On any trip we undertake, no matter how exciting or exotic, there comes a time when we begin to long for home. I faced this while in Switzerland, of all places!

However arriving back home can’t be simply done by thought, like in the old sit-com “Bewitched”, nor can we say: “Forget about paying for this hotel room! Forget about returning this rental car! I’m taking the first plane home!” It just doesn’t work that way! There is a process we need to go through.

Besides paying what is due (which will most certainly help to avoid unnecessary delays at the airport!), we need to return our rental car and we must register our luggage. Please note that if you skip this particular step, your luggage will not follow you home, and may even be blown up for security reasons. (They actually do this at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris!)

Next we need to verify that we are heading for the right gate, otherwise we will hear it from the security guards. Our carry-ons as well as our whole persona and our passports will be checked, rechecked and tripled checked, and if we are the lucky one, we will also be frisked. You never know that some of us may have changed personalities or that we may have somehow picked up the wrong carry-on!

Only when our tickets are stamped and our passports are rechecked for the umpteenth time can we finally board the plane. After take-off we are heading home. Unless, naturally, we have someone on board who has gotten up on the wrong side of bed and threatens us to kingdom come! But then, if it actually happen, we will be heading to our real home in heaven anyway!

Deliverance from a nasty addiction is a process as well. For some faster than others.

“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.” (1 Peter 4:12-13 The Message)

However the process is much more delightful than security measures at the airport! We have the presence of our Maker who makes sure we are not alone in this!

Interestingly enough, just like salvation, deliverance cannot be obtained through our own doing! It’s not a question of what we do or what we don’t do, but a decision to trust the One who makes sure we are not alone in this process!

“Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up! Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?” (Gal 3:4-6 The Message)

As long as we keep in mind that there is one out there who is out to destroy us through his lies (See John 8:44) and trust the One who promises victory, we will stay on trek to victory.

“Welcome aboard flight Victory. The pilot has invited you to fly with him in the cockpit. He wants to make sure you have the flight of your life!”

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “Fearless Victory!” devotional series, please click here.)