There’s a reason I’ve named this post as I have. Why? Because evil has no hold on me anymore! I am now a child of the King of Kings (1 John 5:18), and quite frankly there is no greater calling than that.
In my last post, I wrote of one of the most terrifying moments in my life. Only because of God’s grace and mercy am I still alive today. And I believe that with all my heart.
It wasn’t long after that frightening walk on the road that I ended up dropping out of school. It was my junior year in high school. I knew I needed to get my life together, and in my mind it wasn’t going to happen while I was in school. My self-will was so weak. I just didn’t have the strength to turn away from my drug and alcohol-induced friends. I needed a fresh start.
Besides, I sincerely wondered if I’d even make a passing grade the way I was going…
So I dropped out, and broke off all ties with my “friends.” I didn’t want anything to do with them anymore.
I soon got hired at a local pancake house, and I made sure especially the tie with my “witch” friend (Evil – Out To Get Me (1)) was through. Even though she had always been a good friend, there were just too many scary things which had happened in my life since I had come to know her.
But please listen to me closely: Even though in my mind I was now free from the evil scary stuff, when you don’t have the Holy Spirit living within you, the prince of this world (Satan) can still batter, scare and threaten your sanity (Ephesians 2:1-3).
As I’ve mentioned many times before in my posts, I didn’t come to know Jesus personally until I was in my mid-30’s. And particularly since I’d gotten close to a family that practiced witchcraft in my teens, that was a whole lot of years that I went through some terrifying times.
I mentioned a lot those times in my posts on Evil.
But even after surrendering my life to Jesus and His protective covering, I still have had to be careful watching any movie or TV show that even remotely talks about Satanism or the occult, for bad frightening thoughts would start forming in my head. It also happens when I’m not careful about the books I read. Yes I now know I’m safe, but that doesn’t mean those little threads of bad memories don’t start pounding away.
And, can I just say that it wasn’t until about 5 years ago that I was actually able to go to sleep at night when my husband was traveling without turning on any lights inside the house? I used to turn on bright lights in almost every room. But still I’d wake up sometimes and see what I perceived to be shadows moving around from under my bedroom door.
Oh, the wiles of the enemy on your mind!
Some of you might think that I’ve spent way too long talking about evil. But I feel its important to let you know that you must guard your heart and mind (Proverbs 4:23). When we start doing things that are not good for us – like watching horror movies, or playing around the borderlines of witchcraft or New Age phenomena – we’re opening our lives to an assault from the enemy.
Now I believe firmly that once you’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit the enemy cannot inhabit you (1 John 4:4) – because God will not allow it. However I also believe that if we let our minds wander to places where it should not go, we can be harassed by evil forces, which is why we’re warned to put on the full armor of God every day (Ephesians 6:10-12). Guard yourself!
Psalm 119:9-11 says the only way to keep our way pure is to live according to God’s word, hiding those truths in our heart. For when we do this He will protect us, and keep us from wandering off in a bad direction.
Next week I’ll move on by talking about how even after marrying my current husband, there were still deep-rooted issues I had to deal with in my quest of Becoming What I Came To Be. God uses everything we’ve gone through as He molds us, even when our life seems as though it’s nothing more than a trashcan of garbage.
The God Of All Comfort 