Tag: Satan

Turning Satan’s Tactics Against Him

Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Without question, one of Satan’s greatest skills is his ability to keep us distracted from building our relationship with God by keeping us focused on the busyness of life. One of his greatest lies is planting the seed in our minds that God does not want to hear about everything in our lives. Through the perfect work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can turn both of Satan’s tactics against him.

The first thing that we should do each day in the privacy of the morning is to invite the Holy Spirit to join us throughout the day. Then everything public in our busy lives will be marked by His presence. Everything that comes our way as a challenge or a trial can be handed to Him immediately through brief and constant prayer.

Because through the Holy Spirit, we have already given Jesus the burdens of life throughout the day, in the evening we can shut the door on all the cares of the day. Those cares are no longer there to distract us as we try to pray at night because they are in Jesus’ hands, not ours. Instead of focusing on our cares, we are free to focus on Our God. We can worship Him, we can praise Him and we can soak in His love. We can grow in our relationship with Him according to His good and perfect plan for our lives.

Let us learn to slam the door on the daily trials and distractions that life brings our way. Let us claim the rewards that Our Father in heaven promises us for going to Him in secret. Let us give all of our burdens to Jesus in the morning and thank Him and praise Him in the evening.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Holy Spirit to be the helper that we can call on to make our burdens light. We rejoice in His presence with us throughout the day and night. We pray for the wisdom and the grace to release our cares and concerns to Our Savior throughout the day. With our burdens in Jesus mighty hands, we ask, Lord, that You teach us how to come to You without distraction in the evening. May we learn to spend our private prayer time in the evening growing in our relationship with You and refreshing ourselves for the next day to be spent in the yoke of Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of the One who lightens our burdens, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Commands Us to Be of Good Cheer

Romans 12:12
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Rejoice. Endure. Pray. Now that is a winning combination. Each of these disciplines undergirds the other. The cumulative power gained by exercising these disciplines is even more valuable to followers of Jesus Christ when considering when they will be applied – during the times of trial and tribulation.

So how do these things work together. First of all, Jesus taught that in the world we will have tribulation. This is a given. There is no getting around it and it is becoming obvious in these days that tribulation for Christians is being ramped up in the form of persecution unlike anything that we have ever seen in our lifetime. More significantly, Satan is ramping up his attacks on us because he knows his time is getting shorter.

But knowing that our trials and tribulations are certain helps us to prepare for victory. We can rejoice as we have the hope given to us by the Son of God who has overcome the world. This is so certain that Jesus commands us to be of good cheer. And finally, because of the weakness of our flesh, the Lord God Almighty has provided access to His throne. When we are in the middle of the battle, losing strength and clearly not of good cheer, Our Heavenly Father invites us into His presence to receive an overflowing of His grace which will strengthen us, encourage us and lift us up into the joyful expectancy that belongs to us as children of the living God.

Let us rejoice in our hope, the ever faithful Jesus Christ. Let us persevere in our trials. Let us seek from God the fresh supplies of grace that we need to indeed be of good cheer at all times and under all circumstances. Let us claim the victory that is ours.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the constant flow of Your grace into our lives. Teach us, Father, to come to You throughout the day, not just at certain assigned times. Show us how to come into Your presence without ceasing. May we learn to humble ourselves before You endlessly as we come to You in prayer, bringing You the love, the honor and the praise that You alone deserve. We pray that we will endure all things as we rely on the Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ. We rest on His promises. We ask all these things in the precious, holy and mighty name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Receiving All that The Lord Has for Us When Life Seems Unfair

Job 42:10
And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

The Bible records that Job was blameless and upright. He had a great family and much wealth. It was written that he was the greatest of all the people in the east. And then it all changed. God allowed Satan to take it all away from Job.

As we read about the story of Job’s life, we see Job in his anguish. He not only has lost everything, but he is mocked by his friends and even his wife tells him, “Why don’t you curse God and die.” Job assumes that God is persecuting him and hiding from him. He lashes out at God in pain.

Once Job turned from his anger and turned instead to intercessory prayer, the mercies and blessings of Our Lord were released to him. He found his prayer for others to be profitable for himself. More importantly, he found that Satan had no more power over him.

No one goes through life without hardship, heartaches, and headaches. Most of us have learned to face the reality that life is difficult. But still it can feel almost intolerable for us to accept and cope with what’s seems so unfair at times. Like Job, our relief will come when we turn our focus away from our pain and on to the wondrous majesty and mercy of Our Creator. When we do this, our concern will be more for others than for ourselves. At this point, we will receive all that the Lord has prepared for us.

“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Let us focus on the faithful love of the Lord. Let us trust in His mercies each day.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we lift Your name above all names. There is no name above Yours. You are Our Creator and Our Sustainer. You have given us life and granted us eternal life through Your Son. We give thanks for the unmerited grace that You pour upon us. We pray Lord that You strengthen us for the battles that we face in life. We ask for the divine inspiration to keep our focus on You always. May our days be spent in service to You, free of any anguish that the world tries to bring us. We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Fighting a Good Fight on Behalf of Our Children

Isaiah 44:3

For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields.  And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.

No other time in history has produced such a blatant spiritual attack against our children. The indoctrination of the enemy is starting in some school systems as early as pre-K.  The constant peer pressure on our pre-teens and teens is continuous.  Satan is viciously consistent in his efforts to destroy our families and in his efforts to destroy the lives of our children. 

We must be diligent in praying a hedge of protection around our children.   We have the power of protecting them through our prayers.  Our Heavenly Father promises us that He will pour out His Spirit on our descendants and pour out His blessings on our children.

No matter what circumstances that our children may be in, we must not believe the lies of Satan.  We must hold to the promises of Our Father. We must never give in to the evil work of the devil who will urge us to give up on our children.  Satan will do all that he can do to discourage our efforts to pray for our children because he knows the power that we access and release when we pray for our children.

Let us be resolute in fighting the good fight on the behalf of our children.  Let us continuously pray a hedge of protection around them.  Let us proclaim the promises of Our Lord that He will return our children to us and, most importantly, that He will return our children to Himself. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for hearing our prayers of protection for our children.  Thank you for providing a way for us to shield our children from the enemy who is set on destroying them.  Strengthen us, Lord, that we may never falter in covering our children with our prayers.  We rejoice in knowing that You will reward us for our diligent, prayerful efforts on behalf of our children.  We cling to Your promise to return our children to the land that You have set aside for them.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Refuge from the Storm, Jesus Christ.

Having Faith in the Victory That is Ours

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Jesus spoke directly to the apostles before He left the earth. He wanted the apostles to know that even though He would be leaving them in the flesh that He would still be with them in spirit. He wanted them to understand that He would be with them always as He is with the Father always. He wanted them go forward in peace, without fear, having faith that the victory was theirs through Him. He wanted them to be empowered by knowing that He had already overcome all the tribulation that the world and Satan himself had to offer. Through His indwelling with them, they would have the power that they needed to endure all things.

And so it is with us. When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, His Spirit indwells with us. We become one with Him as He is one with the Father. We receive all that the apostles were told that they would receive.

Unfortunately, one facet of the things to come for us is the fact that we will face tribulation. We will encounter the fierce opposition of the evil one and of those who represent him. And we will certainly face the persistent opposition of our own flesh. But Jesus wants us to be of good courage and hope for He promises to provide all that we need to overcome anything that is thrown at us. When we surrender to Jesus, we have all that we need to overcome the temptations of Satan, the infirmities of our own flesh and the carnal offerings of the world.

Let us allow our faith to override our fears as we are swamped by trying circumstances. Let us face every trial in life with the peace, the comfort and the confident hope that Jesus has promised us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You in thanksgiving for the power that You have granted us through Your Son, Jesus. We pray that You teach us how to develop and enjoy our relationship with Jesus. May we find our strength in Jesus, just as Jesus found His strength in You when He was in the flesh. May our victories over our tribulations bring honor and glory to You, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit. We pray that our victories become living testimonies that will draw others to Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of the Upholder of All Things, Jesus Christ.

The Joy of Walking Along Side Jesus

Matthew 25:21
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to join Our Master as He walks along side us in our journey toward sanctification. We can be certain that we will encounter the following along the way:

  • Jesus will set our hearts to burning for Him as He opens the scriptures to us, just as he did for the two disciples when He joined them as they were walking on the road to Emmaus.
  • The Holy Spirit will reveal to us who we are without Jesus in our lives.
  • The Holy Spirit will convict us of the darkness in our lives and urge us to be obedient in changing our ways and helping others to change their ways.
  • Satan will attack us all along the way. As we grow in Christ, the intensity of the attacks will increase.

We can be just as certain that the victory is ours if we rely on the One who died for our sins. We will enter into the joy of Our Master for all eternity. Can you even imagine the joy that Jesus holds? He is the essence of everything good. He is the absence of anything evil. He is perfect in every measure. This is all ours when we stand before Him one day to take our place as His eternal servants.

Let us enter into the joy of the Master. As He dwells within us, may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to redeem us from our sins and that You provided Your Holy Spirit to guide us along our path of preparation for receiving our place in heaven for all eternity. We pray that Your countenance will shine up us. We pray that Your grace will be with us always. We pray that You will protect us from harm and evil. We pray that You will protect us from the evil one and all of His temptations. We pray that You will raise us up to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May we stand before You one day and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the Joy of the World, Jesus Christ.

The Impact of Words Cast from Our Mouth

Proverbs 15:4
The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

God spoke the world into existence. Jesus cast out demons and healed the sick with His spoken words. There is great power in our words as well. Words cast out from our mouths have the power to build up and the power to crush. We must be conscious of the power of every word that we speak.

Destructive comments like, “You will never amount to anything,” can have long term, negative impact on the life of a child. Life giving comments like, “God has a special plan for your life,” can have long term, positive impact on the life of a child. We must be careful in choosing the words that we speak to our loved ones and to all the people that we encounter in life. We truly have the power to plant life or death into those around us.

Satan will stay in our ears all day long, feeding us with destructive words to be spoken against those that we care for. We must keep our armor up against the urgings to hurt others with our words. We must continually ask the Holy Spirit to help us to be mindful of our words so that we comfort and build up those around us instead of crushing their spirits.

Let us speak healing words to the wounded. Let us speak atoning words to those without Christ. Let us speak peace, encouragement and building up in the lives of all those that surround us. Let us silence any destructive words that the enemy tries to solicit from us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of speaking. We rejoice in praising You with our words and our songs. We take comfort in coming to You with our words of solicitation. We pray, Father, that You will fill our hearts with words that speak life into those around us. We pray that You will shield us from the urgings of the enemy to speak words of conflict and destruction. Build us up, Lord, so that we may build up others in Your Precious Name. We ask all these things in the name of the Living Word, Jesus Christ.

Seeking Divine Providence As We Rebuild Our Lives

Nehemiah 2:20
I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Nehemiah was inspired by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which were in ruin. Because God was with Him, Nehemiah was given complete authority and financial support to rebuild the walls by King Artaxerxes of Persia. When Nehemiah reached Jerusalem to begin the work, He encountered much resistance from the likes of Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem. Nehemiah quickly put them in their place and moved forward rebuilding the walls.

We have to be like Nehemiah when we rebuild the walls of our lives which are in ruin due to the sin in our lives. We can be assured that Satan will come to discourage us. We need to let Satan know that he has no claim nor historic right to interfere with the rebuilding of our lives as temples of Jesus Christ.

Further we need to stand firm not only for ourselves, but also for those around us. Knowing that we are in the favor of God who promises to complete the good work in us, we must seek to intercede not only for ourselves but also for our loved ones. The God of heaven will prosper all of us, protect all of us and insure that we all succeed in what He has called us to do.

Let us move forward depending of the God of our promises. Let us have no concern over what the enemy can bring against us. Let us press on confidently, knowing that no man can defeat us as we rebuild our lives and our families. The victory is ours through Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to complete Your good work in us. We bless the name of Jesus whose death on the Cross gives us victory over all evil. We rejoice in knowing that You will give us success in all that we do in Your name. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will strengthen us to stand firm against the enemy who comes to destroy us and our families. May our hearts be prepared to live in dependence upon You as we rebuild our lives as temples of the Living God. We ask all these things in the name of the One that dwells within us, Jesus Christ.

Seizing the Anointing on Our Lives to Overcome Fear, Insecurity, Inferiority and Unbelief

Psalm 41:7
All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.

Is the devil whispering in your ear this Easter season? He may sound something like this:

  • You are not good enough to minister to others. Let someone else do it.
  • Why are you trying this? You will fail.
  • Why would God have a place for a sinner like you? You will be embarrassed if you do that.

Be on guard. One of the Satan’s favorite tricks is to have his whispers come to us through the voices of those who we know, those who we love and those who we trust.

We must take on the full armor of God when the enemy begins whispering defeat into our lives. Our victory and our anointing in Christ has already been set. We need to seize the anointing on our lives that will break off the yokes of insecurity, inferiority, fear, and unbelief.

When Satan accused Joshua, listen to how Jesus responded, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” Zechariah 3:2 We need to respond in the same manner every time Satan accuses us. We must learn to recognize his attacks and respond immediately under the authority of Our King, Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we will become comfortable with the lies spoken against us. The victory is ours in the name of the Lord, Jesus. We must learn to claim it.

Let us close our ears to the enemy’s lies. Let us claim our victory in Christ. Let us proclaim the glory of Our King this Easter season.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the armor that You provide us. We thank You that the enemy cannot lead us astray when we take on the armor of protection that is ours through our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ. Thank You, Jesus, for providing our victory over all evil. Teach us how to live our lives in victory. Prepare the hearts of those around us to be drawn to the life in victory that we display. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is our stronghold in our times of trouble, Jesus Christ.

The Privilege and Responsibility of Sharing the Salvation Story

Acts 26:18
To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

Paul was sent before King Agrippa by the Jews in an effort to have him killed or at least imprisoned. Paul explained to King Agrippa how he had been led by an encounter with Jesus to abandon his efforts to oppose the message of Jesus of Nazareth and to then turn to a life of proclaiming the message of Jesus to the world.

In today’s passage, the Apostle Paul is describing to King Agrippa the directive and the message that Jesus gave him to bring to the people. The message summarizes for us the fullness of our blessing in Christ, but it also provides us with the responsibility that we share with Paul. For we are all called to spread the Good News that we have received.

It is not uncommon to hear and see people in all walks of life openly professing their disdain for Jesus Christ. People around us need to know and we need to be constantly aware that without our precious Savior, we are doomed to eternal damnation. The sin nature absolutely blocks any possibility that we would choose the light of Jesus Christ over the darkness of Satan. Fortunately for all mankind, Our Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us to overcome our frailty. Through His mercy, He provides a pathway to victory over the darkness in our lives. Through His perfect love and forgiveness, He has given us His Son to be Our Savior. Through His salvation plan, He calls each of us to participate in sharing His salvation story.

Let us choose the Light of the World. Let us choose to be lights to the world. Let us boldly spread the message of the salvation story. Let us insure that everyone around us knows that Jesus washes us clean with His blood so that we can bath in His light and abide with Him for all eternity.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to atone for our sins and allow us to live in Your magnificent light for all eternity. Your Word tells us that there will be no need for the sun or the moon in eternity for Your light will be sufficient. We pray, Lord, that you will show us how to live in Your perfect light and share it with the world around us. Help us to become living testimony of the loving kindness, mercy and grace that you have provided to us through the sacrifice of Your Son. Father, may our Christian experience be marked by the light that we provide to those around us that are in the darkness. We ask these things in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.