They say a picture paints a thousand words. So when my pastor's sermon gives me a visual picture in my head it allows the message to really sink in and have an impact on how I think. My pastor did a great job of this yesterday as he preached on the Holy Gospel of Luke 8:26-39. This Gospel tells the story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man and challenges us to look inside for the demons that we are struggling to deal with. This ties nicely into my morning devotion which discussed how God works to remove the guilt and shame from a past sin, one that we struggle to let go. A demon if you will as it is something that constantly harasses us, surfacing to remind us of a time or incident that we are ashamed. But your demon may not be a past sin. It may be a current situation where you are struggling to get along with your spouse, fighting one of the devil's temptations, or maybe even struggling with putting material items in front of God.
Whatever the demon, I hope that sharing the words of my pastor's sermon may help you visualize your battle and show you where you can lay your hope for defeating those demons. I will paraphrase but hopefully you will see in your mind the same picture I saw yesterday morning.
God sent His Son to save us from our sin, and Jesus is constantly waiting for us to ask for His help in fighting the devil and his temptations. Picture that you are in the wrestling ring with your demons (not the fake TV type, but real wrestling that you would see at the rec, high school or college level). Jesus is not just sitting on the sideline cheering you on. No, He is standing there waiting for us to reach our hand out and tag Him in. He wants to fight the battle with us, but He wants us to tag him in first. Are you getting the picture in your head? I know you have heard of tag team wrestling before. Does not this help us to visualize our battle and how we can overcome and win? If you have seen a tag team match, you know that as one member gets weaker and close to defeat, they struggle to reach out to their team mate, to tag them to relieve them. To bring in the stronger, rested member to fight anew.
God wants us to tag Him in, to seek His help in fighting the devil. He does not want to be a bystander, watching as we struggle and falter. He wants to help. All we need to do is reach our hand out, tag Jesus and let Him do the heavy lifting. Let him strengthen us.
But unlike the wrestler who becomes week and struggles to reach his partner, we should reach out to tag Jesus early, seeking His help even before we go into battle. You see, if we do that, we are asking God to show us how to defeat the devil, not going into battle alone, with our own plan, and then looking to God to save us. While He is ready and willing, He much prefers us to ask for guidance first.
Remember this with all of your planning. Do you tend to plan and then ask God to bless your plan, or do you ask first for God to show you how to plan?
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
God Bless your Monday!
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