The mind plays strange tricks on us. Time and again, I've suddenly experienced a dizzying deja-vu due to the aroma of a perfume, cologne, food or building. This strange sensation occasionally occurs when I catch a milli-second glimpse of a scene that reminds me of another time or place. The other night as I was falling asleep I thought of my Aunt Ruby and suddenly smelled Jergens lotion. The human mind is a mysterious, unraveled gift, or curse, depending on how we use it. Satan loves to use deja-vu to play mind games with us but he never brings up the good moments. He sends us back to scenes we'd rather forget and should forget, if we've asked forgiveness. He likes to see us squirm, turn red, tear up, and back into our shells where he knows he's safe from our testimony of redemption for a while. If we're not grounded in Truth, we fall for his tricks because he's the "father of lies," the master of half-truths. Just as we step out into usefulness to God and the Joy of our salvation, he holds our failures before us to shame, embarrass, discourage, and frighten us into forgetting the whole Truth. We've sinned and yes, we've committed some doozies, but these sins represent a mere fraction and only the beginning of our redemption story.
"This then is how we know that we belong to the truth whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything."
1 John 3:20
"For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves
in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
Colossians 1:13-14
Our Perfect, Loving God delivered us from darkness knowing everything we ever did, thought, thought of doing, or thought of thinking about doing. He doesn't condemn us for the battles we fight, but has rescued and forgiven us because we believe in His Son. When Satan sees us relaxing in the Truth, he zooms in on the one sin that haunts us most and asks, "Are you sure He forgave THIS one? Really? A Perfect and Holy God would love you and forgive you for THAT? Hmm." We give him the upper hand as we remember the sin and emotions rise to swallow us.
Wait. Jesus didn't die for us to live in self-defeat. We can turn off the faucet and stop Satan's onslaught with the whole Truth:
"Whoever believes in Him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because He has not believed in the Name of God's one and only Son."
John 3:18
"I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God
so that you may know that you have eternal life."
1 John 5:13
In the Name of Jesus, back off, Satan. I'm forgiven - yes, even for THAT one. In fact, I'm going to use my failure in THAT area to help someone else know what a great and loving God we serve. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention, Beelzebub, now buzz off.
Father, why do we let Your enemy camp out in our heads? Toss him out on his ear and let Your whole Truth reign supreme. May our trust in Your Perfect Love be so great that we never question again whether or not It can cover our multitude of sins or the one big one. Praises to You, Lord God, for Your amazing, all forgiving grace! Forgive us for underestimating what we've yet to know fully! We love You and praise You! Bless You for Your Perfect Love and help us be honest about our failures but just as honest about Your Love and forgiveness. I praise You that You're the Only One Who can be Perfect.
In the Name of Jesus "
the Son He loves,
in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
Inspired by Live Loved, by Max Lucado
image from Google images
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