How many of you had a yo-yo when you were younger? I remember I did. They were a bit of a fad for awhile.  It seemed as though everybody had a yo-yo. Yo-yos came in different shapes and sizes and some even glowed in the dark.  But, the best part of the yo-yo was learning new tricks.  I remember my friends and I would try to learn new tricks to impress each other. A few of the yo-yo tricks I remember were rock the cradle, around the world, and the all too famous “walk the dog”.

Recently, there’s been a new invention. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it, but it’s called the Christian yo-yo. Yep, it’s true. I thought it was a new invention, but it seems it’s been around for quite some time. You may have even heard who invented it, his name is the devil.

 “Walk the dog” seems to be the devil’s favorite trick to play with the Christian yo-yo. Many Christians (including myself) frequently find themselves “on the end of the devil’s leash”. They’re up one day, and down the next. Each time you speak to them, you never know what you’re going to get.

In my last article “Leave it on the Field”, I talked about how the little “foxes” can really spoil our day. All it takes is for the right button to be pushed and it can set our whole day off kilter. That’s simply because we choose to NOT LET GO OF IT. We allow the event to play in our thinking over and over again. It’s just like someone walking a dog. If there’s someplace we don’t want them to go, we yank the leash and direct them where we want them to go. There’s even a “choker chain” leash used to “encourage” strong willed dogs to yield and obey.

When thoughts continue to relentlessly bombard us, whether it’s an offense, care, worry, whatever – that’s the devil putting us on his leash and leading us right back to that same spot again. It’s not a fun place to be, but we’re really the ones that choose to be there. This is simply an example of meditation in reverse, only we’re submitting to the wrong “master”.

In order for us to “remove the leash” or cut the strings to that yo-yo we need to replace our thoughts with something else. We need to find a promise in God’s Word that opposes the very problem we’re having and allow ourselves to go there. Speak it out. Visualize it. Erase the negative image that’s been created inside. The mistake we make is to wait too long to change course. It’s really not hard to recognize and realize we’re being led off course. But, we need to do something about it IMMEDIATELY. Proverbs 23:7 tells us “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

As I shared in my last article, if we don’t take control of our thoughts right away, we allow them to increase in power. Then, our very own thoughts become demanding and control us. They change our attitudes and can turn the whole direction of our day if we allow them to. We must remember the devil’s M.O. (method of operation) – it’s in John 10:10 – simply to STEAL, KILL, and DESTROY. Do we need any help or clarity understanding that? It’s not just to cause us to “take a detour” but he wants to render us completely inoperable. And, he does it in such a subtle manner.

Let’s wake up to what’s going on right under our nose. Break the chain, cut the rope, do what you need to do- bite the devil in the leg if you have to, but GET OFF HIS LEASH!