STOP Letting The “Vandal” Of Your Life WIN!
I heard a phrase recently that I genuinely cannot unhear.
"Satan is not a rival of God. He's a vandal."
Sometimes I think we dramatically overestimate our enemy.
I know I'm constantly warning and reminding you that we HAVE to be aware of the enemy’s schemes, (I have not backed down on that warning one BIT) but here me out…
We unknowingly treat him like a creator.
Think about vandals for a second:
They don't create. They destroy. They don't build. They deface.
The vandal's entire existence is reactive. He cannot do a single thing until God does something first.
Everything he has ever done in your life has been a response to what God placed in you.
Which means (and I need you to feel the weight of this) the more he has come for you, the more God has put in you worth coming for.
He doesn't waste his energy on empty canvases. He ONLY goes after masterpieces.
So let's talk about the specific lies he has tagged your walls with. Because I think we need to name them, because named things lose some of their power.
"You're too far gone." Vandalism. God specializes in far gone.
"You've wasted too many years." Vandalism. God is the God of Joel 2:25. He restores years that feel like they’ve been taken away.
"Your health has taken too much from you." Vandalism. God is the God who heals, restores, and repurposes every single thing the enemy meant for harm.
"Your calling passed you by." Vandalism. God's gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Irrevocable. Look it up.
"You're not the bold, fearless type." VANDALISM. God did not put a spirit of timidity in you. He put power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Timid is a tag. Bold is the original.
Every single voice that has ever told you that you are less than what God made you to be is the vandal's voice. And you have been listening to it for far too long.
The vandal has been patient and strategic.
He didn't walk into your life and destroy everything at once because you would have recognized that.
You would have fought back. Instead he did it slowly.
One whispered lie at a time. One small discouragement layered on top of another. One dream quietly shelved, one prayer slowly abandoned, one brave step consistently talked out of until you start thinking this is just how it is.
It is not how it is.
This is not your ceiling. This is vandalism. And there is a Restorer who specializes in making all things new!!!
BUT…You have to stop agreeing with the vandal.
Every time you say "I'm just an anxious person" you're agreeing with him.
Every time you say "I'm too old for this, that ship has sailed" you're agreeing with him.
Every time you look at someone else walking boldly in their calling and say "that's for them, not for me" you're agreeing with him.
Every time you make peace with something you need to confront and call it spiritual maturity you are handing the vandal a can of paint.
Stop. Agreeing. With. Him.
You are not required to call his messy work your story. You are not required to spend one more day living inside the damage when the Restorer is right there, ready, able, and eager to show you what has been underneath it all along.
The original is still there.
Everything He’s placed in you is still there.
The God who designed you has not looked at what the vandal did and decided to scrap the project. He doesn't scrap projects. He redeems them.
And He's asking you today, not next week, not when you feel ready, not when the evidence lines up… today:
Will you let ME show you what I actually made?
Take some time and ask God to reveal to you where you’ve agreed with the enemy. Ask Him to reveal the original.💙
You are a masterpiece. Never let the vandal make you think ANY different!!
In passionate purpose,
Dorothy
Here’s a prayer to help you get started:
Father,
I repent today for every time I agreed with the vandal. For every time I called his lies my identity. For every time I looked at the damage and decided the original must not be worth much.
In YOUR eyes I’m worth a lot because You sent your Son for me.
I need You to help me see the difference between what You designed and what has been defaced. I have lived with the vandalism so long I've started to confuse it for my actual self.
I am not the graffiti. I am what You made before a single lie was ever spoken over me.
I am done agreeing with the enemy.
I want to see what You actually made when You made me. I want to think how YOU want me to think and complete everything You prepared for me to do.
Come show me the original.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.