Satan: His M.O. Revealed

Okay, I think it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty.  You know, get past the green beans and mashed potatoes and onto that juicy steak.  Yes, the stuff that really matters…like Satan.

You know, I played A LOT of sports growing up, lots of softball, golf, basketball, and even a little spout with track.  Our team always had one object in mind, and that was to beat the other team.  We didn’t want to take this lightly either, no; we wanted to BEAT them, the greater the deficit the greater the win for us.  That’s just how it was.

Can I just be honest?  Ok good.  Whether we know it or not we're either on team Jesus or team Satan.  Whoa.  Yah, I really just said that.  Okay, alright, so here’s what this means for those of us who are following Jesus.  Satan is out to beat you and destroy you.  I can guarantee that he is not taking this lightly, the greater the deficit, the greater the win.  It’s his M.O.  Plain and simple. 

He’s a master of deception who longs to destroy your faith in God and His Word to keep you chained.  Remember what he said to Eve in the garden.  Watch this:  “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Gen. 3:1b

DID GOD REALLY SAY?

Eve goes on to tell Satan, well yah Satan God really did say that.  Oh, but Satan comes back again. 

Now look at this:  ““You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

LIE.  LIE.  LIE.

What happens here?  Well, Satan distorts the Truth.  He also switches Eve’s focus away from God’s goodness and onto what she couldn’t have.  They could have the fruit of any other tree in the garden, just not this one tree. 

Satan ever lied to you like that?  If God really cared or was loving then He would not have set this parameter and because He hasn’t allowed me this then I can be cranky and mad and sad and unbelieving and throw a pity party until I get what I want because I deserve it.   

Let’s see how that rebellion worked for Adam and Eve.  They ate the fruit and what happened?  Death came, just as God said it would.  Sin=Spiritual death (Rom. 5:12).

Do we realize how ruthless Satan really is, how crafty, how cunning, how deceptive?  How bent on your destruction He is?  Can I tell you, the more I desire to pursue Christ and live an abandoned, obedient life, the greater temptation I have to believe lies.  So this means you, and I as we follow Jesus, must have an even greater love and devotion to His Word.  His Word is one way we overcome Satan in the here and now (Rev. 12:11).

God has given us His Word and when we start to believe lies about it and create our own belief systems, we have just fallen for the same trick Eve did.  His Word is flawless.  FLAWLESS (Prov. 30:5).  It will accomplish its purpose and is completely trustworthy and true in all matters of faith and practice. It brings life, not death. 

Here’s what we can take away today concerning Satan. 

1.)  He causes us to question God. (Did God really say? v. 3:1b)

2.)  He lies and distorts God’s truth.  (You will not surely die) v. 4-5

3.)  He shifts our focus away from all God has given us to the things we don’t have.  (v. 4-5)

You Have My Permission

6-12-12

I am the type of person who does not like showing weakness.  I have wanted to be strong, or at least appear to be strong throughout this whole process of having surgery again.  But can I tell you the best thing a very dear friend told me was that I don’t have to be strong and it’s okay to fall apart.  Wow, I cannot even begin to express to you how freeing it was to be given permission to cry or do whatever I needed to do in that moment.  Trying to hold it all together is absolutely exhausting, but we do it more often than not.  Some of us have done it for so long; we don’t know any other way to live.  Unfortunately because we have lived so long in this place we do not have the emotional capacity to let others grieve and mourn through life’s pains. 

Why are we so afraid to experience the pain that comes with life’s challenges?  Could it be a fear of our own?  Pride(I think that’s my issue)?  But what about when it comes to others, maybe we just don’t like seeing others hurt.  Or perhaps if we allow others to be vulnerable it just might stir some emotion in us and we might appear “weak” to others.  Now I put weak in parentheses because in being real and honest about the sorrow we feel we are quite the opposite of weak.  No, to be real, to admit we are weak is actually to say we are strong.  I think this is what the Apostle Paul meant in 2 Cor. 12:10b “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”   Being sad or down about something doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with us, no, that is normal.  It is when we stay there that it becomes a problem.  And Jesus does not want you to stay there. 

But Jesus can’t put back together a heart that hasn’t been broken.  Let me reword that…Jesus cannot put back together a heart that has not acknowledged it is broken.  I would argue that 99.9% if not all of us have something that has broken our hearts in one way or another.  When I got the news I had to have surgery again, you better believe my heart was broken.  Friends, I need the grace of God.  I am not a strong woman.  What strength I do have comes only from Him.  It is when I am weak that I experience the strength of Christ at work in me.  Because there’s something about being real that brings relief and a sense of freedom.  I do not want to appear strong for the sake of not appearing “weak,” but I find myself doing this at times.  Does that make sense to anyone?  I want to be weak, so I can have Christ’s strength and I want to let others do the same.  I hope you do too.

Don’t be afraid to fall apart; don’t think you have to hold it all together.  You don’t have to be strong.  He will be strong for you.  Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted. (Is. 61:1)  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Luke 5:31)  Jesus cannot heal a self-righteous heart that sees no need for Him, or has no hope of healing.  Do we truly believe if we allowed Christ in He could heal us, or does hopelessness guide our lives?  Turn to Jesus, even if you heart doesn’t believe and ask Him to turn your sorrow into hope.  Memorize scriptures such as Ps. 43:5, Rom. 5:3-5, Jer. 29:11, Rom. 8:28, Phil. 1:6, Zeph. 3:17, Is. 61:1-3 and keep repeating them asking God to grow roots of belief.  I believe He can heal us and I will stand on that truth, by the grace of God, until the day I die.    

So friends, you have my permission.  Go ahead; fall apart, but in doing so remember you are not meant to stay there.  This is so very important to remember.  You are not meant to stay in despair!  Your heart is not meant to be in shatters.  It is meant to be whole. Call on the Name of Jesus.  Turn to Him and be restored.  It might take time, but don’t give up!