"God's Mighty Deliverance"

"He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me." (Psalms 18:17) I don't know about you, but I was no match for the devil and his power over my wrong choices I kept making. If God had not been pulling me back when He did, I surely would have been lost forever, and been in hell right now where I belong. Let me tell you something about God's mighty deliverance, and why I am sure that it is He who has made my way sure. We are no match against the devil, and if not for the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we would still be no match for his power to persuade us and to control the desires of our hearts. Why does he have such power over us? Primarily because he has been given dominion over this fallen world, and we are born into a fallen state; which makes us part of this fallen world; which makes us born as property of the devil. I know that might sound a little hard to believe, that somehow the devil gets to claim us as his property once we are born into this world; but as far as he is concerned, as long as you are living in his dominion, you are his to toy with, and to make you a piece of his game board. Looking back upon my life, I can see God's hand of protection was on me even though I was not yet His child; but as far as my Father in heaven was concerned, I was His, for He knew me even before I was formed in my mother's womb. It was not until September of 1981 that I knew He was my Father, but prior to that, He was protecting me, and He was guiding me in certain areas of my life. All the while, up until that day when I accepted Jesus into my heart, the devil was who controlled my life, and it was him who I was following; but God's hand of protection was still over me, and the devil was only allowed to do so much. I have heard testimony from people who have died and seen the darkness that awaits those who are going to hell, and what they have shared is not pretty. There is nothing that you can do to stop the pulling into that pit, and the fear of being pulled into it is greater than anything else you can imagine. Everyone that I have heard speak about that experience, or try to explain what it was like, they all had the same reaction to being headed into that hole: Why am I going this way? I go to church, and I believe in Jesus; so why is this happening to me? And after they try with all of their might to resist that pit, they discover that there is absolutely nothing they can do; they are helpless to the suction and the force that is pulling them into the darkness; it is as if they have no strength at all in any way to do anything. And all of a sudden, there is a hand that grabs them from behind, and pulls them back from that pit; the next thing that they remember, they are walking up from the dead. Now that my friend is what it feels like to have an enemy that is too strong for you! And that is the power of God's mighty deliverance!!! As He grabs hold of you, pulling you out of the suction into the darkness, and says, Not this one; this one is Mine...