Barking Dogs Make a LOT of Noise

SHUT UP ! ! !

There's a cute little dog that lives across the street from us that turns into a ferocious beast when he is tied up. His owners always tie him up when company comes over which is every... blessed... day. He barks his head off... like there's no tomorrow. He's tied up under the car port which only amplifies the noise. I have prayed and prayed about this dog  for months of Sundays and God has yet to deliver me from his incessant barking. I even prayed that the Lord would let him get run over by a car (or something). Anything, just let me have some peace.

The Lord told me that I must forgive the dog. So I did... and I repent every... blessed... day when I hear him barking from across the street, because truth be told, I am still highly annoyed by his non-stop demonstrations of protest to the ties that bind him. But, I also prayed for forgiveness for wishing the little dog dead.

What occurred to me, though, the other day, was if I can get to the point where I don't allow the incessant barking to move me, then I can go on with life, in peace, even while the cute little beast is cuttin' up.

A few years ago I heard Joyce Meyer preach a message on Acts 20:24 called Finishing Strong and its still with me today.

• Acts 20:24 None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Anytime, the Lord attempts to move us forward, the enemy will be busy trying to hinder progress. Winston Churchill said, "You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks."

So... thank the Lord for barking dogs who's ministry is to teach me how to be unmoved by the enemy's distractions. The more he barks, the more I learn to remain in God's peace in spite of his racket.

I've noticed, what we do a lot of times, when the enemy comes against us, is we turn from facing Jesus and we start fighting with the devil. That's what Winston Churchill meant about throwing stones at every dog that barks. It is a ploy to distract us and get our eyes and ears off the Good Shepherd (who is our peace)  and become scattered by the wolf. We must learn to keep our eyes on Jesus - and not be distracted by the enemy's noise. That's what happened to Peter when he got out of the boat and was walking on the water to go to Jesus. He took his eyes off Jesus to look at the boisterous waves and the miraculous came to a screeching halt... and he began to sink.

Someone told President Abraham Lincoln that his Secretary of the Treasury was against him (perhaps he was going to run against him in re-election), but Lincoln responded with this story: 

“My brother and I were once plowing corn, I was driving the horse, and he holding the plow. The horse was lazy; but on one occasion he rushed across the field so that I, with long legs, could scarcely keep pace with him. On reaching the end of the furrow, I found an enormous chin fly fastened upon him, and knocked him off. My brother asked me what I did that for. I told him I didn’t want the old horse bitten in that way. ‘Why,’ said my brother, that’s all that made him get!” Now,’ said Mr. Lincoln, if Mr. [Salmon Chase] has a presidential chin fly biting him, I’m not going to knock him off, if it will only make his department go.”

I'll bet the reason my prayers about Doggie has gone unchecked, is so he can be used to teach me, not to come unglued when barkers are attempting to steal my peace.

• Jer. 12:5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?

Go in peace.