Have you ever struggled with your faith? I believe it is safe to say that many have had moments when they wondered if they had faith. Pondered why have faith… or wonder if their faith would survive the dry season of their life? After all nobody ever said that the journey toward Jesus Christ is an easy journey. For whatever map we come up with will be less precise, and sincere attempts to follow it will not lead us to a bump free experience.

As Dennis the Menace told his good buddy Joey one day, “Joey, "Mr. Wilson says that if you want to give God a good laugh, tell God what your future plans are.” For the journey of salvation, the journey as a Christian, has seasons of being planted in the spring of life, growth and joy in the summer and fall of life, frustration and isolation in the winter of life, and the cycle never seems to end. 

Recently I met someone newly diagnosed with cancer and I asked this person, “Who's in charge, you or the cancer?” Now I know your immediate response as I said they were diagnosed with cancer was what type of cancer and how long will they live? For that is the human response when one hears the word cancer. But cancer is not just a disease that a doctor diagnosis’s, cancer can also be a life style that one makes the choice to live or dwell upon.

As the devil loves to hear us cry out to God as we play the “Top Secret Game.” We play the Top secret game, for you play it every time we look in the mirror. OH another gray hair, OH I’ve balded more, OH, how much more can I sag, not another wrinkle. OH I’M USE LESS! And only we know what we are thinking as we smile at the world with our top secret within us. And, irrelevant of who you may be when you are seeking salvation, even when you have received salvation, nobody is exempt from the devil who wants to tease and tempt from every angle of our lives. 

It is evident that the devil heard God, Luke 3:22,

“and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”

For the devil tried! He tried his best, not once but twice as the devil introduced two of his three temptations with the words, “If you are the Son of God.”

Luke 4:1-12,

And Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit, for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and they were ended, Jesus was hungry. The devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered the devil, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took Jesus up, and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to Jesus, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I will give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall be yours.” And Jesus answered the devil, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, and set Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered the devil, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

Take note Jesus was tempted by the devil in the Book of Luke, right after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, Luke 3: 21-22, and after Jesus relatives on his earthly father’s side of the family were introduced, Luke 3:1823b-28, for the devil loves to knock people down and away from their love of God the Father through Jesus Christ and a feeling of belonging. The devil likes to strike like a poisonous snake when you least expect it. 

Lets go back to the passage I just read, Luke 4:1-12. What was the devil’s first word to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Luke 4:3? “If.” The word “IF” is a challenge word and the devil was saying in the words of 2007. “HEY JESUS, I heard that you’re the Son of God. Prove it. If You really are the Son of God prove it or shut up and move on.” For the word, “IF” does not know if one is male or female for the word. "IF" challenges all equally. But for one to have salvation there is no “IF” for we must be born again, 

John 3:3.

Jesus answered Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.”

And to be born anew, to be saved and have salvation is for all of us to realize in our lives the truth of the problem in our individual and collective lives. 

Romans 3:10-18

...as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. For all have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one.” Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive.” The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood, in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In the eight verses I just read did you catch the problem that exists that is in each and every one of us? Every one of us has a sin problem. It is sin that keeps us from having a right relationship with God and to have salvation in our lives. 

The headlines of the Sunday February 4, 2007, reads: “The love that saved my life.” “Turning her life around after addiction and abuse, multi-platinum singer Mary J. Blige learns…. You can find a way to heal.” Mary goes onto say, “I never had anybody who cared for me, but real love is beautiful when you find it.” “I was depending on others to make me feel good, but they hated themselves too. I ended up becoming my environment, Mary explains. It was bigger than me. I had no self-respect. I hated myself. I thought I was ugly. Alcohol, sex, drugs, I’d do whatever it took to make me feel better,”

Through all that Mary endured from growing up in the ghetto’s, being in abusive relationships Mary came to a conclusion in her life. A conclusion that pertains to all of our lives, “If you don’t forgive, you’re not going to be able to move on,” Mary said quietly. “You’ll be stuck in hatred and bitterness, meditating on all the hurt, probably dying from all the bitterness bottled up inside you. I let it go. I began to trust and have faith. I moved on.”

In the words of internationally known professor, author, public speaker, C. S. Lewis who was mad at God for the untimely death of his forty-five year old best friend and wife Joy from cancer; “I ponder my experience and I recognize once more that the way for us to be in the world is to focus on the spiritual life.” 

How can we be ready for those times on the road to salvation, on the road of salvation, when the devil whispers in our ear? 

How can we get ready for those times when the road takes a fork so that we take the right road? 

We have four choices, 

1.) Spend time with Jesus in prayer and devotion,

2.) Spend time reading the Bible, 

3.) Spend time with Christian friends in fellowship and being held accountable and make Jesus the Lord of your life.

4.) Know that all have sinned and fallen short and the safest place on earth is when you are called back in His arms again.

I see it in your eyes, the pain you keep inside. It’s slowing tearing you apart. Though you’ve run away reminded day-by-day you’ve stumbled and you’ve fallen and He’s calling. I believe that he loves you where you are. I believe that you’ve seen the hands of God. I believe that you’ll know it when you’re back in His arms again. I believe that He never let you go. I believe that He’s wanting you to know. I believe that He’ll lead you back in His arms again. Glad I found you here cause in between the tears something in your eyes shows hope. And I stand before you now as one that knows about coming to Him open and broken. And I know that He’s callin’ He’s callin’ you Home. One life, one love, one way Home and when you rise and when you fall He will see you through it all. He is waiting; you are called back in His arms again.


Let us pray, 

Father God, in this world the safest place on earth Father, is in your arms. When I’m with him, when I’m with him the fairest pleasures of the world grows dim; and in my heart I feel the thrill of glory. When I’m with Him, when I’m with Him. Father God, in this world may all know the truth and in knowing the truth have salvation in their lives. John 14:6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Amen