Parasite

I think I’ve been infected.

No, not with COVID or the flu or any of those “please-don’t-cough-on-me” type germs.

I’m talking about something sneakier.

Something that slithered into my soul without ringing the doorbell.

Something… parasitic.

Did you know there are real-life parasites that once they get into your bloodstream, they slowly take over your body? I recently read about Trypanosoma brucei, the lovely little invader that causes African Sleeping Sickness.

It enters quietly through a fly bite, creeps through your bloodstream, and eventually makes its way to your brain. You start getting confused, sluggish, disoriented—until, without treatment, it shuts you down completely.

Scary, right?

But also… familiar?

Because spiritually, I’ve been there. Maybe you have too.

It starts with a little compromise here, a little “this isn’t so bad” there. A foreign object from the world slips in—something you watched, entertained, believed, or tolerated—and it stays. At first, you hardly notice. You’re still singing, still showing up to church, still quoting Scripture like a champ.

But then you start feeling… off.

Your prayer life weakens.

Your joy shrinks.

You’re spiritually tired but can’t fall asleep in peace.

And you wonder, What’s happening to me?

Friend, you’ve got a parasite.

Not the wormy, slimy kind—but the spiritual kind.

A slow, sneaky infection of sin or worldliness that drains your power, clouds your mind, and hijacks your heart.

But here’s the good news: Jesus is the cure.

But let’s be real—“Jesus is the cure” can sound a little too neat.

A little too… cliche.

We’ve heard it. We’ve sung it. We’ve posted it.

But what if the problem isn’t that Jesus doesn’t work—

but that we’ve never really taken the full prescription?

Because Jesus doesn’t come in bite-sized, Sunday or Sabbath only dosages.

He’s not a sprinkle-on-top Savior. He’s a whole-body transplant.

He’s not just the cure, He is the treatment plan.

So what does that treatment look like?

It looks like daily exposure to His presence, not just drive-by devotionals.

It looks like deep repentance, not just feeling sorry.

It looks like fasting from what feeds the parasite—the shows, the conversations, the patterns we pretend don’t matter.

It looks like inviting Him to search your soul like a surgeon with a scalpel—not a band-aid.

Sometimes the cure is uncomfortable. It detoxes things we thought we couldn’t live without.

But that’s the difference between surviving and being healed.

And many of us—let’s be honest—are surviving with Jesus, not living whole with Him.

“I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak…” – Ezekiel 34:16

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” – Psalm 51:10

• What if the version of Jesus I’ve been clinging to is the one I domesticated—not the one who heals with fire and truth?
• What if my spiritual life has flatlined because I’ve been treating symptoms, not surrendering to the Surgeon?
• What if the next level of healing requires me to sit longer with Him, let go deeper, and be more honest than I’ve ever dared?

Prayer with me…

Jesus, I don’t want the casual cure. I want the radical one.

I don’t want the convenience-store version of You. I want the real You.

Search me. Detox me. Break every agreement I’ve made with the things that infected me.

Let Your truth cut what needs to be cut. And let Your grace flow like medicine.

I’m not just saying I want healing—I’m surrendering to the process.

Do what only You can do.

In Jesus’ mighty name,

Amen.