2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
You will remember that in my last message, I was directed to write about Satan’s objectives in doing his dirty work. The first one was to destroy church and family unity. Today, I’m led to write about his second objective: to entice us to sin and gain a stronghold in our lives. As I have often said before, Satan’s first point of attack is often the mind. He does this by telling lies and by destroying hope that we have. As I have so often said, by citing EPH 1: 18-20, we have the same power to fight off Satan’s attacks as God used to raise Christ from death to life. Let’s take a closer look at what Satan does here.
One way that Satan uses lying in his attacks is to encourage people to remember negative things said to them by incompetent critics and replay these messages over and over again in their minds. For example, suppose someone attached a derogatory label to you when you were a child like “mental midget.” You grew up believing that, so you felt it was a waste of time to try to be a good student. Imagine how worthless you would have felt and how your self-confidence is destroyed. If siblings, close friends, and even your parents supported this view of you, matters are even worse. Dr. William Backus in his excellent book, “Learning To Tell Yourself The Truth,” explains that this vicious cycle of mistruths in a person’s life can be interrupted and broken. Adults have the ability to reprocess old messages, updating them with reality and placing an adult perspective on them. Moreover, because we have faith, we can align our views of ourselves with God’s perspective by seeing how such a message compares to what we learn in the Scriptures. GA 5: 1 was a message Paul wrote to the Christian church in Galatia. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.” Just think about it. When we wallow in the misery of believing Satan’s lies, we are burdened by the yoke of slavery. We have the power to break that yoke and be free in Christ! That’s really comforting.
Once we have committed our lives to Christ, we can realize that we are not in this alone. We have enormous supernatural power imparted to us by our Abba Who loves us, and we have Christ as our Advocate and Intercessor in heaven [HE 8 1-2]. But, that’s not all. We also have the Holy Spirit indwelt within us to show us what God’s word means, to deliver God’s messages to us, and to encourage us when we are depressed. I love the way that Dr. Backus lists what we can do when Satan tries to rob us of our hope with his lies. 1) Dismantle your erroneous assumptions; 2) dig out of the basement of blame; 3) reframe your self-talk; 4) leave the shadows of your “shoulds;” 5) and spot the misbelief makers in your own life. I would add one more to that list: 6) Pray and pray often, giving God the time to speak first. How connected we remain to the Lord makes a huge difference. Christ speaks to us on this in JN 15: 5, “ I am the Vine, and you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without Me.”
What the enemy tries to do is to make us forget God’s promises given in JN 6: 37, 39, & 44. “Everyone whom my Father gives Me will come to Me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to Me…And it is the will of Him Who sent Me that I should not lose any of all those He has given Me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day…No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him to Me; and I will raise him to life on the last day.” This is no new teaching. Read what Isaiah said in IS 54: 13, [God speaking] “I Myself will teach your people and give them prosperity and peace.” God is consistently willing to bring us through our troubles with Satan and to teach us His ways, so we can enjoy eternal life surrounded by His love. Now, that, Dear Ones, is great comfort! We can’t allow ourselves to believe that God ever abandons us. That is the lie that Satan would like us to believe when we feel hopeless. Don’t be fooled by this “father of lies and murderer” [JN 8: 44]. He’s not worth believing. We must remember the lesson of 1 JN 3: 8, “Whoever continues to sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason to destroy what the devil has done.”
Where does this leave us? If we are faithful, it leaves God in the driver’s seat, loving and caring for us daily. It leaves Christ praying for us and rooting us on to victory over Satan in His name. He is in leadership in our lives. It leaves us in constant contact with the Holy Spirit Who encourages us. And lastly, it keeps the big picture in our minds that we really do have the power to win this battle and can always hope in the Lord. He keeps His promises. Believe it!
PRAYER: O Lord, You send us each day, with a hunger that is eternal, to Your word, so that we can gain the lessons and encouragement You have for us in it. An example is found in IS 50: 4-9 when You inspired Isaiah to write about the obedience of the Lord’s Servant. “The Sovereign Lord has taught Me what to say, so that I can strengthen the weary. Every morning He makes Me eager to hear what He is going to teach Me. The Lord has given Me understanding, and I have not rebelled or turned away from Him. I bared My back to those who beat Me, when they pulled out the hairs of My beard and spit on My face. But their insults cannot hurt Me because the Sovereign Lord gives Me help. I brace Myself to endure them. I know that I will not be disgraced, for God is near, and He will prove Me innocent. Does anyone dare bring charges against Me? Let us go to court together! Let him bring his accusation! The Sovereign Lord Himself defends Me-who, then, can prove Me guilty?” Dearest Abba, You have brought us to these words to remind us that You protected Christ and honored Him for His obedience. The clearly implied lesson for all of us is that You do the same for anyone who endures in faith and remains obedient to You. We come to Your holy altar today in utter humility, recognizing that You sometimes bring us to brokenness first, to cause us to hear and obey Your commands. We confess our sins and beseech You to know our love for You and our appreciation for Your protection. Satan is mean and does evil, but we can rely on You. Hallejulah! You are to be praised! We offer You our pledge of obedience, our willingness to trust You, our loyalty and diligence, our profound adoration and worship, and our praise again and thanksgiving. We especially thank You for sacrificing Your Son for our salvation. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the enemy’s third objective. The Lord’s love for us is all over our lives. We need to have the courage of faith to keep looking for it, even when times are tough and we are feeling down. I know this, because it is what I’m doing now. He never abandons any of His children, especially when they are facing trouble in their lives. We are truly blessed by that. I can’t imagine going through life without the blessings that enduring in our faith brings. The greatest blessing of all is be aware of God’s constant presence in one’s life and the gentle encouragement He so often offers us. God loves each of you, and so do Peter and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn