shown to be] from God [His sufficiency] and not from ourselves.

⁸ We are pressured in every way [hedged in], but not crushed; perplexed [unsure of finding a way out], but not driven to despair; ⁹ hunted down and persecuted, but not deserted [to stand alone]; struck down, but never destroyed;

¹⁰ always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown in our body.

¹¹ For we who live are constantly [experiencing the threat of] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced in our mortal body [which is subject to death]. ¹² So physical death is [actively] at work in us, but [spiritual] life [is actively at work] in you.

¹³ Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had, who wrote in Scripture, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” We also believe, therefore we also speak,¹⁴ knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us [along] with you in His presence.

¹⁵ For all [these] things are for your sake, so that as [God’s remarkable, undeserved] grace reaches to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of [our great] God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not become discouraged [spiritless, disappointed, or afraid]. Though our outer self is [progressively] wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day by day.

¹⁷ For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]!

¹⁸ So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable.

Let’s stop acting like sitting ducks, victims, in this world…

• When we have the power of The One who created us flowing through out veins….
• When Christ died to give life and give us life abundantly.
• When this world is just fleeting, and things we may face are nothing compared to the joy we will be witnessing…
• When all false doctrine fails, man-made riches and powers, and dictators, and human ego fail and shrivel away.

To Him be the power and glory and praise. For Him alone, may our lives be given.

For one day we will see…Those who live in Christ Jesus will experience the fullness of His goodness.

And those who live in Him will experience what it means, to rise up higher, catch the wind, and soon fly away.

(Linking with Jennifer)

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