STRANGERS IN YOUR GATES
You’ve been struggling; your head has been spinning in all the wrong directions. You’ve let your mind dwell on the wrong things. You’re beginning to wonder why you are feeling so uncomfortable, anxious and confused. Then BAM! The realization hits you like a hammer to the head, it’s all because you’ve been opening your gates to strangers, strangers out to destroy your very identity.
At first, it seemed harmless, a few passes here and there and no one gets hurt, but that’s just all wrong philosophy cause these strangers had other things in mind. The seemingly harmless entrance begins to sow the seed of turmoil and your spiritual antibodies begin to give you the warning signals but you put them off and say “Buddy, I’ve got this, they can’t control me”.
Oh, how wrong you’ve been dear friend. For a moment they give you the illusion of control, making you think you’re still in charge but before you know it, you’re losing the reins on your own soul and you are like a drowning man trying to gasp for air and hold on to dear life. A few inner attacks here and there trying to stop the unwanted takeover but then you realize putting up shields when the enemy is already inside is quite useless now, isn’t it? It seems like a vicious cycle, you’ve seen this happen before during a time when good and evil seemed like identical twins in your eyes, a time when you were confused about right and wrong, a time when you were in darkness and tripped on your own feet. In that moment the identity you were convinced about begins to flicker with uncertainty in your mind. Doubt creeps in like a thief at night and your focus is long gone on the highway of confusion.
You thought you were better, you thought you were past this stage but the monster you thought you had buried long before now stares you in the face and mocks you with a grin that says “thought you could get rid of me that easy? I don’t think so, bro”. Damn! It causes you to shiver. Is this what they call the ghosts of the past? You didn’t think you’d ever have to deal with one, but here you are.
It took years for those strangers to lay their foundations in you and now it seems like it might take years to fully exterminate their roots and destroy their claim on you. You hate that it’s starting all over and what scorches your heart the most is the possibility that you’ve failed not just yourself but the very one who took you out of the darkness with a sacrifice. You are tired of saying sorry because deep down you know that you’d still do it again but you can’t run either cause deep within your soul you know his the only one who could save you from yourself. The strangers begin to cripple your hope with doubt telling you “what if you can never break free, what if his so disappointed in you that he turns his back on you, what if you are just too smeared to be cleared?” what ifs upon what ifs that all put you in fear, fear that further keeps his still quiet voice out and rather than tune out the excess voices in your head to listen to his, you are lashing out in anger and drowning in your desperation for a quick fix.
It may take years to build a wall but with the right weapon it can be taken down in seconds. Today, clear your mind to listen for that still small voice reaching out to you, telling you to obey the commands and directions his given when you weren’t listening, to not aim for perfection by the works of your hands but to trust in his spirit’s leading, to begin again the process of purging your city that has been without gates long enough and take up your weapon (his word) train (pray) with discipline.
Begin to acknowledge your identity as his righteousness chosen to be his heir and commissioned to be a royal priesthood. Every step of the way, trust his words that say “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. Even when your imperfection stares you in the face, pity is not a solution. So what you shall gain is discipline, so help us Lord.
ROMANS 8:1 ‘THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS’
SELAH.
JASMINE
