Encouragement

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Don’t give Satan a ride. He will want to drive, and he will take you where he wants you to go. Our daily lives are filled with giving others a ride, particularly if you have children who are too young to drive. I recently calculated that I have spent the equivalent of at least 37.5 days in a car for the past five years just taking and picking up my children from school. This time was not wasted because we have had many conversations and have had the opportunity to share our morning expectations as well as our afternoon thoughts. But how often in our daily lives do we give Satan the opportunity for a ride only to find out that he has taken control and led us to places or thoughts which are harmful? When he has the driver’s seat, there are no constructive conversations for he is bent on destruction. There is no drawing closer together for he draws us apart, and there is no room for love to grow for love cannot live in an environment where he is in control. Many times we are unaware that he is present, but we know that something is wrong. Our closeness to God wanes because we draw away. We are vulnerable to anger, fear, hate, doubt, and many other weapons that Satan has in his arsenal which are all designed to prey on the human weaknesses of mankind. We can become victims of these so fast that we do not even realize what has happened. All we know is that something is wrong. We lose sight of grace, love, forgiveness, and the other attributes of God which are available only if we ask.
Identifying the things in one’s life that cause Satan to have control is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks we as Christians face. The anger of having a failed marriage, the pain of watching the ones we love suffer, or the hurt caused by suicide are fruitful fields in which Satan works. The events of life have put us there, but we do not have to respond to them by refusing to stay there. We can survive them only through God’s help; otherwise, they remain as detriments for spiritual growth as long as we refuse to recognize them, deal with them, and move forward without them. We carry them as baggage long beyond their natural duration because we are angry, hurt, or just mad. When we accept the pain and want to move on, God’s grace is there not to drive us but to ride with us and to guide us on our journey.

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