Day 7 – Ekron

“These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.” Judges 3:3 NLT

Fourth in the line of Philistine rulers were Ekron: meaning torn away, extermination and bareness.

Have you ever stood in a desolate place (like a desert) where there is no foliage covering the bare, dry, desolate planes? Spiritual bareness is expansively bare, dry, and more desolate than you can imagine – it’s devoid of God’s Spirit. The strategy of Ekron is to try and strip you from bearing any fruit. For each Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5, Satan will have a counteraction. Patience is tested by irritation. Peace faces fear etc. Little wicked worms causing fruit to rot – leaving us to live in spiritual bareness.

Within Galatians 5:25 lies our strategy: “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” When we follow hard after Jesus, seeking God with all our heart, it produces Godly fruit. And fruit means a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Prayer: Father, please teach me to spot this strategy the moment it is used against me. I want to follow hard after You, after the Holy Spirit, to produce fruit that is pleasing to You. Let me see the little worms trying to provoke me to act in any manner to allow my Spiritual fruit to rot or even be stripped bare. Thank You that I can live by Your Spirit and follow Your guidance in every part of my life. Amen.

Let us pray with you prayer@womenoftheword.co.za

Visit our little shop www.womenoftheword.co.za/shop