For the past week to week and a half, I have had a "heavy feeling" on my heart. During this time, one of my cousins passed away from a substance overdose. As a result, a flood of emotions have gone through me as well as a deep pain for his immediate family. I have been flooded with memories of my own past substance abuse problems. Those were very dark days. It is really a miracle that I am even still alive. Which naturally brings forth the question of why are some of us rescued while others never experience the joy of breaking free from the chains of addiction? These are questions without answers in this lifetime.
Then in church this past Sunday, Pastor Tim (at Gospel Temple Worship Center) shared an internet video that he came across the prior week. My Pastor said he has never used an internet video for a message on Sunday before, however, he felt God was leading him to do so with this one. In this video a Pastor at a church with 10,000 members shared his heart's pain over his son's drug abuse addiction. This was an absolutely heart wrenching story of a child who decided to experiment with drugs only to find too little too late that he no longer has control...the drugs are now in control of him!
This Pastor painted an all too familiar (spot on) picture of how drugs seem fun in the beginning. How Satan whispers in your ear that you can control this. One more time is not going to hurt anything. See...nothing "bad" happened. A few more times is okay. While all along Satan knows that it's that next use that is going to say SNAP...I'VE GOT YOU NOW SUCKER! Before you know it, you are "using" to wake up in the morning and get up and going, to function during the day, then to wind down to sleep at night. All of a sudden...your thoughts are not your own anymore!
This Pastor asked why is this happening to his son. Afterall, he was raised better than this. His son was brought up in church. In his words, "he was not reaping what he sowed into his son." While my heart absolutely broke for him and his situation, I wish I could tell him the one thing that comes back to me time and again when I have asked God very similar questions. I truthfully believe that since he has a growing church of over 10,000 members, God is obviously using him to further His Kingdom and therefore to do much against the dark, evil desires of Satan. While this is obviously what we should all aim to do, it comes with a price. If you are a real threat to Satan, you can expect Satan to attack you, your ministry, your family....anything that you hold dear to your heart. It is called spiritual warfare! To some this will seem like hocus pocus talk. However, the fact is that there is one God and angels, Satan and demons and us humans are caught in the middle. This is by God's design. However, there is no need to fear these things. "For greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world." We have been given the "power over principalities of darkness." We just have to recognize these things for what they are.
In closing, I know that Satan has tried to kill me for quite some time. This actually lets me know that God has big things in store for me that the devil does NOT want to see come to fruition. I also know that as big of a heart as my cousin always had for others and the way he wanted to take away the pain of others...just imagine the damage he could have caused to Satan's plan if he could have overcome. This is why Satan fought him tooth and nail to make sure he never found freedom and true life in Jesus Christ. Just as I believe that satan wants to cripple that pastor's ministry by claiming his son's life and causing that Pastor to doubt the love and faithfulness of Christ. It's not rocket science. This is how satan works.
God has given you the freedom of choice. He wants you to choose to love and serve Him. Unlike Satan, He does not want to force you to do anything you do not want to do. You can either choose to believe these simple truths and grow in true freedom and happiness day by day. Or you can choose to believe this is nonsense. Either way, whether you realize it or not, you are choosing to serve one master or another. You ARE choosing God or Satan. Please....Choose well!
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