We have a choice in life – well, many choices actually, but only one that influences the sum total of our entire existence. Do we give our soul, body and spirit to God to control (Romans 12:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23), or do we allow Satan to continue as the governing factor of our choices (John 3:18)?
Satan uses devastating sinful temptations, debilitating lies that affect our negative emotions and thoughts, and many outside influences that he controls for his evil purposes to ruin our life. One option that we have in life is to buy into the perspective of Satan’s lies that he uses to fuel the worldview of our society,
Another option is to allow God’s Holy Spirit to transform us into a new creation as God’s adopted child (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, even if we humble our self enough to give God control of our life, our flesh as well as the world’s pull and satanic forces still tempt us to take back control now and then.
We may simply forget to consult the Lord in some decision, or we may want something so strongly that we ignore God’s direction, or we give-in to the pressure of friends or relatives to do something that causes us to step outside of God’s will and forfeit His peace in our life (Philippians 4:7).
We may want to buy a particular item yet feel no peace about it, or relinquish our time and effort to accomplish a certain task, or yoke up with people to perform a ministry that we do not feel God calling us to do. These decisions always rob us of God’s peace and joy that give us His strength and power to accomplish His purpose for our life (Ephesians 2:10).
At other times, some event, activity or item may trigger a memory from a wound in our past. We may be tempted to allow this memory to depress us and to discourage us from following God’s plan for our day. It may affect our health, our joy, our security and our comfort.
These memories have the power to debilitate us if we allow them to do so; or we can, alternatively, give our self permission to feel the pain, consider the memory from every angle, and then to thank God for healing that unseemly wound in our life. This sets us free through Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary’s cross, from the bondage this memory held over us for too many years.
Prayer:
Father God, Your Word is full of examples of people who started out serving Satan and then fell in love with You and Your love for them. They willingly and gratefully became Your bond-servant for eternity. Strengthen the inner being of every person who does not know You, so that they can push past satanic lies to be the person they can be through the power of Your Holy Spirit.
Jesus is our alpha and our omega – our beginning and our end (Revelation 1:8), our Savior and King and Lord (1 Timothy 1:1). He fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23. We worship You as our triune Godhead, and we are so appreciative of all Your facets as our great “I AM.” You enable us to heal from traumatic wounds in our past and current life; You give us health in our body, strength for our muscles, support for our bones, and truth for the healing of our soul.
Thought for the Day:
God’s Spirit transforms us from:
Wounded to healed,
Abandoned to loved,
Isolated into His adopted family,
Despised sinners to His redeemed,
Spiritually blind to living by faith in the spiritual realm,
Lonely to having God’s constant living presence in our spirit and soul.
