11-12-2014

         Good Morning All,

     Hebrews 13:6; “So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

       The part of paradise where I live, South Dakota, was homesteaded and settled after the Civil War, primarily in the 1870’s and into the 1880’s.  The land was given to the person who settled on the land provided that he lived on the land.  Since some of the earliest settlers were miles and miles from any city, it was common for them to live on the farm in the summer time.  Then as winter came, they would load up the grain that they produced and go back to the nearest city, sell the grain, live and work in the city until spring when they would head back to their farm.  They would do this until the railroad was close enough that they would have a place to market their grain and cattle with greater ease.

    One of the problems with this practice was that sometimes squatters would move in.  A squatter is someone who moves in or lives in a property that they do not legally own or rent.  Many times, the squatters would move as soon as the original owner arrived having thought the homestead was abandoned.  Sometimes it took a little “forceful persuasion” to get the squatters to leave.  Yet the lawful owner was always in his rights to take full possession of his property and to have the squatters evicted.

    Sometimes you and I have “squatters” in our lives as well.  As God’s redeemed children, God has given us peace, comfort and hope.  Yet sometimes the “squatters” move in; fear, despair and the unquietness or restlessness of Spirit.  These squatters are never invited and are always unwelcomed.  They usually arrive when some other pain or sadness occurs.  Sometimes this pain or sadness causes us to stumble a little, our faith may be shaken and the “squatters” see this as an opportunity to move in. 

    The thing to know about these “squatters” is that they have no right to invade your space.  We do not have to let them stay.  They are not supposed to live in our life.  Jesus has dismissed them from our life and replaced them with his love, his hope, his peace.  Those painful squatters claim the right to our life but those claims are false.  God gives us the power to evict them; we do not have to let them stay.

   They may show up but they don’t have to stay.  We need to see them for what they are; they are the devil’s attempt to drive us from God’s love and mercy.  They are an attempt by the devil to separate you from God.  The devil can’t pull you away but he can entice you away and that enticement can be either by making you think you are too big for God or by making you think you are too little for God.  Yet we know that both these ideas are false and God’s love for us is the true owner of our life.  Trust in his faithfulness.

Gracious God, you are our true owner.  Keep us safe from the squatters that the devil sends to disrupt and to destroy our lives.  Keep us in the certainty of the hope that you pour out upon us.  Guide us by your Spirit.  Be with those who are battling with the devil’s squatters.  Evict them from their life that they may know your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret