These last couple of years getting to know the Lord (or at least trying to), I have been deceived by the enemy and enticed into doing different things that have completely gotten me off track from the mission God had originally intended for my life on multiple occasions. I have struggled with various addictions, have been misled in different ways, and have been told complete lies by the enemy in my head to make me believe things about myself that aren’t true. Well, not anymore. Today I am going to try and tell you ways to be able to tell when the enemy is deceiving you, what God originally intended for all of us, and how rejection is a major hindrance in our mission.

First and foremost, Jesus told us: “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” John 10:10 (AMP). The thief will make you believe things about yourself or God that are just not true. Many times I was led to believe that after I relapsed that God was done with me and that He couldn’t use me anymore. I was also told that He left me, gave up on me, and rejected me because I just couldn’t stop disappointing Him, something else that wasn’t true. (Important note: you can’t disappoint someone who literally knows every single move you will ever make in your entire life.) The enemy has ways that are hard to describe that twist scenarios and leave you at a point where you are so low and in such a deep, dark depression that you can’t possibly see any way out. I remember begging and pleading with God not to leave me. He was silent and I was so depressed and I couldn’t feel His presence. I feel He might have been talking to me but I couldn’t hear Him because I had gotten so deep in sin. (It is harder to hear God after you have received the Holy Spirit when you continue in perpetual sin.) It is very good to have friends who are strong in the Lord when you are struggling with the vices and wiles of the enemy, especially when it has to do with doubting God’s love for you. I would have saved a lot of tears if I had only reached out to friends sooner for words of encouragement or prayer.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5. God thinks this about ALL of us, not just the prophet Jeremiah. If we could all grasp this truth and not doubt, life would be so much easier to get through knowing that God has always wanted to know us, commune with us and knowing that He personally designed us to do great things in His name. “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 He never intended for anyone to feel hopeless, lost, depressed, addicted, misled, hurting, angered, anxious, suicidal, etc. but there are evil forces in this world who want nothing more than to send us all on a one way ticket to hell because they HATE the fact that we are made in God’s image and likeness. It is their goal to ensure we never get to live the life God wants us to live: to love Him, love others and serve Him by serving others in our own special way.

One of the biggest things that everyone struggles with is rejection, whether you came from a broken home or not. No one likes to be told that someone doesn’t like them, be treated differently than others (in a bad way), be gossiped about, or be excluded from things. The one person who would never reject us is God Almighty and He’s the one person who’s approval we should seek above all others. I used to be a major people pleaser and still struggle with this problem frequently. I’m getting better, but it’s still a struggle because I still have a problem speaking to strangers or people I work with about the gospel. I have this irrational fear that it will upset them and I actually end up upsetting myself because I “chicken out” about it. I keep forgetting that it doesn’t matter if they don’t like me. The only One who’s approval I need is Yahweh’s and He is the only One that matters and the only One who would never reject me or anyone for that matter. Last night, I broke major ground and started giving some of my testimony to my coworkers about how I used to be and how I don’t do drugs anymore since I met God and actually started to feel like I was high just talking about Him to other people. Some call that being “drunk on the Spirit” but it felt great. Spreading the gospel and making disciples is EVERY “Real” Christian’s main goal. I love the way the Message Translation put it: “Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

I don’t know about you, but I am very tired of being a lukewarm Christian, especially with all the world events going on and all the evil in the world that is taking place in our communities and neighborhoods. Evil is anything that sets itself up against the will and ways of God. Evil can be something as small as telling a white lie like Santa Claus being real and something as major as having multiple sexual partners, saying God’s name in vain, addiction, murder, etc. It is time we all take a stand and wake up the people sleeping around us. All we have to do is plant those seeds of truth and just maybe eventually, enough of the truth will wake them up to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. There has been enough telling them about the wrath of God. It is time to start telling them about the love of God and His willingness to forgive every sin and break every chain.