Hitchhiker

I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.  2 Peter 3:17

A few years ago on my way to work I saw 2 women hitchhiking on the freeway.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  They were actually sitting on a concrete divider in a construction zone near one of the on ramps.  People are already driving 35 to 40 mph at that point and increasing speed in preparation to enter traffic between 55 and 65 mph.  There is no where for a person to pick them up even if they wanted to.  My first thought was the potential danger they were in.  I immediately started praying for them that God would guide them and protect them.  They appeared to be in their mid to late 20's. 

I'm assuming that they were desperate to get where they wanted to be.  It takes desperation to even hitchhike and I would say extreme desperation to be a "freeway hitchhiker".  Either way, you are purposefully putting your life at risk in more ways than one. 

As I talked to the Lord about these girls I began to think about how many times I have done something risky, or shall I say risque (risk-ay) to get somewhere or something?  Hitchhiking requires you to trust a stranger.  When I think of it this way, the same concept applies when you hire someone like a plumber or contractor to come and work on something in your home?  How about babysitters and child care either in your home or another location? 

There are many reasons that we have exercise trust in another human being but we don't have to freeway hitchhike.  You know, stick our thumb out and risk our own safety or the safety of our loved ones.  Choosing child care for my girls was one of the most difficult times of my life.  I'm so glad they are older now and no longer require constant adult supervision and I thank God for watching over them then and even now.  God will give you discernment in situations like this if you go to Him and ask for His direction and guidance.

Do you think those women asked God for discernment?  I'm thinking they chose their own route and I honestly can't stop thinking about them.  I hope they made it to their destination safely and I prayed that God would place someone on their path to lead them to Him.  And if they already know Him, I pray that He would speak to their hearts and they would listen to Him and know that with God, they never ever have to hitchhike on the freeway again.

As I write this, another thing that comes to mind is the hitchhiker of our soul.  The devil has many ways of doing this, no thumb necessary.  His minions have easy access by way of certain shows on TV, certain places, certain kinds of music, certain websites, etc........  You know what I'm talking about.  Most of it isn't even obvious and sometimes we don't even know they have hitched a ride until it's too late.

How can you be safe from the soul hitchhikers?  There is only one way that I know of and that is God through the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit of my soul gives me discernment about certain situations and warns me when danger is near.  The Holy Spirit guards your soul with the "shield of faith" like the best anti-virus program available on a computer.  When something does try to sneak in, your anti-virus program aka shield of faith will automatically block entrance and warn you not to go there, an intruder is there attempting to hitchhike and destroy the network of safety that surrounds your soul.  Now, you know you can override the Holy Spirit just like you can override the anti-virus program on your computer and choose to go there anyway.  If you do, it can wreak havoc on your hard drive aka your soul.

The best way to avoid and defeat the tactics of the devil is to be on guard and ready for anything.  God's word is your weapon that provides you with many ways to fight off the "soul hitchhiker".  That's why it's so important to study His word and obey the boundaries that He has placed in our lives.  We need to avoid being "freeway hitchhikers" and protect ourselves from the "soul hitchhiker".  There is a free ride through Jesus Christ.

Lost and Found

My daughter lost her brand new jacket on the second day of the school year.  She went to the lost and found to see if it was there but it wasn't.  A few days later she saw a girl with the exact same jacket but since there was no way to be sure that it belonged to her, we counted it as a loss.  You see, clothing and material possession's can be replaced.  We all know that right?  But one thing that you don't ever want to lose is your soul.  Yes, you read this right. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul.  For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  Mark 8:36,37 NAS

Some of you may wonder how can a man lose his soul?  First, we need to understand exactly what your soul is.  In the bible, when used as an action word (verb), your soul is often mentioned with and after your heart.  Your soul is that between your body and spirit.  It is controlled by your spirit and it uses the body to carry out the thoughts of the Spirit.  Maybe that's why God instructs us to hold our bad thoughts captive.  Just thinking the wrong thing is a sin because it can cause you to eventually act on your thoughts.  He who guards his mouth & his tongue guards his soul from troubles. Proverbs 21:23 NAS  You know what they say?  If you speak it, so it shall be.  Well at least that's what I tell my girls.

To me it sounds like our soul and our feelings are one in the same.  What the eye sees is better than what the soul desires.  Ecclesiastes 6:30.  Your soul sobs and weeps, troubles and grieves, longs and loves, delights and angers.  I think in order to truly grasp what the soul is, you must understand your spirit (heart).  It seems that they are both intertwined and both can be involved in what pleases and displeases God.  Your Spirit must speak to your Soul which uses your body to carry out your thoughts or put your thoughts into action.  Your Spirit mediates between your body and Soul.  I think of our soul as our feelings and our spirit as our thoughts.

Now that we hopefully have a better understanding of the soul, we can find out how it can become lost.  If a person has never accepted Jesus as their savior, they can be considered lost spiritually.  Some examples of lost are having gone astray or ending in defeat.  If you do not have a real relationship with God, consider yourself to be forfeited, gone, ruined, distracted, distraught, desperate, hopeless, missing, confused, perplexed, squandered, doomed and condemned to hell.  If your soul is lost and you want to find it say this simple prayer:
Dear God, I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ shed His precious blood and died for my sin. I am willing to turn from sin. I now invite Christ to come into my heart and life as my personal Saviour

Just like the song Amazing Grace, you once were lost but now you are found, was blind but now you see.