A Truth About Life: Even the Devil Works for God.
Sounds insane to some of you, right? Well... From experience, I've come to see that's true. Not too sure how to go about this, but I'll give you some TRUE LIFE EXPERIENCES to give you a good perspective on this truth. I will not state exact relationships or names here except mine, for the purpose of protecting the identities of those whose experiences I'm going to be using on this blog.
A little small talk before giving you the first experience.... Who do you think created the devil? I mean seriously.... And why do you think this negative force exists? Same reason why problems (or as I prefer to call them, "challenges") exist - to make yourself stronger; to force you into self development; to force you to grow spiritually; and to make life more interesting, actually (Lol!).
Imagine a world without challenges. Can you? I can, and it's mind-blowing (and not in a good way)! I would literally implode in my own mind because of the frustration of spiritual stagnancy. Though this is gist for another blog, but one of the major problems with such a world is that you can't learn anything, you can't be of service to anyone, you can't really love, you can't even find a reason to live. The stagnancy of such a world gives you no real reason to do any of the things I've just stated, and whether you know/like it or not, it puts you in a state of bewilderment! It's a very seriously terrible place to live in. I mean, look at your life. If you are more spiritual now and have a great relationship with God, you find that something brought you here. The challenges of life made you realise that it wasn't worth it otherwise. You find that you are happier now and more at peace with life. If you are a hard-working person now, it's probably because life's challenges revealed to you that laziness won't get you far enough or bring you happiness. If you are a more loving person now, it's probably because your life's challenges have shown you that the more love you give, the more you get, and so... Go figure! This means that the devil was really created to ensure that challenges exist in this life to temper and train Souls (you and I) so we become spiritually stronger and take our relationship with God more seriously. Look at it this way... You sit in your house, eating your food,, and think you have it worst off in life, until the devil comes in takes the house and food away, then you realise this IS the worst. You thus become more grateful for life and all you have, and in time, more comforts are brought into your life. So the devil shows you the other side of the fence so you can appreciate your own lawn better. Does that make any sense? Also recall the experience of Job in the Bible, where the devil asked God permission to test Job's faith in the Spirit of Life (or God). God granted that request on the condition that Job is not killed in the process. You remember the suffering Job endured, how he lost everything, and also how he retained his faith and love and trust in God. You also remember how his wealth and happiness was restored in several folds. So, do you see the purpose of the devil? It's mainly to draw you closer to God and make you stronger therein.
A very close friend of mine who I would call Ufan (one of the African names meaning"friend") is an engineer. As with any busy person his age, it becomes easy to forget one's relationship with God, when faced with the hustle and bustle of life. It's normal to forget to pray, and only focus on the material aspects of life (like that would get you far enough, right?). The thing is, Ufan used to take his prayers and relationship with God seriously before, but he took things for granted and I guess, got lazy. So one night, he has a dream (more like a nightmare) where he is chased breathless by masquerade demons. It becomes so frustrating at a time that he suddenly remembers to call on the Spirit of Life to help him. And something real shocking happens. The demons stop chasing him and ask him who he thinks sent them in the first place. They told him that the Spirit of Life sent them to ask him to keep up with his prayers and his relationship with God. And then, they left him alone!
What did YOU learn from this experience? Ufan learned that it was in his best interest to make more time for building his relationship with God (among other lessons).
You may not realise it but having a close relationship with God is like having strong bodyguards around you all the time, and so all the people who are out to get you cannot get you because you have strong bodyguards around you all the time. Now, disregarding that relationship with God, puts you in a situation where you are telling the bodyguards to stay back that you can handle things by yourself, and in your ignorance, you step out alone and people or things that were out to get you come and get you because you no longer have any protection. Chew on that for a bit.
Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor. Have you heard that before? And what do you think brings about the tempest sea? Whose job do you think it is? After so many failed relationships I came to realise how to, and how not to love. I always had a certain idea of the perfect relationship. One of such ideas was that being serval and giving up my freedom to make the man happy would keep the relationship strong and lasting; in other words being docile and extremely giving. And then I also thought that keeping my thoughts to myself and forgiving my partners every single flaw would make him understand me and love me better. Boy! That was very very stupid!!! And it wasn't because giving love is a bad thing, but mainly because there was no balance. And you know what? The devil went to work! I found myself in several toxic relationships, in an attempt to wean me of such wrong notions of life. I must have attempted emotional, physical, and psychological suicide several times because I thought that the pain was unbearable and there was no real reason to live. Very very VERY stupid too!!! And then one day I asked myself, "what are you doing?" And that was when I picked myself up and realise that I matter to life as well. And that was it. Since then I never looked back. I spoke when it hurt, said my mind at all times, I showed that my time and my life mattered a lot to me, and anyone who could not appreciate that had nothing to do with me. And guess what.... After this growth occurred was when I realised that, nobody (not men, not women) likes a docile person. Even life does not like a weakling. Toughening up was the best thing that I ever did for myself, and it made me realise who and what I really am. Not to say that I'm not loving, but I now give with discrimination. And, this is a better lesson to pass on to my children, to pass on to the next person.
These experiences also taught me that, there is no point in hating anybody from your past even if that person did u wrong, because the person acted as an agent to help you become what you are today. I'm not saying to go back and reattach yourself to such people, but I'm saying to be thankful for life and its ability to help you grow. Even the devil works for God.
In our quest for happiness (which is undoubtedly our quest for God), we cannot avoid difficulties. This is because, our very desire for achievement is a declaration for exchange; the universe takes it that you are willing to make a trade (you know... Since nothing is really free). The exchange is necessary to make the achievement worth it. The truth is that if things in life were to come so easy, we won't appreciate life. Imagine having a child and that child get anything he or she wants; would you agree that you would be breeding a nuisance? I say so because, anyone who gets used to getting just because he or she asked grows to understand life that way and gets to know nothing about giving, or just doesn't see the point in giving. God thus makes the rule of exchange, and the devil enforces it by making us have to do something or give up something for what we want, hence the point of hardships (or as I love to call them... Challenges). Challenges are seen by some as problems and hardships and pains, but in whole truth, your perception of them matter and don't matter. They matter because your attitude to them makes the transition to what you desire easier or more difficult; and they don't matter because, think what you may, they will always arise. A good attitude towards challenges means you always finding a way to learn from them and grow through them, but a negative attitude towards challenges means you viewing them as hardships and rocks crushing you, and as things that shouldn't even be there; and so you cannot grow or see beyond them.
So, do you see...? Need I say more?
How do you see problems, as challenges or hardships? Do you think the devil is useless and should be destroyed? Do you think the devil created itself to fight against God? Am I the devil? (Lol!)
Feel free to express your thoughts. I love you. Till next week.
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