I have experienced both walking in the shadow of God and sliding off the path, and I can confidently say you never want to fall out of your relationship with Him. Throughout my encounters with many brethren in Christ, one common topic I’ve noted is the issue of slipping off track in one’s relationship with God.
Often, we tend to take God’s goodness and blessings for granted when we’re in a right relationship with our Father, because He makes everything seem easy and structured in our lives. It’s similar to how we feel when we live under the provisions of our parents and start to think that such conditions are standard for everyone. It is only when we find ourselves outside the guardianship of our parents that we realize we have been mistaking privileges for rights. In my experience, finding your way back to God after slipping off the path is challenging, but His grace makes it possible.
Before I drifted, I had a smooth prayer life and a good relationship with the Holy Spirit. I developed a strong and practical relationship with the Holy Spirit when I began reading Benny Hinn’s Good Morning, Holy Spirit. This book gave me a practical understanding of the Holy Spirit as a person and helped me build a relationship with Him. I started having real-time experiences and encounters with Him. He became my reminder in prayer
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you – John 14:26
I remember how praying at midnight became a habit, and how the Holy Spirit would gently tap my shoulder to wake me if I had fallen asleep before prayer time. I was in good standing, though only by grace, leading prayer sessions regularly, receiving visions through dreams, and constantly yearning for more, always feeling I wasn’t experiencing His presence enough—until I started drifting.
My taste of life outside God’s shadow is something I never want to experience again. At first, everything felt normal, as it had before. One reason many people lose their way in their walk of grace without realizing it is that the devil cunningly makes everything seem as it was. It becomes difficult to distinguish a drifted life from one in good standing. Unless graced with a discerning spirit, it is hard to admit how serious the situation is. I started falling slowly out of my consistent prayer life without realizing it. I would silently whisper my bedtime prayers while lying in bed, which eventually became saying my bedtime prayers in my head, and then I started sleeping without praying at all, with the deceptive thought that as a special child of God, I was automatically covered. My Bible study life began to leak too because I gradually lost interest in reading. Once again, through his cunning ways, the devil fed me the idea that the best of God’s word was still to come, not in what had already been written. Trust me, at this stage, it’s very difficult to realize the destruction you’re headed for.
I often meet people who say the devil makes you lose interest in God as a Christian. However, I hold a different opinion. In reality, the deadliest weapon the devil uses against a Christian is to make them overconfident in their anointing. I know this may sound confusing, but hear me out. The most anointed Christian is the one who acknowledges that they are nothing without their relationship with Christ and relies solely on the grace of Christ Jesus
The greatest among you will be your servant – Matthew 23:11
When you begin to feel too anointed, you’re gradually falling into the devil’s trap because that’s the most slippery path he can put you on to easily lead you away from God’s shadow. The devil keeps you in this honey-filled, self-reliant realm until you are totally blindfolded, and then the troubles begin. Yes, you become blindfolded because his goal is to make it difficult for you to recognize your condition, thus decreasing your chances of returning to the core minimum. Often, the way back to God is much closer than we think, because as long as we live, we remain connected to God’s grace through the death of Christ Jesus
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, nor our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord – Romans 8:38-39
So, like a static rope tied to a cave explorer, the grace of God is tied to us, helping us find our way back, even when we have gone deep into the world. With this knowledge, as confirmed in Romans 8:38, the devil has no power to separate us from this static rope called grace. Instead, his goal is to make us unaware of this guide that can lead us back to the shadow of God Almighty by putting you into a state of incognizance, making it difficult for you to realize that the solution is already tied to you.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty – Psalm 91:1
I went so deep into incognizance that I would say to myself, “This world is bitter; I wish to go home.” In that state, I felt completely far from God. I thought God was nowhere to be found, but little did I know that I was only blindfolded and that the solution I sought was tied right to my waist—the rope of grace! All I needed was prayer. Yes, all we need in such a situation is heartfelt prayer, a cry for salvation, and that sets us free indeed! A single heartfelt prayer brought me out of that bondage, and the devil lost once again.
You may be in a similar situation where you feel you’ve wandered so far that you need years or months of rituals to get back on track. In some cases, you might even feel you’ll never get back to the right side of God because it’s impossible. But my goal in writing this is to tell you that it is possible! God is ever ready to continue that sweet-scented relationship with you again and again, as long as you realize that you need His grace to survive. If you’re ready to open your heart in prayer and cry out to the Father, He is ever ready to receive you with open arms. Let this be your message: nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. The key to remaining in good standing with God is to adopt humility in this walk of grace and always rely on Him and Him alone. If you’re struggling with finding your way back to God, remember that prayer and humility can guide you. No matter how far you’ve wandered, it’s never too late for finding your way back to God through His grace.
Let’s say a prayer together:
Father, thank You for loving me. Thank You for sending Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to create this wonderful gate of grace that is always open to me. Please hold me close to You and feed me with the bread of humility and the wine of Your anointing until I can take no more. Use me to accomplish Your promises in my generation, and glorify Yourself through me. Amen!
Whenever you pray, say one for others who are in a state of incognizance, so they may find their way back to God. Also, pray for every believer to remain steadfast in God’s grace. God bless you.
