The tale of many lures

I have a story to tell you about deep water, lures, Jesus and the Anchor.

Life trials and traumas can take us into deep, deep water. The enemy of our soul is constantly baiting us with lures. Those lures are lies that he dangles in front of us knowing that if he can get us to bite down we’ll get stuck.

You see, the enemy has been watching and he knows the things that have happened to us. He tosses his hooks into the wounded and weak areas of our lives.

He knows we long to be loved, belong, have purpose, significance, understanding, safety. He offers substitutes that will always fail. He’s aware of the lies people say about us…because he’s behind them.

He throws rocks of unworthy, unloved, not good enough, unseen, misportrayed, shame, regret, confusion on top of the heavy weight we already carry.

This same enemy hands people rocks of pride, greed, selfishness, anger, fear, guilt, jealousy, judgement…there’s no limit to his lures.

Are you ready to let me paint you a picture?

Imagine a body of deep water. Stand next to it and throw in the shiny lures. They will never tell you the truth. Watch as they hit the water and go out of sight.

Now, travel with me down into the deep water where the storms of life leave so many people. People who tried everything they could think of, but nothing worked. Wave after wave hit them and eventually without anyone noticing they lost their footing altogether.

There’s an Anchor of life sitting at the bottom. He’s the safety net. Clinging to the Anchor are people with lures wedged in their mouth. The Anchor is their oxygen. Even in their weakened state they know His strength and might is what holds them secure.

Before they sank other people tried to rip the lures out of their mouth. Sadly, all that did was cause more pain. Eventually, in an attempt to stay safe, they stopped telling others that the lures were there.

Silently they hold onto the Anchor…waiting for relief.

There are lures floating everywhere in the water. They come from the surface and travel downward until they hit the bottom. Some are shiny and some are old and rusty. None of them are sticking to the Anchor.

Jesus swims down and grabs one person at a time. They wrap their arms around His neck as He shifts them from the Anchor to Himself. He swims them upward cutting through the water faster than the eye can see. As they break through they gasp for breath. They deeply breathe in the new level of life He has given.

The lure is gone.

During His rescue mission, Jesus carefully removed each one. The broken are now healed.

The shiny lures that were floating in the water are the lies we threw away. The rusty ones belong to those He rescued and freed.

The enemy keeps collecting the same lures trying to get us to take a bite. But we don’t have to. The scars in our mouth where the lures once were are healed from His tender touch. We’ve been restored.

I’ve been to this place in the bottom of the water. The current is strong and pulls hard. The Anchor has saved me again and again. I know not to let go…Jesus is coming to get me.

He will come for you too! All you have to do is call out His name. There is no depth of water He can’t reach.

Hugs,

Tracy