Death

The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy and brings death to many things. By contrast, Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. There’s another juxtaposition that I’d never quite seen like that.

My hopes and dreams—did Satan kill my dream for love? Jesus can bring it back to life again. In fact, that’s what He’s promised me and I see it happening. Satan tries to bring death into our relationships—marriage, friendships, church and even (or especially) our relationship with God. He wants to bring death to our bodies, to the soul, mind and heart. He wants us to be hopeless, faithless and give up on God; to kill our vision for ministry—to make it wither up and die and have us accept it. The spirit of death brings mental dullness, tiredness (exactly what I’ve been experiencing) and a desire to die in addition to the easily recognizable forms of violence and murder. But God has come to bring life and life abundantly—to our spirits and bodies.

I could recognize how this has continued to have a grip on my life. I’m hoping that things will begin to change. The important thing, however, is that if we want to live by the Spirit of God, we must keep in step with the Spirit and live as He leads us. This is the crunch. It’s one thing to have a wonderful experience for a weekend but can I continue to walk in the freedom I’ve been given? Or will I welcome some or all of those evil spirits back into my life by the choices I make?