One thing I have learned as my husband and I work with families who are hurting is that Satan does not play favorites…..he’s flat out to destroy any and all of us, period. Did you hear me? It’s not new news…Satan is out to destroy you, YOU, any way he can. If he can’t get you physically, he’ll work on financially getting you to do his dirty work of keeping yourself in despair and poverty. If that won’t work, he’ll help you be disobedient in your thoughts and help you turn your destructive thoughts into action as you allow him to by opening the doors to destruction with your very own mouth. Heck he’ll get you to do his dirty work for him. If he can’t get you to speak and believe lies about yourself and lies about how God feels about you, then he’ll work on isolating you in your thoughts and actions, so you stop going around others who would edify you and help you discern the truth of the situation.
We DO have the ability to choose alot of the misery we put ourselves through. You see, Satan can only defeat you in any area of your life IF YOU CHOOSE IT. The Bible assures us that Christ the Lord has defeated Satan’s dominion on this earth and in heaven.
As my floor can be entirely different when I remove the dust and trash with a broom. Your life can be entirely different by simply choosing to sweep out and remove Satan and sin’s debris from your thought life and daily walk. You make a mistake, you do something really wrong, it makes a huge mess like spilling raw chicken on the floor. Go to God right then, ask for forgiveness, but for heaven’s sake, put on your gloves and clean up that mess between your ears. Get that messy stuff off your mind’s floor, sweep it out, pick it up and as you mop, replace the lies you’re believing about how awful you are for the truths that God says about you in his Word. When we ask God for forgiveness, there’s not an approval period…he doesn’t toss a coin to see if you’re worth forgiving, whatever you did wrong that seperated you from God is over. Turn from the mess and know that God has wiped you as clean as the floor, forgives you for the mess and loves you. If it’s like my floor, you’ll be making new mistakes and messes again tomorrow, but that didn’t mean God won’t forgive you the same mess or a new one tomorrow or even later today, though Jesus tells us to “Go and sin no more” after we recognize a sin and ask forgiveness for it, keep asking God to give you new thoughts, new ways to handle life, and new understanding of His word on the subject at hand….It is our job to keep returning to God for all things in our life, courage, strength, wisdom, and to keep depending on Him to guide us…and it is our job to obey and listen for the Holy Spirit within us to guide us and accept the peace that Christ has promised us. Obedience to God’s word is the key….one.step.at.a.time. I think in God’s economy, the smallest things are sometimes harder than the large ones. Its easy not to kill someone, but to trust God that he doesn’t need you to be independently strong enough, good enough to “fix” something in your own life, but to simply trust Him to change you? That’s tough. Obedience though is about listening and acting on what God leads you to do! He never puts you in a situation he doesn’t have a way for you to go through it with His guidance and obedience. He uses all things for good!
When we leave our mistakes on the floor, either by continually looking and reminding ourselves we failed, retelling ourselves or others how we always make messes instead of simply cleaning the mess up, those self discussions become rancid in our life…and if we continue to focus on our mistakes and messes, try to cover them up, or refuse to take the ownership of the mess to God, that area of our life will simply gets worse as the rotten chicken will. Funny thing though, if we go to God, obediently clean up our floor by taking the sin to God and asking for forgiveness…and take the trash of our continued dwelling on it to the curb….well, its over. OVER. When we choose to stop sin in our life, we may have to do without the familiar and dropped chicken for one meal while we figure something else to eat on, but God will help you find new food, new thoughts, new ways to face whatever situation you’re in. God is a God of provision, and one who always holds his children dear, so don’t let Satan fill you with his lies…..and don’t let him destroy you in any area of your life. God has paid a high price in sending Jesus to be our Saviour……live in the victory his life bought you.
