Not Invisible

When I worked at the library in Okinawa I did a children's program for the homeschool kids about the five senses.  It was a great program, and the kids loved it because when we got to the sense of taste, I brought in different foods for them to try to show what salty, sweet, sour, and bitter taste like.  One of the samples was a plate of chocolate shavings.  The kids could barely contain themselves when I brought it out, and they eagerly grabbed for the biggest chunks.  What I hadn't told them was that it was bitter chocolate, and let me tell you, I got some funny reactions!  Where they expected something sweet and delicious, they got something bitter.  What they thought would be satisfying left a bad taste in their mouths.  The lies Satan feeds us are so similar to that plate of chocolate.  We grab for it thinking it'll be sweet but once we eat it, we realize how bitter it actually is.  How often have I experienced this?  How often have you?

The past couple of weeks have been a little rough.  For the longest time I just thought it was me being discontent with life in Beaufort; me being ready to move on to the next phase of our lives.  But the more I prayed about it the more I realized that the darkness was because I had swallowed the Enemy's lies, yet again.

Do you ever feel invisible?  Like you're standing in a crowded room screaming at the top of your lungs, but no one turns around?  I know it's cliche, but that's how I'd been feeling for a while.  It seemed as though I wasn't making any positive impact on people's lives around me.  I was becoming more and more angry, negative, and critical about everything, and it was slowly eroding away at my heart.  I was buying into the lie that I don't matter and that God doesn't love me.  I think if I had really stopped to think about what I was starting to believe, I would have recognized it as Satan at work.

God brought several verses to mind as I sat on the couch late one night praying.  The first was 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."  The part that stuck out was, "as I am fully known."  God knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows all the rotten things we do or think about.  He sees us at our very best and our very worst, and he still wants a relationship with us!  Another verse on my heart was Zephaniah 3:17.  "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."  What an incredible thought that the God of the entire universe delights in me!  Each time I read this verse I am refreshed in knowing that not only does God know me but he delights in me, and he delights in you too.

Finally I prayed over John 14:27 in which Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid."  It is times like these when I know that God speaks to us directly through His Word.  Jesus came into the world to set us free from fear, but how often do I run back to it?  How often do I allow myself to believe the lies of Satan, which only serve to pull me away from my Lord?  By standing firm in the promises of God and praying for deliverance, we can be set free from the lies and we can live as Jesus intended us to live: life to the fullest!

My prayer for you is that you would not be taken captive by the lies of the Enemy but that you would, "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5)  You are not invisible.  You are known and loved by God.  That is a Truth you can stand firm on!