WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I TALKED LIKE A CHILD, I THOUGHT LIKE A CHILD, I REASONED LIKE A CHILD. WHEN I BECAME A MAN, I PUT CHILDISH WAYS BEHIND ME
(1 Corinthians 13:11).
Understand that the goal of the father-of-lies during your childhood was to produce in you a distorted mind and a disturbed heart: to promote the beliefs “You don’t belong…You are a failure…You are fatally flawed.” The father-of-lies knew that if you would accept these accusatory beliefs as a child, you would become a slave to them for the rest of your life.
I WILL REPAY YOU FOR THE YEARS THE LOCUSTS HAVE EATEN
(Joel 2:25).
However, God has paid for the years the locusts have eaten: He sent His Son, Jesus, to reverse the lies from the father-of-lies in your heart…if you let Him. You were bought with a price to become a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, that you should proclaim Him who called you out of the dark beliefs of the father-of-lies, into His marvelous Light of Truth.
BUT YOU ARE A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, GOD’S SPECIAL POSSESSION, THAT YOU MAY DECLARE THE PRAISES OF HIM WHO CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS WONDERFUL LIGHT
(1 Peter 2:9).
Receive God’s blessings of Love, Truth, and Hope He is offering you in exchange for the hopelessness, fear, and deception of your childhood years. Meet Him face to face. Experience His Love. Taste His Hope. Feel His Power. Encounter His Truth. Discover His Comfort. Absorb His Light, so you may be children of God, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation that lives according to the lies of the father-of-lies.
SO THAT YOU MAY BECOME BLAMELESS AND PURE, ‘CHILDREN OF GOD WITHOUT FAULT IN A WARPED AND CROOKED GENERATION.’ THEN YOU WILL SHINE AMONG THEM LIKE STARS IN THE SKY
(Philippians 2:15).
The Perfect Father sent you a Redeemer. Will you let Him redeem the years the locusts have eaten?
Are you willing to EMBRACE the pain, EXPOSE the lies, and let your Savior EXCHANGE these years for a whole new life?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I acknowledge You as my Savior: the One who is able to redeem…the One who is able to win back the years that have been stolen from me…the One who is able to free me from childhood blame, debt, and the consequences of sin. I lay these years at Your feet, my Lord. Please repair, restore, and reform the years the locusts have eaten.
Maintain an Awareness
This must be the hardest of all lessons to learn: to keep our eyes on the Eternal God during difficult circumstances, and trust that His everlasting arms are underneath us, holding us and keeping us safe.