Surrounded On Everyside, But Not Destroyed

Surrounded On Every Side,

But Not Destroyed

Charles Lewis Jr.

Copyright 2014 Charles Lewis Jr.

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition

Reviewers and writers of magazine and newspaper articles are free to quote passages of this book as needed for their work. Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author.

ISBN 9780615750446

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904305

Southern Book Publishing

P.O. Box 26492

Birmingham, Alabama 35260

To obtain copies of this book, please write or call: Charles Lewis Jr. Ministries

P.O. Box 170565 Birmingham, AL 35217

www.CharlesLewisJr.Ministries.com

info@CharlesLewisJr.Ministries.com

1-877-748-7548

Contents

1. Why Me?

2. Congratulations! You've Been Chosen

3. The Honey and the Bee Effect

4. Blaze the Trail Yourself

5. The Devils Are at the Door

6. The Humble Conversion

7. Stay on the Ancient Path

8. Surrounded On Every Side, But Not Destroyed

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to the many people who have impacted my like directly or indirectly. First I would like to Acknowledge and thank my late Grandmother Rosalyn Marie Burroughs Steele without your strength and resolve I would not be here! Love you and I can't wait to see you again one day, rest in peace. To my late Father Charles Lewis Sr. who has always believed in me and always encouraged me to go after my dreams, thank you for that and rest in peace sir, I love you! To my rock my Mother the wonderful Cheryl Lynn Lewis. You have stood with me through thick and thin and you have been a strong and courageous woman! Thanks and I love you and I cannot wait for your books to come out of you soon! To all the graduates of Carver High School, and the great people of Collegeville, thanks. You helped make me who I am!

To my brother, Orlando Lewis, who has as much talent as anybody I know. Love ya; let's get it!

To my anointed sister, Tamara Davis: Your time is now to get out of you all the Lord has put in you. Love ya. To the Steele and Lewis family thanks for everything you have given me, and imparted into me, thanks! The best is yet to come!

2nd Corinthians 4th Chapter 8th Verse Psalms 23rd Division 5th Verse

Chapter 1

Why Me?

Why me? Is that the question you have been asking yourself in this season in your life? It's not a coincidence that you have this book in your hand at this time in history. In this chapter I am going to show you why you are going through the warfare you're in now. There is a purpose for everything in your life. Ecclesiastes, 3rd chapter, 1st verse: to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. GOD does nothing for naught. Which means there is a purpose for your very existence on this earth. If there is a purpose there is an assignment to fulfill your purpose. You have something in you that nobody who has ever lived has ever had. Out of the billions of people who have ever lived no one has had your fingerprint or your DNA make up. The reason is the uniqueness that is in you and you only. Remembering back some years ago when GOD was calling me to the ministry, I said, LORD, the pulpit is full of ministers. You don't need me to minister, do you? Every so often I would ask the LORD this question when he would tell me to preach and teach HIS word. One day I believe GOD got tired of my making this same excuse every time he wanted to show me what's in me, and HE said, Is there anybody better than you?" This question triggered something in me I've never felt before, because it challenges me to believe there is something in me that is not in others. Not saying that I was in any way better than others, but we all bring something different and unique to the table.

Those differences are not negatives but positives, because we all are different in some way or form. And I mean even if we are the same race or ethnicity we are still different in so many different ways. We think differently, we walk differently, we see differently, and we are different. Those differences are ultimately what GOD wants to use, whether they be gifts or talents, callings or ideas, those differences are what separate you from the pack. Being separated from the pack is what a lot of people are afraid of because that's what brings the attacks on them, their differences and assignments. You see, the pack is where everybody is alike—they look, act, talk, and sometimes are alike in every way you can imagine. I believe when GOD calls you out of the pack it's because you have a position of assignment that you must carry out. HE then separates you from the pack and challenges everything the pack taught you. In order to use you greatly, HE must show extraordinary abilities in you that you could not see in the pack.

People tend to fight what they don't understand, because it's not familiar. Anything that's not familiar people tend to fight and fear. That's what happened with JESUS—GOD was doing a work with him on the outside of the temple and the religious men inside the temple began to fight this move of GOD because they didn't understand it. Here are the old and the new on the same playing field together, competing for the lead spot in relevancy. They didn't know that the both would need each other in the end. You see, in order for JESUS to fulfill his destiny he was going to need the religious leaders of that day. Let me show you how. JESUS we know was the Lamb of GOD, the sacrifice for all of mankind. In order to have a sacrifice you need a Priest to examine the sacrifice to see if it's worthy of being the sacrifice. The sacrifice had to be without spots or blemishes, which represent some kind of ailment in the sacrifice, which then could not be used. That's why JESUS had to be brought before Caiaphas the High Priest. HE had to be examined by the old regime before he could be found worthy of being the sacrifice. The old and the new were working together and they didn't even know it. So, as GOD uses you in ways that might seem new to you and your old pack, know that you will need the old to bring forth the new.

The High Priest had to put the sin of the people on the lamb which was then called the scapegoat. We see in Leviticus, 16th chapter, 21st verse, Aaron shall lay both of his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. Not only was the High Priest supposed to examine the sacrifice, but he was to lay his hands on the lamb that was to be the scapegoat, and confess over him the iniquities of the children of Israel. When Caiaphas the High Priest captured JESUS, there was, a transfer of iniquities that was confessed onto JESUS and that's why Barrabas the prisoner was released rather than JESUS in Matthew, 27th chapter. So you see, your life's experiences in the past can and probably will play a large role in what GOD plans to do in your life. When I was a young boy I used to have dreams about some demonic force chasing me. Repeatedly I had this dream. I wondered why I was having this particular nightmarish dream constantly. Fear would consume me, and I would be literally afraid to go to sleep. At that time I was very terrified of demonic forces; anything that reminded me of the devil I would quickly remove myself from it. Not only was the demonic force attacking in my dreams, I could see it taking place in my life, particularly my family's life. My mother and father would often fight, if not physically then verbally. So, I was seeing demonic activity in my sleep, and when not sleeping. Chaos and confusion were working in my sleep and in my reality, which led me to ask the question, why me, LORD? I wanted a normal life with no nightmares or cares and a loving atmosphere at home, but little did I know or understand that the thing the devil was trying to destroy me with was the very thing GOD was using to train me with.

Two of my most passionate forms of ministry are marriage and deliverance. Marriage Ministry because I've studied the dynamics of marriage based on the situation that went on in my family when I was a kid. One of the things I found out was how different a man and a woman are in the way they think, talk, walk, and communicate. And these are just some of the differences. Instead of putting their differences together, strengths and weaknesses and building on that, they allow their differences to separate and divide them. Deliverance Ministry because I found out that demonic forces attack and attach themselves to you sometimes based on hurt and pain. If they can come in a person's life at a time of hurt and pain and where there is no truth and forgiveness, they will make themselves at home in that person's life. Pain is a tool that the enemy uses against you in so many different ways. I know this may be a little controversial but I am going to tell it anyway. One day I was walking around the park and approached a couple of women who were holding hands. As I began to get near the HOLY SPIRIT asked me a question, Do you see those young ladies? Now I know when he asked me something like that there is a motive behind that question. So before I answered him I thought long and hard about it, and answered yes. He then said, Go and talk to them, and minister to them. Already knowing this is a touchy subject I asked the LORD, What do you want me to say that would not offend them? The HOLY SPIRIT said, Tell them that I love them and to not hold grudges on the men who hurt them. Tell them that I have men for them who would not hurt them and would love them above everything. At this time we were just about to pass each other when I looked at them and said everything the HOLY SPIRIT told me to say. What happened next was incredible because in the back of my mind I was still saying, LORD why me? While I was having this pity party about why GOD seems to put me in the strangest situations, the most miraculous thing happened. Not only was I having a pity party but I was nervous, because me telling them that GOD loves them, and there were good men HE wanted to give them, was a statement that could have caused a ruckus. Some people practice a homosexual lifestyle can become very confrontational because they don't believe in THE ALMIGHTY GOD. In my short time in ministry this is what I have encountered with people who partake in this behavior. But all things are possible to him that believeth, and I for one was about to find this out for myself. I believe that day GOD was not only about to teach these young ladies about love but I was about to find out as well. With what it seems like streams of tears flowing down their faces, the young ladies looked at me and said thank you with what it seemed like relief from a lifestyle they didn't really want. As we walked away from each other I saw the young ladies who were at one time holding hands now were walking with their hands apart and their minds delivered, all over one word from GOD. You see, GOD wanted to use what was in me, even in what seemed like a potentially confusing situation. The thing HE poured in me was the very thing HE wanted to pour into those young ladies that day in the park. You see, we are vessels that the Master desires to use at anytime in any situation, if we yield ourselves to HIS will and not our will. Vessels! You know what a vessel is, don't you? A vessel is someone who embodies a quality, someone seen as the recipient or embodiment of a quality.

Scripture says that GOD is love, and Genesis, 1st chapter says that man was made in the image of GOD. If we were made in the image of GOD and if a vessel is someone who embodies a quality, then the quality that is in the Creator and his creation should be the same. JESUS is the embodiment of love, because HE not only talked about it but HE showed it when HE sacrificed HIS life. If we're like HIM then we should show some of his qualities and attributes. What qualities do you have that GOD wants to use? What's in your vessel? Do you know or do you even have a clue? If you don't know, then you better do some soul searching because the reason the Master has set His affections on you is HE knows what's in your vessel. I'll go a step further and tell you to hurry, stop everything you are doing, and seek the Master's face for your destiny, because GOD not the only one who can see your qualities and attributes. Some of you have an enemy you know not of. Remember when the baby JESUS was born how King Herod sought to see the young baby boy so as he said to worship him but he sought to take his life. He knew who he was because the wise men of that time saw his star shining bright in the east. So in JESUS' infancy stages, he was