Our Enemy has many tools in his bag of tricks. A common method that Satan uses is to seduce us early on to make a mistake so that he can use it against us for the rest of our lives. Satan has had a lot of success with this tactic.
This is the same thing that he tried with Daniel and his three young friends. He wanted to change their pure and holy names to names that were connected to Babylonian idols. Is that not what Satan still does today? He seduces our youth to compromise early with drugs, sex, and whatever so that he (Satan) can rename them. He wants our children renamed ‘Drug Addict’, or ‘Harlot’, or ‘Impure’ or several other descriptive names.
Why does he do this? Because he wants to shut down future relationship with God and future usefulness for God. Satan wants to convince you that you are not ‘good enough’ to be in relationship with God. He wants to convince you that you could never be of any service to God because God does not use ‘failures’ like you.
Many carry around guilt for a lifetime because of a mistake done in the past. We know a gazillion Christians who are stuck in their journey and going nowhere because they feel so guilty about a past mistake.
A crucial point has to take place in your life if you are ever going to get over past issues. Confess whatever the action was and accept God’s forgiveness. You have got to come to grips with the fact that we are all imperfect.
The Bride in Song of Solomon understood this. In Song 1:5, she says, “I am dark.” She means that she has a tainted past. The original sin tainted all of us, and added to it are our own personal mess-ups. You are dark. We are dark. Peter was dark. Paul was dark. But notice also in Song 1:5, she also says, “I am lovely.” She has come to understand that the work of forgiveness that God has done in her life has made her lovely to Him! Wow! She then makes this confident declaration in Song 2:1, “I am the rose of Sharon and I am the lily of the valley.” She makes this declaration about herself and notice that Groom Jesus agrees with her in Song 2:2, “Like a lily among thorns, so is my true love among the young women.”
Don’t listen to Satan’s names for you anymore. The next time he tells you that your past has made you ugly, just tell him that you are Jesus’ beautiful rose, His lily shining in the valley of life, and His pure Bride. The next time Satan tells you that your past has made you useless, tell him that God specializes in using imperfect people – He finds joy in using people who walk with a limp like Jacob who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel…He delights in using a sexual pervert like Samson to bring down an evil kingdom…He enjoys using a quitter like Peter to proclaim the gospel…He loves to use a jailbird like Paul to write the majority of the New Testament…He finds satisfaction in using a murderer and adulterer like David to write the Psalms…He loves to entrust His work to a liar like Abraham who is known as the father of our faith. These people all confessed their wrong doing, received forgiveness, and continued to pursue their journey with God.
If you have allowed Satan ‘s names from your past to affect your present usefulness, accept the fact that you are dark, but lovely and get back on the road to usefulness!!
Let us know how to pray for you.
We love yall.
Billy and Sheilah Daws