The cross is bare, the tomb is empty!
Satan has been defeated!
Now, it is up to us to take that personally!
Tag Archive | Satan
What’s being hidden?
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 Live as a Christian? Be a map reader!
If we are traveling to an unfamiliar area, a GPS, or a map are excellent sources to turn to. Just think of the wrong turns that would be made, if we had little or no understanding of the direction we should take? Imagine the pitfalls we would avoid if we just read the map?
I think therein lies the problem for many Christians today.
For example, perhaps we attend church regularly, or even irregularly. But have we asked ourselves why we go to church? Is it because in our circles it’s the expected thing to do? Is it no more than a social event for us? I recall a question posed to me years ago that clarifies this question. “Would you go to church if no one saw you were there?” That’s a question that needs to be pondered, right?
Believe me, the enemy has no problem with our attending church! He can deceive us just as easily while we are sitting in a pew. How, we might ask? It’s quite simple actually. By averting our attention away from the counsel of God as to why we need to go to church.
Here’s what the Bible says about attending church,
25 Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25, TLB
Now that’s a motivation that will send us to church whether anybody sees or knows we are attending or not!
What’s the urgency here?
Satan, KNOWS that within the pages of our Bible, we possess all the guidance we need to live the Christian life successfully. He also KNOWS that if we delve into the Bible too much, we will discover not only who God is, we will also discover who Satan is. Satan’s schemes and game plans for our destruction will be exposed. Do we ever stop to think that a lack of interest in reading our Bible is a manipulative tactic of our enemy?
The Bible is our true North for direction. Depending on anything else for spiritual direction, to the exclusion of digging into God’s word and spending time with Him in prayer, will only lead us to a dead end, literally!
A Christian unfamiliar with the life map of God’s word, can easily lose their way. Without God’s unchangeable Truths laid out for us in Scripture, we have no true guidance.
Feel like you are loosing your way? I suggest reading the Map! There’s no other way, Christians!
Spoiling our Perspective
It’s all in how we look at it!
For example:
My eyes watch as delicate snowflakes accomplish the task of blanketing the landscape outside my window. Winter birds flit and flutter around the birdfeeders grasping for the sunflower seeds, now that food is in short supply. A lone little squirrel scampers to and fro searching for hidden acorns. From within, the fireplace offers an accent of crackling burning wood.
Such a scene has the power to call forth a variety of emotions. Positive flavored emotions of peace, calmness, serenity, thankfulness, or a sense of well-being may settle upon us. On the other hand, such a scene can bring forth negative flavored emotions of unrest, sadness, loneliness, or a sense of despondency.
If the recent circumstances of our days have been troubling, don’t be surprised if our emotions default to the negative. If that’s the case, it’s not an easy matter to suppress such emotions. Satan, remember, comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Therefore, he will design fiery darts meant to manipulate and deceive how we perceive our world.
But we have but to remember that our loving God has come to give us life more abundantly. Therefore, when fiery darts assail us we have but to call upon our shield of faith to extinguish all those fiery darts.
Something our enemy doesn’t want us to realize is that we can choose to embrace a positive perspective or a negative one. Yep, we don’t have to be victimized by fiery darts. It may take a lot of meditation on God’s Truths to send Satan packing, but it can be done. We don’t have to allow him to spoil our perspective.
A Christmas Letter to God
Dear God,
I’m so sorry about all the disunity among Your children right now. Humility, gentleness, patience, accepting one another in love (Your gifts) are in short supply.
The enemy has really done a number on us. I suppose he is working overtime because he is running out of time to steal, kill, and destroy the life You have planned for us.
We can’t see beyond all the hatred, bitterness, and personal attacks on each other to be able to recognize how Satan has duped us. He is our enemy, not each other.
Those who reject You don’t understand that it is their own disbelief that condemns them. But Satan conceals that from them too. I am so sorry that Your children don’t show more of Your love towards those who have rejected You. Satan blinds the world to the fact that Your love leads to peace and sets them free from their bondage of disbelief.
Perhaps we could start by asking for Your help to trust You more, especially during these dark days. Help us to trust You like Mary and Joseph did when they faced the dilemma of Mary’s untimely pregnancy. Help us to quieten down, let go of the negativity all around us, and trust that You ARE in control (for we act as if You are not)!
Ephesians 4:2-3, “with all humility and gentleness with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with peace that binds us.”
Is more of Jesus enough?
It’s the ultimate frustration when you pray and pray over something, but the hoped for answer doesn’t come. The fiery darts will try and convince you that God isn’t paying attention. That He doesn’t really work in the way you desire. It may happen for other people, but not for you. Or you are praying the wrong way, or asking for the wrong thing. Or it’s just not His will. (To name only a few!)
When the answers don’t come and you are tempted to despair; when happiness is something you experience only infrequently; when your joy thermometer reads zero; ask yourself, “What is my focus?”
Remember it’s about perspective. If your days are covered in a dark cloud, the right perspective can change how you perceive that cloud. The dark cloud may remain, but you will see it differently.
That dark cloud can become a reminder to praise God and to thank Him that He is allowing the darkness to draw you closer to Himself. This simple but profound realization changes everything. All those fiery darts cannot hang around in the face of such a Truth.
It’s in times like these, we have to be content in the knowledge that even when we don’t receive the hoped for answers, we have been drawn closer to God. We can trust Him to give us the perspective that will help us move forward. Whether our prayers are answered to our satisfaction or not.
Yes, when our earnest prayer’s remain unanswered it’s difficult to trust and depend upon God. It’s easier just to throw up our hands and quit. But if we reject such fiery dart thinking, then we will be open to receive God’s Truths. He may give us a verse of Scripture like Habakkuk 3:17-19, or comfort from a friend, or insight from a sermon, or encouragement from a song! Centering our thoughts on these Truths whenever we are tempted to despair will restore our hope and give us peace. (Even if our prayers remain unanswered)
Satan doesn’t want this to work, so be prepared for the negative distractions to increase. Stand strong and reject such negative thoughts. Resolve to receive only those Truth thoughts sent by God.
When our child cries out to us because they have suffered a great disappointment, we just wrap our arms around them and love on them. Our presence is their greatest comfort and for them, that is enough.
The same is true for us as God’s children. Our Heavenly Father, desires to be enough. His presence must mean more to us than getting the answers we want, when we want them.
Accessing the Light
As I survey people, in particular Christians, there is something I find troubling. It appears to me that an alarming number of Christians are walking life’s path without the benefit of light! And when the trials come, the lack of light allows Satan to move stealthily.
His first attempt will be to weaken our new nature by tempting our old nature with distractions meant to diminish our desire to study the Bible or spend time with God in prayer. p. 46 FD’s 3rd edition
When trials come, and that’s a given, without the light of God’s word we will find ourselves stumbling around in the dark. Having become so accustomed to the darkness we fail to see the solutions the light reveals. Before we realize it, we find ourselves walking along life’s paths using the same human reasoning and false arguments anyone in the World would use. Without the light provided by God’s Word, we become confused, disillusioned, frustrated, etc. as we seek solutions to our trials from other sources.
As Christians do we really desire to live this way? Satan’s fiery darts will attempt to convince us that this is normal. But God tells us that He has a better plan:
…the second half of John 10:10 reveals … God’s plan for His children, “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” p 13, FD”s 3rd edition
However, Satan’s plan is to keep us in the dark.
But remember, his plan can’t succeed as long as we access the light provided in God’s word.
Identifying the Enemy.
We have an enemy that must be identified! After horrible tragedies like the one we saw in Parkland, Fl., we grasp at an array of judgements in a frantic attempt to identify the enemy. Tragically, we chase one argument after another, never zeroing in on who the real enemy is. We can become so distracted by these arguments that the real enemy remains hidden.
Obviously, Satan is our enemy, our adversary. He is the one who cunningly designs temptations that will steal, kill, and destroy (from John 10:10a). Satan tempts that part of us that wants our own way and doesn’t like to be told what to do…that part that seeks to exalt ourselves…our fleshly nature.
Consider the following:
What we think determines how we feel, and what we feel influences our actions. A negative action is often the result of negative thinking. Understandably, if Satan can negatively influence our thinking, then the temptation to act negatively will be hard for us to resist… p. 27, FD 3rd edition
The weapon of negative thinking or fiery darts, is Satan’s most powerful weapon. But how is it that we as Christians, and even those who aren’t Christians, can be so easily manipulated and deceived? Sad to say, it’s very simple:
When we don’t spend enough time in God’s Word, our ability to recognize the lies of fiery darts is equally diminished. In the place of God’s Truth, the world’s concept of truth generally begins to define our thinking. p. 43, FD 3rd edition
Of course, for those who have rejected God, it is obvious how they have been blinded to God’s Truth. The world’s concept of truth and their sinful nature defines truth for them and God’s Truth bears little, if any, weight. Satan’s job of manipulation, therefore, takes little effort. p. 43 FD, 3rd edition
Fiery darts are designed to create a wedge of sin between us and God. Eventually, we will become blinded to the Truth, and we will be deceived into rejecting God’s plan for our lives.
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10b NKJV
Thought by thought our lives will take a downward turn. And individual by individual our country will spiral downward, as well. However, there is hope, if we genuinely desire healing for ourselves and for our country!
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV
There is no substitute
Before individuals accept Christ as their Savior, they are ruled by their flesh, or sinful nature—a nature predisposed to sin. However, when a person accepts Christ as his or her Savior, a new nature is born, ruled by God’s Spirit. Yet the old spirit remains, thus, creating the great civil war that will be ongoing for the rest of their life. Satan takes full advantage of the struggle between the old nature (the flesh) and the new nature (God’s Spirit). His first attempt will be to weaken our new nature by tempting our old nature with distractions meant to diminish our desire to study the Bible or spend time with God in prayer. p 46, 3rd edition FD
Remember that the desire to sin originates with our fleshly nature. If we don’t focus on the Truths we learn from Scripture, then the temptations/fiery darts, will become harder and harder to resist or even recognize! Knowing the Truths found in the Bible makes us wise to the lies of fiery darts that bombard our minds on a daily basis. Prayer and bible study are effective in keeping us keen to those lies and supplies us with the power to resist them. There is no substitute!
The Fear of Witnessing?
I listened to a sermon today, that revealed a fiery dart that too many of us fall prey to! May I ask you something, as one Christian to another?
Does the idea of witnessing to someone strike fear in your heart. Do thoughts like:
I’m just not cut out for this witnessing thing; not my gift!.
I wouldn’t be able to remember any of the verses, much less quote them.
What if they get mad at me or make fun of me?
I don’t think I am a good enough Christian to witness.
Think about it my friends. If Satan can convince us that we don’t have what it takes to share Christ with others, then the weapon he has formed against us, has prevailed.We allow ourselves to be convinced we can’t witness and you know what? That’s a lie!
As I listened to this pastor, it became clear to me that our hesitation in sharing Christ was based on two things: 1)failure to spend time with God in prayer 2) failure to spend time with God in His Word.
It’s quite simple really. Allow me to illustrate.
As we spend time with God in prayer and bible study, we are becoming equipped to deal with the trials in our life. (James 1:2-4) Not only will we learn how to deal with these trials we will grow stronger as a result. From Scriptures we learn to have a grateful heart in the good times and as well as the bad. Philippians 4:6-7 Peace will guard our hearts as a result. Fear will be kept at bay. 2 Timothy 1:7
The more this happens the more our love for Christ grows. Our thoughts will center less on ourselves and more on Christ. We will want to share what Christ has done in our lives. Especially when we see others who are living in the bondage that Christ set us free from. 2 Corinthians 1:4
The Bible contains the answers to life’s questions. When we find it working for us, we will be compelled to share those answers with others. It will come as naturally to us as breathing. There will be nothing to fear. So learn to recognize this fiery dart, reject it, and replace it with these Truths.
(Refer to The 3 R’s of Fighting Fiery Darts, page 7 of this blog)
Fiery Darts: Satan's Weapon of Choice 