Rediscover & Reclaim Yourself Back

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves ~ Ecclesiastes 10:5-7 ESV

But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, “Restore!”~ Isaiah 42:22 ESV

One of the most remarkable stories I have come across in the Bible revolve around king Hezekiah and Sennacherib. In the fourteenth year that Hezekiah was the king of Judah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria attacked the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. He then ordered his chief official to go from Lachish to Jerusalem with a large military force to demand that king Hezekiah surrender. He went and bragged that it was God who had commanded him to attack Judah and that Hezekiah was helpless and wouldn’t win against the Assyrians. Then the officials of Hezekiah pleaded with the Assyrian official saying;

“Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ~ Isaiah 36:11 ESV

It’s obvious the Assyrian official was using these words to discourage and kill people’s morale and to take away their courage, especially from their reliance on God, and the officials of Hezekiah didn’t want it to happen. But he refused to listen;

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards ~ Isaiah 36:13-17 ESV

The Assyrian emperor was on a mission to attack Judah, but before that, he wanted the people and their king to surrender to him; he wanted them under his control and power. He made them believe that they were a helpless lot even with their king and their God and that only he could help them. He, therefore, wanted them to come out of their city and bow to him or in other words, become his subjects. After doing this, he promised, they would be allowed to eat grapes from their own vines and figs from their own trees, and to drink water from their own wells until the emperor resettled them in a country much like their own, where there were vineyards to give wine and there was grain for making bread. 

I find it mind-boggling how the enemy plays around with our minds to make us believe that he has the best to offer us than what God has already given or promised us. It is also sad because many of us have fallen into his deception and unfortunately, have been conquered by the enemy and have also bowed down to him. The same thing that he did in the Garden of Eden was repeating itself in the days of Hezekiah. All he wanted was to have these people under his control, govern them, and everything else that concerned them. But Hezekiah was wise enough not to allow it.

We need to understand that we have an enemy, and according to the Bible, he disguises himself as the angel of light. Just like in the above text, he comes offering us less than what God has given us and in most cases, he makes us think that it is God who is behind it or that what he has is better than what God has offered, given, or promised to us.

By using this strategy alone, the devil has lured many into his prisons and cages and has looted them of their God-given inheritance. The portions of the scripture I have quoted at the beginning of this article indicate the real situation in the lives of God’s people. Many live, walk and exit the face of the earth without ever discovering who they really are. They have been robbed, destinies have been exchanged, voices have been silenced and identities have been stolen and as a result, many have been left walking and living poor, helpless, blind, dumb, visionless, and without a clear sense of direction. Most of them live life as it comes; moving and walking with the masses, making their decisions based on human knowledge, understanding, worldly and societal programs and standards.

Some had wonderful visions for their lives and future, but those visions cannot be tracked. Why? Because somewhere along the road, they were robbed and given something else of a lesser value that took away their zeal and passion to pursue their dreams. Others got discouraged along the way and couldn’t fight for what they believed in, so they gave up. And for others, their minds were shifted to something else and they lost the power to fight for their visions and to live as God intended them to. And it makes me wonder; why does the enemy seem to have the upper hand in our lives? Why does he seem to be winning?

Looking at the real reason why God created man in the beginning, we realize that he was created to rule, dominate and subdue the earth. In the real sense, man was never supposed to be ruled, dominated, or subdued. But according to the scriptures at the beginning of this chapter, it’s exactly what’s happening to many of us. So what’s going on? If you ask me, I would tell you that one of the greatest disasters we are facing today is that of an identity crisis. Billions of people around the world are busy searching for themselves; who they are, why they exist, and where they came from. While some successfully do find solutions, there are many, unfortunately, who never do. One of the greatest reasons, I believe, is because we live in a corrupted world. Most of what we feed on and have been exposed to is corrupted and it has given us the wrong information about who we are and our outlook toward God, us, life, and the world.

For many of us, our eyes are set on the wrong things, our minds are focused on the wrong things, not to speak of where our hearts are. It may have begun by the way we were brought up; the environments we grew up in or the kind of exposure we have had as we continue with our lives. Social media has its own share as well in contributing to how we view and look at ourselves. Many are living a lie and wasting their time and energy on things that don’t matter. Some base their worth on the things they own, their accomplishments, race, nationality, color, and, so forth, but deep within them, they are empty and disillusioned.

Many people walking up and down this planet have been robbed and what is worse is that they don’t even know. Some are full and when we look at them we admire them, but deep within them, they are empty. They keep scratching their heads and wondering what life is all about. In worst cases, some have committed suicide while others are living on drugs and sinking into depression simply because there is a void within them only God can fill. It cannot be satisfied by anything in the world even if one owns the whole world.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food…” ~ Isaiah 55:1-2 ESV

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? ~ Matthew 16:26 ESV

For us to understand ourselves better, we must retrace our steps and go back to our source. Our creator knows us better than anyone else. He created us; He made and equipped us for our specific divine assignments and until we make a deliberate choice to turn back to Him and let Him be our guide in this life, nothing will ever make sense. Since what most of us have relied on are nothing but the lies and deceptions of the enemy, we must put on our guard and seek to know the truth, for truth will make us free.

“You shall say to them, thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return ~ Jeremiah 8:4-5 ESV

If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free ~ John 8:31-32 ESV

The key to rediscover and reclaim yourself back is to know the truth – God’s truth about you. In the beginning, the enemy succeeded in corrupting the word of God for his own benefit and by doing this, he was able to deceive man and successfully alienated him from his maker and God’s original plan for him. I believe that one of the reasons why he became the target for the enemy, and why he is until today, was and is because he is God’s most treasured possession. Look at what the Psalmist says;

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas ~ Psalms 8:3-8 ESV

You are created to take charge, rule and subdue the earth. You are blessed and God wants you to be fruitful, to multiply and to fill the earth. Any other thing short of this is out of God’s order and His perfect will for you. God send His only son on earth to come and restore back what the enemy had taken away from us. This means that as long you are in Christ Jesus, you have victory over the enemy. The only assignment you have is to enforce that victory.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him ~ Colossians 2:13-15 ESV