Game of Life

A page from my daily devotional read “give up the illusion that you deserve a problem-free life”.  Not initially, but after the response of a close friend, I pondered the statement. How many times in prayer do we beg GOD to remove problems from our life then turn around and ask to be used?  Most of us have lived long enough to recognize the pattern, “you’re either in a storm, just came thru the storm or headed toward the storms” of life.

One morning, just as I was about to head back to sleep from my prayer time with the LORD, He did something very Spontaneous and Amazing! Regrettably, I cannot recall it verbatim (a few years back) but this is what He placed within my spirit: Life is School and Earth is the classroom. Using Super Mario Brothers (Nintendo game from the late 80’s) as the analogy, He depicted this life for us as a daily battle thru traverse lands. Just as Mario did, we battle various enemies from day to day with the ultimate goal of passing to the Next Level! Mario traveled thru the Mushroom Kingdom battling toads, koopa troops, gombas, fire-breathing piranha plants, and many other enemies on his quest.  These daily battles would prepare him for the ultimate battle he would one day face with Bowser in the quest to rescue Princess Peach.  As Mario advances thru the obstacles of the land, he is presented opportunities to unlock treasures; some obvious and some hidden. The treasure would provide protection and/or an advantage against his opponents. If he consumed a mushroom, he would grow in stature, causing him to run faster, jump higher and leap further. If he consumed a fire flower, it allowed him to throw fire balls to kill the opponent. The  power allowed him to sprint at rapid speeds causing every enemy that came against  to bounce off in fatal death!! Bounce off? Hmm… Does it not make you think of God’s promise that “no weapon formed against you shall prosper”? He doesn’t promise weapons will not be formed. He doesn’t say weapons won’t appear. He PROMISES “They will NOT prosper”.

Just like Mario; We too, battle day by day thru this classroom of life. And like Mario, we have weapons of warfare at our disposal. Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with the truth (let your convictions be based solely on HIS Word), having put on the breastplate of righteousness (guard your heart lest you lean to your own understanding) and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace (stand on the sure foundation of GOD’s Word); above all, taking the shield of faith (protection from the lies that cause us to doubt God) with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation (guards your mind against anything that comes against the knowledge of the only true and wise GOD Jehovah), and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of GOD (double-edged sword dividing thoughts and true intentions)!! Not only that, but when we wait on Him, “we shall have renewed strength; we shall mount up with wings like eagles, we shall run and not be weary, and we shall walk and not faint” #STARpower!!

EXCITED yet? Slow down. Remember what happens if he (Mario) miscalculates an obstacle or isn’t prepared for the attack? HE IS SENT RIGHT BACK TO THE BEGINNING TO START ALL OVER AGAIN.. Uhhh!! Don’t you just hate when that happened? It’s not like you didn’t know there would be a toad up ahead. It’s not like you didn’t see the hammer thrower up ahead. It’s because you thought the enemy would move the exact same way as before. Satan has stealth but he has NO NEW TRICKS. He only has 3; to steal, to kill and to destroy. Maybe 1 more, because he is the Father of ALL LIES!! But because he studies us, he knows how limited our patience is. He knows what it takes before we fall back into old patterns. He knows that we like to quote scripture when everything is going good but when what we see before us doesn’t feel so good, how quickly we forget. See, we can quote the scripture to our neighbor because we aren’t in their seat. But please know that satan wants to make a mockery of GOD by highlighting the faithlessness of his children.  So, just when you think you “have it under control and you don’t really need God’s help (I’m good GOD, I got this one 🙂); he sends a distraction! And we fall for it; sometimes more than once. Another reason that we sometimes find ourselves repeating a test (whether mental, emotional, financial or relational) from year to year is not necessarily because we didn’t learn the lesson but rather because we have ABORTED the PROCESS! GOD has advised us in His word, “As long as the earth remains, there shall be seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night”(Gen 8:22). SEED (sow) + TIME (wait) = HARVEST= the PROCESS. My pastor taught us a valuable lesson. The enemy has a lot of people believing that Fear is the opposite of Faith. He has you so focused on fear that we forget fear is birthed from what we see (or don’t see) which means the Opposite of Faith is SIGHT! Does not the Bible say, “For we walk by faith, not by sight”; which means we have to focus more on what GOD said than what we see!

GOD has chosen you! He’s called you with Purpose and He DOES NOT make mistakes. Instead of rehearsing the many reasons that you aren’t qualified, SUIT UP and be counted in this Game of Life walking in His New inLivingWay!!