Tag Archive | 1 Peter 5:8

What’s being hidden?

Jan29

Oh my goodness, what a question! The paradox here is that so much is being hidden we can’t even recognize what it is that is being concealed!

But we have to start somewhere so let’s start with a clue from the world of literature. Every epic saga contains a protagonist and an antagonist. The antagonist, who is clever, deceitful, manipulative, and enticing is typically engaged in battle against the protagonist. After many failed attempts at directly assaulting the protagonist, the antagonist will modify his methods. If he can’t hurt the protagonist, then he will hurt those who the protagonist loves.

Well, my dear readers, this is the point at which we can begin our investigation in exposing what is being hidden. For the book that exposes this epic saga is the Bible. In the Bible the epic battle between good and evil or God, the protagonist, and Satan, the antagonist, is disclosed. Stands to reason then Satan’s first plan of attack would be to conceal the truths of Scripture. Why?

The further removed humanity is from God and His plans for them, the more room Satan has to work. By being unaware of the Truth revealed in the Bible, mankind will discard the existence of God. Therefore, when belief in God is discarded, who’s going to believe in the existence of Satan?

Deception and manipulation are his primary tools to destroy individuals and thus in turn hurt God. For mankind is not Satan’s main target. God is! He hurts God by hiding the Truth from individuals and making them unaware of what is Truth.

So what about those who have been somewhat exposed to the Truths in the Bible? What is Satan’s line of attack with them? Keep them confused about who God, Jesus, Jesus’s death on the cross to pay for our sins, and the Holy Spirit is. All is hidden, if Satan can distance us from God’s word.

So what does Satan want to hide from those of us who are believers?

Well, mainly the Truth contained in the Bible. For the more familiar we are with God’s Truth, the less likely Satan will be able to hide Truth. And as believers, who have had the Truth unveiled, we understand that the more time we spend in God’s word and in prayer, the stronger we will become. We will gain insight into what is a lie and what is Truth. We will know the Truth and Satan’s attempts to hide it from us will utterly fail.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Aug28

Because I believe we have become complacent about the answer to the above question, let’s start out with what a Christian is not:

We are not a Christian because we were born into a Christian family

We are not a Christian because we live in a Christian nation (you know, like America use to be called!)

We are not a Christian because our culture accepts Christian beliefs (up to a point).

We are not a Christian because we regularly or irregularly attend church.

We are not a Christian just because we call ourselves Christian.

We are not a Christian because we try to be a good person.

We are not a Christian just because we are religious.

And the clincher: We are not a Christian just because we believe in Jesus!

Therefore, if the above statements don’t describe who a Christian is, then what is a Christian?

A Christian believes Jesus is who He says He is.

First of all the Bible states it quite clearly several times throughout, Jesus is the Son of God (one such verse is Luke 22:70) (FYI Jesus is identified as God’s son, 23 times in the gospels and 18 times in the epistles)

Yes, a Christian believes in the existence of Jesus! AND also the existence of Satan 1 Peter 5:8

Here’s why:

God created man and planet Earth. (Check out Genesis 1)

Satan was a heavenly being initially. He was so taken with his own beauty and became obsessed with jealously toward God. The end result of this rebellion got him and his buddies cast out of heaven onto earth. (Eziekiel 28:15-17)

I insert references to Satan here BECAUSE he is the culprit that seeded our world with the concept of sin. And it is due to sin that God sent Jesus (God in bodily form) to provide a way for mankind to be rescued from suffering God’s wrath in payment of their sins. For you see, Jesus lived a perfect life. And since the debt of sin was death (remember God is love but He is also a God of wrath), God cannot leave sin unpunished).

And this is where Jesus enters the earthly narrative. Somebody had to pay the price for disobeying God! Because Jesus was innocent, and because He is God’s son, He could die in everyone’s place who confesses Him. Thus preventing us from paying for our own sin. (John 3:16)

Wrapping up, Jesus is God’s son, who came to earth as a human man, to pay the price for our sins, so we wouldn’t have to. Oh, and by the way, Jesus didn’t stay dead. Nope, He was resurrected (life was restored to Him). 1 Corinthians 15:17-21 He then went to heaven to get things ready for us to welcome those who accept His payment for their sins after their temporary life on earth comes to an end. For you see, eternal life or eternal death is permanent.

But heaven isn’t just for everybody. Please understand this. For those who reject Jesus, they are in effect saying, “I am paying for my own sins.” Meaning, they are heading to hell.

And this is where our lives depend upon being clear about fiery darts. Satan’s intent is to get us to not take seriously what the Bible says about Jesus. He will prevent us with distractions of all sorts. The main one being to keep us out of the Scriptures. He will tempt us to believe God isn’t who He says He is, nor is Jesus. As a matter of fact, he is most pleased when he can tempt us to deny God altogether. Or he will persuade us that the questions written at the beginning of my post define what it means to be a Christian. (Especially the clincher statement: (James 2:19’s purpose in highlighting the demons’ beliefs is to show that simple acknowledgement of God and His identity does not equal a saving faith.)

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BEWARE – The Lion is Ravenous

Aug22

Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1 Peter 5:8



Some things to note regarding the above verse. The Bible compares the devil to a roaring lion. A roaring lion is a hungry lion. A lion who is driven by hunger is on the watch, prowling around, searching for prey that can be easily devoured. You see, it is ravenous, so the quicker it can spot its prey the sooner its appetite will be satisfied.

This begs the question, “What type of prey is easily devoured?”

Obviously, weakened prey is the most likely. Those suffering from malnutrition have no strength to be alert to danger.

Perhaps those who have become distracted by and are driven by fear. This kind of prey runs blindly away from the roaring. They become isolated. They become easy pickings for the lion.

Of course, if the prey doesn’t take seriously the threats surrounding it, they can be picked off rather easily.

What’s the analogy here?

Christians are Satan’s prey. His plan of attack is to send us contradictory thoughts (fiery darts) about what our behavior should look like. His “go to” weapon is to draw us away from prayer and bible study. He knows we receive our nourishment from these two basic sources. Without this nourishment, we will be on a steady decline spiritually. Easily manipulated.

Satan knows that the less we delve into the Scriptures and the less time we spend in prayer, the less likely we will be to recognize his tactics. He will be flying under the radar, so to speak. We won’t have the information needed to expose our enemy. Because we are unaware of Satan’s schemes, fear and doubt will rule our thinking

Do we dare ask ourselves the following questions

Do we care about reading our bibles?

How’s our prayer life?

Do we find the only time we do some serious praying is in a crisis?

How’s our church attendance?

Do we desire to be in church?

Do we talk about our faith?

Are we uneasy when others do?

Would our behaviors/attitudes classify us as Christian?

What does your answers to the above questions reveal?

Teens and Fiery Darts

Jun18

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     Recently, I was invited to speak to a group of teenage girls on the subject of Fiery Darts. A subject we ALL are affected by, no matter our age. I was thrilled to be able to offer these precious young ladies advice that would prepare them to follow the path God has chosen for them. 

     They learned that every attitude or behavior (acceptable or unacceptable) begins with a thought. Unacceptable thoughts can originate from their own 1)sinful nature, 2)the World, and 3)Satan.  Satan uses all three to deceive and manipulate the formation of our thoughts to suit his purpose in ruining our witness.

     We compared God’s plan (Jeremiah 29:11), Satan’s plan to steal, kill, and destroy (fr John 10:10a) , and God’s plan to equip them to defeat the enemy (Ephesians 6:16) From 1 Peter 5:8 they were warned to take seriously the enemy’s attacks.

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     They were informed that without God’s filter of what is true;  lyrics, books, movies, websites, and even social media that is contrary to God’s truths, will begin to shape how they view sin. 

     It was impressed upon them that if they ignore God by spending little time with Him in prayer and His word, then the lies of fiery darts will infiltrate their minds and will begin to rule their thinking.  Eventually, they will see wrong as right and right as wrong.  

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…

 

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They were reminded that

God has plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.     

         Satan’s plans are to destroy you and your future. He will lead you to your destruction one fiery dart at a time

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         The following steps were given to counter Satan’s attacks

  1. Recognize the fiery darts of the enemy (absorb God’s word where you will become wise in recognizing the difference between thoughts that come from God and thoughts that do not) 

  2. Reject such thoughts immediately. (the longer you think about them the more their lies will take root)

  3. Replace fiery darts with God’s Truth Thoughts. (every time that thought enters your mind, quote a God Truth. 

By applying these lessons regarding fiery darts, the benefits of the following verse will be theirs to claim.

Do not be conformed to this world, but continuously be transformed by the renewing of your minds (as you spend time with God in prayer and His word) so that you may be able to determine what God’s will is—what is proper, pleasing, and perfect.  (and not be so easily manipulated and deceived by the enemy)  Romans 12:2 ISV

 

 

How to keep from being devoured! Or how to not give up when you have lost hope.

Feb22

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    There are seasons in our lives when in spite of what we read in the Bible, we feel abandoned by God. (and if we aren’t reading our Bible then we, for sure, feel abandoned and even hopeless) We walk around in a cloud where hope is vague and happiness is something we grow more unfamiliar with by the day.

So what should we do? How do we survive such desolate days?

Keep a proper perspective

     We all have a singular enemy! He is called Satan! He has plans to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10). He influences false assumptions, prideful thinking, and deceptive human reasoning. (2 Cor 10:3-5)

Then how is it that we are so easily devoured by Satan’s plans? 

     I’ve been told that the lion stalks those who are distracted and weak. Therefore, Satan is on a constant vigil to detect the weak among us. Those who rarely feed on God’s word, are most vulnerable to his manipulation and deception. Those who have become more familiar with the lies of the world than the principles declared in the Bible are easily led astray and distracted. 

     Without a healthy understanding of how much we are loved by God, of His good plans for us, of how His plan is for all things to work together for our good, we can easily be consumed by the burdens of life. Therefore, Satan’s foremost attack is to make us ignorant of such understanding. By doing so, he can easily convince us that God has forgotten and abandoned us. He feeds our thoughts with negativity and lies. Our hope soon gives way to hopelessness and despair. 

How do we counter Satan’s attack?

    Satan attacks us first in our thoughts. A weapon referred to as fiery darts. If we don’t know how to recognize those fiery darts, then we are doomed to falling prey to their poison. How we feel will be filtered by the fiery darts we have allowed to take root in our thinking. Consider the following excerpt from my book, Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice:

First we entertain a thought. That thought will cause certain related feelings. Thus, our behavior is influenced by our thoughts and feelings. Psychologists say that if behavior is to be changed, then the flow must be interrupted, either at the initial thought or at the feeling point. p. 28 3rd ed FD’s

     Satan must be defeated at the first thought level. When we accomplish this, then the darkness will diminish. We won’t succumb to the deception of the enemy. We may have to deal with unhappiness but our joy remains. And instead of becoming overwhelmed we will discover that

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-16 NLT