Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 HCSB

Have you ever been in a situation when your hands were full and you needed to catch something? Imagine that you are taking a cake out of the oven and inadvertently hit a glass on the edge of your counter. As that glass falls, you have a choice to make. You can drop the cake and try to catch the glass knowing that both may be destroyed or you can let the glass fall.

Each and every day of our lives we must make a similar decision where our spiritual well being is concerned. We must choose whom we will serve. As mere mortals we have only two choices, either we will serve the Lord, our God or we will serve the devil. You can’t sort of serve both. There is no fence straddling here.

Once we choose to serve the Lord with all our heart, two things happen. We feel a peace that others may not be able to understand (Philippians 4:7) and we have joy. We have this peace and joy no matter our circumstances. But, the other thing that happens is that the devil is angered because he has lost us and he sets about getting us back to his corner. Now the devil is crafty and should not be underestimated. Peter described him in 1 Peter 5:8 as prowling around like a lion looking for someone to devour. He has some powerful weapons in his arsenal. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warns us to be sober-minded and alert. But in Ephesians 6:10 we are provided with protective gear.

When we are called to salvation and accept Jesus as our Savior, we are cleansed by Christ’s blood. We are made new. We are justified, which my preacher defines by saying that it is just as if I’d never sinned. We are redeemed. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by grace through faith, not from anything we do, but as a gift from God. The only thing we must do is believe.

When I see someone walk down the aisle and make a public profession of faith, I am so happy for them, but I must admit that I also am fearful. Yes, I know we are not to fear. But I know that at this moment, the devil is plotting to win them back. I know that the devil will use distraction techniques to try to steer them away from this commitment they are making to Christ. He will use these tactics to make going to church difficult. He will use these tactics to make staying strong difficult. He will put people in their path to create stumbling blocks.

That is just a few of the devil’s tricks, but one of his most powerful is that he will try to steal the peace and joy that this new believer has found in Christ (John 10:10). He will try to kill the new believer’s enthusiasm. He will try to destroy the new believer’s witness. He may not be able to rob the new believer of his new found salvation, but if he can steal his joy, kill his enthusiasm, and destroy his witness then he can render him totally ineffective to do the work that Christ is calling him to do. He can make it impossible for him to win others to Christ. He can stop him from using his spiritual gifts to serve the Lord.

One of the most effective tools the devil has in his arsenal is guilt and condemnation. The devil tries to convince us that we cannot escape our past. He tries to convince us that we don’t deserve anything good. He brings to memory all the sins we have committed, all of our past failures to try to convince us that we can never be good enough.

The devil knows you can’t reach for a promising and fulfilling future if your hands are filled with the past. You have to make a choice. You are going to have to let one of them go. So, I ask you this morning which will it be?

We are told in James 4:7 that if we submit ourselves to Christ and resist the devil that the devil will flee from us. God wants total surrender. He doesn’t want some half hearted commitment where you squeeze in a little time for him when you have nothing better to do. You can’t put your Christianity up on a shelf and pull it down on Sunday or when the preacher comes over to visit. So what will it be?

If you have been saved then you are a blood bought child of God. We have all sinned (Romans 3:23). We don’t deserve this wonderful gift, but God freely gives it to us anyway because of His great love for us (John 3:16). If you have accepted this awesome gift, don’t let the devil talk you out of if. Don’t listen to him when he tells you that you are not worthy and you will never be able to change. Memorize our scripture passage today and be able to throw it back at the devil. Remind him that God’s blood has cleansed you and made you whole. Remember that you don’t have to fight this battle. Surrender to God and resist the devil and the devil will flee from you.

If you can let go of the past, God has a wonderful future planned for you (Jeremiah 29:11)! All you have to do is drop the past and reach out and take hold of the future.

Have a great day!