Heart pounding so fast it feels like it’s in my throat. “Run faster, faster” is all I can tell myself. It’s getting closer and closer. No matter how hard I run, no matter the distance I put between us, its always right there behind me. Always following me no matter what I do it’s always there, following right behind me! Yet I have no clue what it is that is following me. Never giving me a moment’s peace. Never slow down, never look back, because if you do it will catch you. Can’t let it catch me, if I do I’m dead. Faster, faster can’t let it catch me. Always chasing me, never giving me a moment’s peace. All I can seem to do lately is run and I don’t even know what it is that I am running from. The only thing I know for sure is that if it catches me I’m dead.
Don’t know how much longer I can keep running! I’ve been running for so long. I don’t even know if I can stop. Look, there in the distance: a church! Maybe I’ll be safe enough there to rest. It’s worth a shot. Almost there, just a few more steps…made it. Please be unlocked! Yes! Turning around wouldn’t hurt, would it, just to finally see what’s been chasing me for so long? Bad idea, you know that never ends well. Here we go, on the count of three quickly turn around and turn back. One, two, three…what in the world is that? Turn around, turn around now and get inside! It’s almost upon you. Get inside now! Thud, click. Just breathe; calm down, you’re safe now. You’ve closed and locked the door. It can’t get you inside of here, whatever it is.
“Hello, may I help you?”
What, who’s there?
“Don’t be afraid, I mean you no harm. I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to help.”
I just need a place to rest up.
“Take all the time you need; if you need anything just give me a shout. My name is John; Pastor John Maccannon.”
Pastor John! What do you know about monsters?
“What type of monsters are we talking about? The one’s in stories and movies?”
No! I want to know if they are real.
“That’s an interesting question. May I ask why this has you so worried whether if monsters are real?”
I think a monster has been chasing me. You see before I came in here, I saw it. I saw the monster! It was unlike anything I have ever seen. It makes the monsters in the movies look like amateur hour.
“What did this monster look like?”
It looked like a tornado with eyes so evil that they felt like they were piercing my very soul.
“The devil storm, that’s what has been chasing after you.”
The what?
“The devil storm it is an entity that hunts people down with the goal of wearing them down to the point of total exhaustion, finally, completely consuming them and making them part of the storm.”
How does one defeat this monster?
“You can’t defeat it. No one can. Not by themselves anyway. This is much more than a physical monster. It’s a spiritual monster who seeks both to kill and to destroy. So you can’t defeat it the way they do in stories.”
What do I do then? If this monster can’t be stopped by conventional means, what am I going to do? I can’t run anymore. I’m so tired of running knowing that if I stop then that monster outside has me.
“What if I told you there was a way that you could stop running? As I’ve explained, you can’t defeat this monster on your own. This is not just some quick-fix solution that will cure all your problems. You’re still going to have to deal with the monster outside. However, you will be able stand your ground and face up to the monster! You will be able to make the monster back down!Though, if you decide to choose this path, this devil storm will come at you ten times harder than he ever has before. The reason is because you will have joined the ranks of one whom he considers to be ‘public enemy number one’. This will not be easy. I’m not going to sugar coat it for you. There will be days in which you will question whether it was worth it making this choice. Knowing all of this, do you still want to accept the answer of how you can stop running?”
Yes!! I’m ready to finally stop running.
“Alright then, repeat after me. Heavenly Father, I need you. I’m so tired of running. Please help me to stop running. Come into my life Lord, redeem me; forgive me of all my transgressions. Lord, be the ruler of my life. Let You be the one thing in my life that I do run for. In Your holy, precious name, Amen. Stay here for a moment I have something to give you that will help you in this new path of life in which you’ve entered into. Be right back. Here you go.”
It’s a book! How’s a books supposed to help me?
“It’s not just any book. This book is the ultimate weapon to fight the devil storm with.”
The Holy Bible?
“This book will help remind you of what is true when the devil storm comes against you. The devil storm cannot stand the Truth. It absolutely hates Truth.”
Thank you Pastor! You have no idea what this means to me.
“You’re most welcome. Now could you do me a favor?”
Sure, what is it?
“Don’t let what you’ve done today die. Build upon what you’ve started today. Let this action that you’ve taken be an all-consuming fire that completely consumes you. Can you do that for me?”
Yes sir.
(Three Months later)
Thank you, Father, for how far you have brought me. It’s hard to believe how far I’ve come since that day in church. Thank you for helping me to stop running. Guide me Lord. Show me how to let this relationship be an all-consuming fire. Help me always to trust You, both during the good times and the bad. In Your holy, precious Name, Amen.
“Thought you could run from me did you!”
Who said that?
“I did!”
Who are you?
“You know who I am, after all the time you spent running from me. I’m surprised you could have forgotten about me so easily.”
What do you want?
“What do I want!?! Were you not told what would happen when you decide to side with the enemy?”
The enemy? The only enemy I see here is you; and a defeated enemy at that!
“You’re a brave one to call me that. You must think you’re strong enough to defeat me to be talking so boldly.”
No, I’m not strong enough to defeat you – not alone, any way. It is written, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
“How can he strengthen you when he doesn’t even have the strength to defeat me? All you are is a puppet in his army; something to be used then thrown away when he no longer has a use for you. He has nothing to offer you except pain and suffering. Is that something you really want? I can give you a life of ease, instead of a life of pain and suffering.”
All you have to offer me is a life full of empty promises. You say it’s a life of ease when really it’s a life full of regrets. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You have nothing to offer me.
“Do you really want to be loyal to someone who just want to use you to achieve his own personal goal?”
Devoted to someone who just wants to use me to achieve their own personal goal? That’s what would happen if I served you! Serving you would make me a slave to self and, most important, a slave to you. No thanks, I’ve been set free from all that.
“You call living by a set of rules freedom? Sounds more like slavery to me. All that you have done is trade one set of chains for another.”
What you call “rules and chains” is Christ’s way of guiding us close towards him. If it’s a choice of either wearing the chains of the flesh or the chains of Christ, I choose to wear the chains of Christ! You can come back a thousand times and tempt me with returning to the ways of the flesh; but I will always choose Christ every single time! I command you to flee in the name and the power of Jesus Christ!
“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaar! You haven’t heard the last of me, you can count on that.”
Thank you, Lord, for this victory.
temperingwithwords 