One of Satan's greatest tactics against true believers is trying to get us to believe we are not worthy, not good enough... that we make too many mistakes, that our past is too horrible, that there's something wrong with us. This is the only weapon in his arsenal when he can't get a true believer to purposely sin or turn away from God. So, he tries to make us wallow in our own guilty and insecurity so that we will be ineffective for the Lord. If we don't know who we really are in Jesus, than we will run around this life, ducking into shadows, hiding, worrying, stressing, and not stepping out to be the bold warriors we should be. I'm particularly subject to this type of attack because I have a very sordid past. I did many things before I knew Jesus that make me cringe now, many things that have caused people I love great struggles and pain. Hence, my sins have followed me and haunt me even now. Then of course, we all have our faults and weaknesses even after we are saved and walking with the Lord. The devil knows all of this and he knows how to use truth mixed in with lies.
When he says to me. "Look at how your son struggles and he's an atheist. That's your fault. You were a horrible mother when he was young. You didn't teach him anything about God or anything good."
And he would be absolutely right. So I have a choice now. I can wallow in my guilt and regret, feel worthless and defeated. OR I can say right back to him. "That's right. But I am a new creature in Christ. That old MaryLu is dead. I died with Jesus and was raised to life with Him. I am filled with His Holy Spirit and have been adopted into God's Family. I'm not perfect, but the Holy Spirit is working in me and sanctifying me to become more like Jesus every day. And all those bad things I did are not only all forgiven but forgotten. Yes, I still suffer consequences, but my God is the God of the impossible, and He promises that ALL things will work together for good for me because I love Him and I'm called for His purposes. Besides that, He is my Father who loves me and He answers all my prayers and saves my children."
Do I remember to do that every time? Not always. Sometimes I get depressed. But I'm learning to battle this more and more. I've always struggled with God as Father. I didn't have an Earthly Dad. Mine abandoned us when I was a baby, so I've always had trouble trusting God. One thing that has helped is Scripture. Particularly Romans 8, which I have memorized, but below is from Ephesians. Everywhere it said "us", I put "you" to make it personal. Read it over out loud and feel the love of God pour over you!.
Blessed be God, your Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose you in Him before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined you to adoption as children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made you accepted in the Beloved.
In Him you have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward you in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to you the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also you have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that you who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:1-13
Do you believe this? Think about it. God is your Father. He adopted you into His family. In other words, to Him, you are just like Jesus. He loves you as much as He loves Jesus! That's why He made you a son or daughter and also made you a co-inheritor with Jesus. He didn't give Jesus a greater inheritance! (not that He didn't deserve it) but the Father gave You the same inheritance as Jesus! The Father chose you Before He even made the Earth. He formed you in your mother's womb. He gave you special talents and He also knew your faults and weaknesses. He knew everything about you, knew everything you would do, good or bad, He knew you would choose Him. He loved you before you were even born. He lavished His grace and mercy on You, forgave all your sins, planted your feet on a Rock, gave you purpose and life, cleansed you and made you holy.
So, don't you for one minute believe the lies the enemy is telling you! That you are not enough, that your sins are too much, that your faults are overwhelming, that you are ______ fill in the blank. Too weird, boring, unlikeable, quiet, stupid, wicked, selfish, temperamental, sensitive, ugly. God does not make garbage. He makes masterpieces. He makes unique and beautiful works of art. And that's you!
Tell the devil to take a hike. Better yet, ignore him and start praising Jesus. Works every time.
Thank you MaryLu that is just a beautiful post end so uplifting and encouraging- Vicky
ReplyDeleteThank you. I needed this! I have struggled the last few years with feeling like I am boring and my life is not important anymore. I don’t always get along with my grown kids and I know it is the enemy trying to divide my family.( we are all believers). I am helping with worship at our church but still feel I am “too old”, “ too fat” and ugly to be in front of people. I know these lies are from the devil. I will continue to help out when asked.
ReplyDeleteBlessings! BevH
Thank you for this encouraging post, MaryLu! The enemy has been hitting me hard with many of these things lately. I feel unworthy to pray for others bc I'm struggling in my health & seemingly can't get a prayer through for my own self! Or maybe I'm having physical issues bc I'm not a good enough Christian, etc, etc.These thoughts have drastically affected my prayer life the past week, I'm ashamed to say. Someone really close to me desperately needs prayer & I don't feel worthy enough to pray for her at times. But I am believing for her miracle, so there, devil!
ReplyDeleteHello Sister in Christ,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this beautifully written post of reassurance and encouragement. I can relate to this very well in that I used to be the near-complete opposite of what I am now.
I first came to know Christ back in high school and had a kind demeanor in which I now feel I was way too open, friendly, and trusting. People were kind to me and there were those that were blatantly disrespectful, but now looking back, the “kind” ones actually masqueraded as false friends due to my realization that online interactions were not the same as in real life and they hardly socialized with me on their own free will. Since I was too immature and foolish to accept this hard truth, I did not let that bother me if I happened to think about it.
This was also the same in college when people I interacted with, mostly for class-related activities such as studying and group assignments, showed me kindness but now I realize I was being used all along to carry out their wants/needs - an example is that I studied with some people and openly gave them encouragement and luck for exams and while they seemed to appreciate it, all of that meant nothing when they did not even want to become friends and just “vanished” after exams and of course after graduation. I know friendships are optional, but there are those who make it seem so easy just by doing the same things I did - I felt that it could have that I acted strange or was immature, but hey, I was inexperienced in the social life, so of course I may lack confidence and act foolish at times, but if they use that to justify judging me as worthless, well now I do not care much anymore when I used to nearly fall into depression over it. Wouldn’t it be sad for them to realize that God does not like to be disrespected and mocked, and especially not his children?
The point of the above accounts is that I know the Devil is using those bad experiences to make me feel like I am the worst of the worst and I have fallen into the trap for some time, until a few things finally transformed me. Learning that COVID was a harbinger of wiping out humanity, understanding that evil has been behind every major worldly situation, and most appropriately, coming across your blog are what finally made me put everything behind and constantly look to the Lord in prayer, Scriptures, and peaceful music. Even before all that, I grew in Christ though not always steadily, but now I felt it was my biggest growth and transformation yet.
I bet a good amount of those false people are now working successful jobs, some may have their own families, and some may still have real friends from 10-20 years ago, but how would God view their hearts despite the first two successes? I read somewhere that for highly successful people, others may view them as very respectable in view of their accomplishments, but God may view them as “possible failures” because their hearts secretly harbor malice and hatred towards people they judge as inferior or worthless while maintaining a “flawless” facade on the outside to make others believe nothing is wrong with them. Isn’t it sad that this is so prevalent now?
I could go on, but I would say that I went through worse than you did, for people who show false kindness can be more wicked than those who are just plain rude and downright cruel. But with reassurance that the Lord will bring about justice and the Rapture is coming, I can move on knowing that justice will be served provided that I make peace with past trauma and forgive. Do you agree Sister? As you said before, God chooses the people that the world hates and rejects.
Take care Sister and I am looking forward for us to meet in the clouds with other Brothers and Sisters when the Rapture occurs, hopefully soon before all hell breaks loose. Blessings from a Brother in Christ.
Thank you, MaryLu. Wonderful, encouraging message. Satan works overtime to discourage God's children. I needed these words today.
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