As I was driving home the other day, a song came on the Christian radio station I keep on in my car that said, "the devil has a target on my heart and my soul".
There have been so many things lately that truly made me see this in another light. From the movies being made and deemed "normal" and completely "okay" by a large amount of Christians (i.e. "Fifty Shades of Grey"), to the music that's being played, the hate people spew on one another, baby's being killed every second, and marriages being broken apart on a daily basis. You can clearly see Satan at work in our world.
Here's the thing: Satan knows he cannot have you or get you to hell once you've accepted Jesus into your life (John 3:16, once saved you cannot lose your salvation). He cannot touch you; so his next priority is to keep you from making an impact on the world and bringing others to Jesus, whether it be convincing you that your sinful actions are okay, deceiving you into collecting ungodly friendships, filling your head with lies (i.e God doesn't love you, you're too broken to use, nobody cares about you, etc), or wells up pride inside of you and creates broken marriages...he hates Christians living a full and purposeful life for Christ. He has no power over you unless you allow him that power; again, he cannot touch you, but oh boy can he mess with your mind!
1 Peter 1:13
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:5
"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit."
I think one of the biggest lies Satan and his army have done a splendid job of convincing us of, is that if we have made mistakes, God can no longer use us. That there are certain things we can do to separate ourselves from His love and that He is too disappointed to use us to make an impact on the world. This is SO far from the truth!
* King David committed adulatory and murder
* Paul killed thousands of Christians
* Noah got drunk
* Abraham slept with another woman besides his wife (per his wife's request)
* Jacob stole his brothers inheritance
* Moses had an anger problem
* Eve directly disobeyed God
*Peter denied God 3 times
So you're telling me, you are believing Satan when he tells you that you've made too many mistakes for God to use you? If you go through the books of the Bible, you will almost always find the people who the world would deem "too far gone", "too broken", or "sinned too badly" were the exact people God used for the most good. If He only used those who seem to have it all together, what would stop people from giving MAN the glory? When God uses those who haven't had the greatest track record, have many many faults, or have made a ton of mistakes, their impact MUST be seen as a miraculous work from HIM alone.
Satan wants you to stay focused on yourself. If you're focused on all the ways you have failed, you cannot focus on all the ways God has overcome.
I know this is hard to get past; y'all, I struggle with this almost on a daily basis. I have made mistakes in my past, hurt people, been hurt, have been so focused on my own misery that I wanted to take this life God gave me....and I STILL make mistakes. I will never be even close to perfect this side of heaven. But you know what? God likes to use perfectly imperfect people just like me. Because of my "brokenness" I have been able to talk to people about things that I wouldn't have had the chance to do had I had a perfect past. God doesn't make bad things happen to us; bad things happen because we live in a broken and sinful world, but God can (and WILL) bring good out of EVERY bad situation that happens.
Peter wrote a letter to a group and said these words (good words, that we should still adhere to today):
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
Friends, life is hard. And to be honest, we usually don't help matters by moving away from our heavenly Father when things get tough. We don't want to bother Him, disappoint Him, take up His time, or sometimes we just don't know what to say to Him...but do you know what's so amazing about our amazing God? He doesn't care about any of that. His eye is on the sparrow and KNOWS when it falls, do you not think you, being His child, are more important than the birds? Peter denied Christ 3 times, and God still loved and DIED for him, do you not think He can forgive anything you've done? God knows every number of hairs on your head, do you not think He can make time for His children to come to Him in times of trouble, anger, stress, sadness, or pain? The bible tells us that when we do not know what to say, the Spirit will intercede on our behalf...even if we just come to God so confused and lost that all we can say is "Lord, I don't know what to say..." do you not know that He knows every detail about your life and your HEART and knows exactly what you need?
One of my amazing mentors gave me analogy one time, and it has stuck with me since. Imagine you waking up and starting your day. Jesus was with you through the night, and is there the moment you wake up. You go about your day, and He sits at your table waiting for some one on one time. Pours Himself a cup of coffee and just waits. You go about your day, telling Him "I'll be there in just a minute, I need to finish ____". You continue your day passing Him by trying to get your day together, run some errands, and find time to finish your tasks. Before you know it, it's time for bed. And you never sat down with Him. HE was there the whole time, we just don't stop, be still, and just BE with Him.
This is exactly what happens everyday. God is omnipresent. He can be there for everyone all at the same time. So to say He doesn't have time for us, is belittling the very promises that He has made us.The more we take time away from God, the more time we give Satan and his lies.
There is no stand still in our walk with Christ. We are either moving towards Him, or away from Him.
Who has your heart? Who have you entrusted it to? Giving our hearts to earthly things will never satisfy us. That is how Satan distracts us from God's calling on our lives and makes us discontent. People will leave, things will fade away and rot, money will be gone (you can't take it with you when you die), whereas heavenly things will last forever. Building relationships, telling others about Christ, giving, volunteering our time....these things will make impacts that nobody can take away.
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
There have been so many things lately that truly made me see this in another light. From the movies being made and deemed "normal" and completely "okay" by a large amount of Christians (i.e. "Fifty Shades of Grey"), to the music that's being played, the hate people spew on one another, baby's being killed every second, and marriages being broken apart on a daily basis. You can clearly see Satan at work in our world.
Here's the thing: Satan knows he cannot have you or get you to hell once you've accepted Jesus into your life (John 3:16, once saved you cannot lose your salvation). He cannot touch you; so his next priority is to keep you from making an impact on the world and bringing others to Jesus, whether it be convincing you that your sinful actions are okay, deceiving you into collecting ungodly friendships, filling your head with lies (i.e God doesn't love you, you're too broken to use, nobody cares about you, etc), or wells up pride inside of you and creates broken marriages...he hates Christians living a full and purposeful life for Christ. He has no power over you unless you allow him that power; again, he cannot touch you, but oh boy can he mess with your mind!
1 Peter 1:13
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:5
"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit."
I think one of the biggest lies Satan and his army have done a splendid job of convincing us of, is that if we have made mistakes, God can no longer use us. That there are certain things we can do to separate ourselves from His love and that He is too disappointed to use us to make an impact on the world. This is SO far from the truth!
* King David committed adulatory and murder
* Paul killed thousands of Christians
* Noah got drunk
* Abraham slept with another woman besides his wife (per his wife's request)
* Jacob stole his brothers inheritance
* Moses had an anger problem
* Eve directly disobeyed God
*Peter denied God 3 times
So you're telling me, you are believing Satan when he tells you that you've made too many mistakes for God to use you? If you go through the books of the Bible, you will almost always find the people who the world would deem "too far gone", "too broken", or "sinned too badly" were the exact people God used for the most good. If He only used those who seem to have it all together, what would stop people from giving MAN the glory? When God uses those who haven't had the greatest track record, have many many faults, or have made a ton of mistakes, their impact MUST be seen as a miraculous work from HIM alone.
Satan wants you to stay focused on yourself. If you're focused on all the ways you have failed, you cannot focus on all the ways God has overcome.
I know this is hard to get past; y'all, I struggle with this almost on a daily basis. I have made mistakes in my past, hurt people, been hurt, have been so focused on my own misery that I wanted to take this life God gave me....and I STILL make mistakes. I will never be even close to perfect this side of heaven. But you know what? God likes to use perfectly imperfect people just like me. Because of my "brokenness" I have been able to talk to people about things that I wouldn't have had the chance to do had I had a perfect past. God doesn't make bad things happen to us; bad things happen because we live in a broken and sinful world, but God can (and WILL) bring good out of EVERY bad situation that happens.
Peter wrote a letter to a group and said these words (good words, that we should still adhere to today):
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
Friends, life is hard. And to be honest, we usually don't help matters by moving away from our heavenly Father when things get tough. We don't want to bother Him, disappoint Him, take up His time, or sometimes we just don't know what to say to Him...but do you know what's so amazing about our amazing God? He doesn't care about any of that. His eye is on the sparrow and KNOWS when it falls, do you not think you, being His child, are more important than the birds? Peter denied Christ 3 times, and God still loved and DIED for him, do you not think He can forgive anything you've done? God knows every number of hairs on your head, do you not think He can make time for His children to come to Him in times of trouble, anger, stress, sadness, or pain? The bible tells us that when we do not know what to say, the Spirit will intercede on our behalf...even if we just come to God so confused and lost that all we can say is "Lord, I don't know what to say..." do you not know that He knows every detail about your life and your HEART and knows exactly what you need?
One of my amazing mentors gave me analogy one time, and it has stuck with me since. Imagine you waking up and starting your day. Jesus was with you through the night, and is there the moment you wake up. You go about your day, and He sits at your table waiting for some one on one time. Pours Himself a cup of coffee and just waits. You go about your day, telling Him "I'll be there in just a minute, I need to finish ____". You continue your day passing Him by trying to get your day together, run some errands, and find time to finish your tasks. Before you know it, it's time for bed. And you never sat down with Him. HE was there the whole time, we just don't stop, be still, and just BE with Him.
This is exactly what happens everyday. God is omnipresent. He can be there for everyone all at the same time. So to say He doesn't have time for us, is belittling the very promises that He has made us.The more we take time away from God, the more time we give Satan and his lies.
There is no stand still in our walk with Christ. We are either moving towards Him, or away from Him.
Who has your heart? Who have you entrusted it to? Giving our hearts to earthly things will never satisfy us. That is how Satan distracts us from God's calling on our lives and makes us discontent. People will leave, things will fade away and rot, money will be gone (you can't take it with you when you die), whereas heavenly things will last forever. Building relationships, telling others about Christ, giving, volunteering our time....these things will make impacts that nobody can take away.
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
