Salvation Sabotaged by Fear

So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will turn and run away from you. 

James 4:7 (TPT)

   When I was growing up I thought people got saved in order to stay out of hell. The rapture was possibly happening any day and I had to make sure I could recite every sin before I could receive salvation. It was nerve-wracking! I would spend a good portion of my night before I could sleep trying to remember every single sin, even the ones I had already prayed about earlier. What if the rapture happened while I was asleep and I had forgotten a single sin?! After a while it just became to overwhelming plus it seemed to really negate the idea that God was loving; it became a point of hypocrisy in my eyes. But I wrongly laid that hypocrisy on God and not on the people pushing these theories.
   Anyone remember the Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames plays or the halloween Hell Houses? Not that the plays themselves were  bad (well, the Hell Houses were pretty terrible), but they unwittingly had this effect of pushing the idea that salvation was only around to let us get into Heaven. Plus, it was a huge scare tactic meant to terrify salvation into a person; really, how effective is that? The idea of fear-driven salvation isn’t new; look at the Crusades or the Salem witch trials. But it also doesn’t blend with the nature of who God is. God is love, compassion, and mercy. The sheer amount of Scriptures stating this is mind-boggling; here are just a few: 1 John 4:10 (TPT) This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins. Psalm 116:5 (NIV) The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. Daniel 9:9 (NIV) The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.
   So, what then is salvation? Ephesians 6:17 (TPT) tells us to “Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies…” This verse alone sounds like it must be more than a Heaven ticket. The root word for salvation is Greek, sozo (look at me doing research!) and it means, to save (duh), deliver, protect, heal, be made whole, preserve, recover, restore, etc. That’s a whole lot more than just not going to hell! It makes perfect sense for satan to try and cheapen it; not only is it what Christ died for, but salvation isn’t for when we die, it’s for here and now, for our lives! The thought of us grasping that and walking in it must be earth-rattling for him! If we look at Ephesians 6:17 again, we see that salvation is our helmet made to protect our minds; naturally it’s where satan would attack. If we only know of one small portion of salvation’s power, we’re only a little protected! Our minds are crucial; what we think we usually believe. Satan isn’t stupid; he knows controlling your mind gains him control of your body and ultimately your heart. Now I don’t mean demons possess every person that doesn’t understand this; they don’t need to, they just plant the thoughts and many times we do the rest for them.
   Jesus’s death came at the highest cost and as a result we now have salvation, the right of protection, healing, restoration, wholeness. We have full privileges as sons and daughters of the Most High King to live salvation and all the power and authority that comes with it every day. We don’t have to wait for the sweet by and by. So let’s embrace the full authority of salvation and absolute never-ending love of our Father; let’s make satan flee in terror!