Alright. Thanks. You're the best.
My 12-year-old sister received a Nintendo DS one year. I can't remember if it was for Christmas or her birthday or if she just saved the money and bought it for herself. Regardless of how the Nintendo DS came to be, it entered our home and somehow found itself in my hands.
Let's just be honest: she had some kind of Princess Peach game and I wanted to check it out. Please remember that you said you wouldn't laugh or judge me. God is watching you.
Anyway, I was playing this Princess Peach game and I accidentally became interested in beating the levels and winning the game. But there comes a point where Peach is in a haunted house and needs to utilize one of her powers to advance. There are these funky looking ghost bubbles in this haunted house, but they seem to be harmless as they leave Peach alone while she moves around.
It isn't until she starts using her power that they swarm her and bog her down, making it impossible for her to advance. The enemy wasn't attracted to her until she showed power and the intent to move ahead.
Does it feel like you're just being swarmed and weighed down every time you try to take a spiritual step forward? It's because the Spirit within you is a threat! It attracts the defensive forces of the enemy, almost as if an alarm goes off every time you take a step of obedience towards God's fulfilled purpose for your life.
When you step out with intentions of using Christ's power to propel you forward, it attracts "ghost bubbles". Their purpose is to attack you and weigh you down so that you can't move forward. Without that spiritual power, the enemy could care less. You're not a threat if you don't know how to use it. But if you start waving that power around, the power found through and by His Spirit, the enemy will seek you out faster than you can blink.
What I'm saying may sound hopeless, like there is no point in even trying if we're going to just get attacked each time we try to get closer to what God has for us. I heard a message once where the preacher stated, "Anything of value attracts thieves." And a victorious Christian who knows where their Source of power comes from is incredibly valuable to the Kingdom of God.
If that's where the story ended, it would seem like we were always going to be defeated. When I played the game for the first time, I thought that I was never going to beat that level. I could go back, but it never solved my problem. I wasn't ever going to move forward by going back; I tried. I couldn't stay where I was. I couldn't win that way. And when I used my power, I was attacked. How on earth was I supposed to get through to the finish?
But the game maker provided a way. After some time and frustration, I discovered that I could manipulate a giant ghost intended to kill me. I could use it as a stepping stone to raise me from where I was to where I needed to be.
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| King Boo is the name. Rocking the Dracula teeth is the game. |
Are you hearing me? I know I'm talking about Princess Peach here, but this is good stuff.
God has provided a way.
When things look hopeless, like you're stuck, God has made a way where there seems to be no way. He will turn all things for your good. He will make it so that you can use those things that were intended to kill you as a stepping stone to raise you from where you are to where you need to be in order to have the victory.
The enemy will distract you with attacks from all sides as you try to dig in to God's Word and become closer to Him. Satan and his demons tremble when we discover the truth of 1 John 4:4: "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." When we truly believe that, when we are bold and fearless and have decided to go on with Jesus regardless of what may come against us, we are unstoppable. Which means we can see right through the enemy's poor attempts to hide the fact that we can beat him.
And it's not because of who we are or anything that we are capable of doing on our own, but it is because of Who we serve. An all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God who has given us a victory we don't deserve, but desperately need. May we have the courage to endure the battle and follow Him into the victory. God bless.
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