I’ve come to realize that the devil doesn’t have any new tricks up his sleeve. He specializes in luring us back to the graves from which the Lord has delivered us. He keeps our traumas and scars close, waiting for the opportune moment to bring them back to our remembrance in a way that makes us doubt our deliverance.

I know this because I recently fell victim to what was undoubtedly a trick of the enemy. He presented a situation that triggered me so deeply that I questioned whether I had truly been delivered. Before I knew it, I found myself back in the grave of my past distress, trying to put on the old grave clothes that God had stripped away from me. As I clothed myself in hopelessness and shame, a sister in Christ reached out to me. I began recounting what had happened and how I felt. About a minute into our conversation, she interrupted, saying, “Stop, don’t put on those grave clothes. You were delivered from that.” It was then that I realized the lying devil had tricked me into returning to the grave. He had replayed my hurt, and unfortunately, I began to rehearse it. But thanks be to God for my sister. He used her to pull me out of that grave. It was like I had been awakened from a trance. Light illuminated the shadows of deceit, and I swiftly fled from that emotional tomb. As the songwriter says, “He called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day.”

So today, my friends, I choose to allow the Lord to use me as a guardian at the Sepulcher of your traumas. Don’t return to that grave. The shame, the inadequacies, the lack of confidence, the addictions, the hurt, and the brokenness were left behind in that grave. When the enemy comes at you with lies that seem true because of the rerun, simply declare, “Devil, I am already delivered from that.” You are no longer a slave to fear. You are a child of God, victorious through Christ. God bless you.

Meditation Scripture – Galatians 5:1

“For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”