Tag: weakness

God’s Lens of Love and Grace Overcomes Satan’s Vicious Lies That God Doesn’t Care

Trudy Den Hoed26 Comments

“See what great love the Father
has lavished on us, that we should
be called children of God! 
And that is what we are!”
1 John 3:1

That is what we are? Children of God? Yes! God is a Father who will never, ever hurt us like earthly fathers sometimes do. He delights in us, so deeply that Jesus came to suffer and die in our place. Willingly. Lovingly. Lavishly.

Do you ever feel like you know this in your head, but your heart sometimes struggles to believe it? Your legs feel too rubbery to get up and move forward and receive this truth He so freely offers? Your hands feel too weak to take hold of His proffered hand of love and grace? Especially in times of vulnerability when Satan pummels us with his vicious lies and stomps us under his feet?

Believe me, Satan knows where we’re most vulnerable. Terminal or chronic illness can sap our energy. Depression and other mental illnesses can suck us down, down, down into a deep, dark hole where we lose hope and can’t see a speck of light anymore to lead us out. Losses of so many kinds can make us wonder where God is. Loss of self and devastation of lives through abuse or other traumas. The death of loved ones. Betrayals. Desertions. Divisions. Loss of jobs and financial means. The pandemic and all its repercussions. And on and on it goes. And Satan stalks as a hungry and determined lion watching, waiting, and pouncing on us when we’re weak and vulnerable.

© TheLovelyScribe

When we’re discouraged, we become an easy target, and it can be harder to fight off those negative voices of never being enough. Those critical voices that say we’re unlovable, unwanted, and surely not needed in this world. Those vicious voices that say Jesus does not care and there is no hope or help for us.

Satan knows exactly when our bodies or souls are weary and feeling too weak to hang onto God’s truth. He sometimes convinces us to look through our lens of skewed perspectives because of past or present trauma and hurting words and actions that can drown out the remembrance of our identity in Christ Jesus. He doesn’t want us to look through the lens of truth that we are Jesus’ beloved, that Jesus cares so deeply, and He is with us no matter how difficult our struggles are.

Recently, I was looking through that distorted lens before I even realized it. My heart became so heavy, and I couldn’t understand why. Help me, Jesus! I turned to the One who knows and understands the deepest troubles of our hearts. The One who cries with us and longs for us to release our burdens into His hands.

And He graciously opened one of His promises to me:

“The God of peace will soon
crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you!”
Romans 16:20

Yes, Jesus in His powerful love and grace has already gained the victory over Satan, but as long as we’re on earth, Satan will try his utmost to bring us to doubt that truth. The grace of Jesus will always be with us here and help us through the heaviest trial, but won’t that be a glorious day when Satan will forever be crushed under our feet?!

If we hear condemning or shaming voices, it’s not God. God may sometimes lead us in a way of correction out of love, but He will never condemn us even when we fail or fall. Even though He knows that in our weakness, we sometimes do take up those distorted lens Satan digs up and gives us. He can and will remove those lens and again give us His lens of love and grace. The lens He sees us through. His lovable and wanted child who is needed in this world to spread the same love He gives us to others.

“So now there is no condemnation
for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
‘I have loved you with an everlasting love;
 I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.'”
Jeremiah 31:3

When We Long For the Fountain of Living Water To Revive Us

Trudy Den Hoed24 Comments

Running and leaping over fences, a deer flees from hunters. Her sides heave and her nostrils quiver. Her heart beats overtime. Her open mouth pants for water. Will her enemy ever stop pursuing her? Where can she get some water to give her strength to keep going?

“As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks,
So my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God.”
Psalm 42:1 AMP

We can identify with a deer’s plight, can’t we? Satan is relentless in pursuing us. Every moment is hunting season for him. He will stop at nothing to devour us. He knows where we are the most vulnerable. He batters us with lies: God doesn’t care about you. You’re insignificant to Him and to everyone. You have no purpose in this life. And on and on… He will stop at nothing to discourage us and keep us away from the Fountain of living water we so need to refresh us, energize us, and revive our fainting spirits.

As a deer pants longingly for water brooks, every fiber of our being can long for a refreshing and reviving drink from Jesus, the Fountain of life. Without His life-giving strength, we can’t go on. We try to keep replacing Satan’s lies with God’s truth, but we can become so battle-weary. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Jesus knows when we are too weary to keep going. He constantly invites us, “Come, My child, come. You don’t have to do this alone.” His longing for us is infinitely greater than ours. He is the Fountain of living water that longs to quench our thirsty souls. He is the Fountain of love and mercy that never runs dry. He is the Fountain of sufficient grace that is available every second of day or night.

All Who Are Thirsty
by Kutless

“All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Just come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As the deep cries out to deep, we sing…”

Lessons From a Sea Turtle

Trudy Den Hoed40 Comments

Keep Following the True Light

When sea turtles hatch and dig their way out of the sand, they follow the light of the moon over the ocean, their home. Sometimes when clouds cover the light of the moon or there are too many beachfront artificial lights, they get disoriented. Recently in a movie, I saw some sea turtle protectors guide them on a cloudy night. The turtles saw another distant light, so they turned towards it. The protectors formed a line on their knees to block out the false light while one of them got on his boat and shone a bright light several feet from shore. The turtles turned again and finally arrived at their ocean home.

It sounds a lot like our spiritual journey in this life, doesn’t it? We may be following the True Light of love to dip ourselves into the healing waters of His grace, but distractions or temptations in this world can lure us and lead us away from Him. Maybe it’s not always intentional, but we get confused by all the artificial lights. Even Satan can masquerade himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and he constantly works to turn us away from the True Light. I’m so glad that He who is the Light of the world shines and prevails over all false lights and draws us to Himself, aren’t you?

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said,
‘I am the Light of the world.
If you follow Me,
you won’t have to walk in darkness,
because you will have the light that leads to life.'”
John 8:12
Never Give Up When the Going Gets Tough

Green sea turtle babies are only 2 inches long. It’s a looong walk to the ocean. Then there are the obstacles. Can you imagine what a big footprint in the sand or a piece of driftwood would look like to such a tiny turtle? In a video, I saw one flip to its back because of the deepness of the footprint, but he flipped himself back upright and kept on heading to the ocean. They persevere and trudge onward.

Photo by Mark Sullivan, NOAA affiliate.

Our journeys here on earth can be filled with mountains of troubles and pits of difficulties, obstacles that set us back or make us want to sit down in despair and forget about putting one foot in front of the other towards our eternal home with Jesus.

These little turtles persevere in the midst of obstacles and challenges, even in danger from predators. Cannot the same God who created them and gives them strength to move on also give us strength to endure?

No, it’s not easy, but God’s powerful love and mercy are more than enough, and He is always available, regardless of what situation we’re in. Yes, maybe we will feel flipped upside-down and unable to flip ourselves right-side-up again to keep going. But He promises us that His power is made perfect in weakness. He never said there won’t be troubles in this world, but He has promised He has a plan for our good and He’ll get us through.

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you,
for My power is made perfect in weakness.'”
2 Corinthians 12:9a
“But You, Lord, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.”
Psalm 22:19
“I have told you these things,
so that in Me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33


“A Living Prayer”
by Alison Krauss

“In this world I walk alone with no place to call my home
But there’s one who holds my hand
The rugged road through barren lands
The way is dark, the road is steep
But He’s become my eyes to see
The strength to climb, my griefs to bear
The Savior lives inside me there…”

“I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources
He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.”
Ephesians 3:16