Satan is subtle in his attacks. Most often we don’t attribute our struggles to the work of the devil. I don’t know at what point we began to lose the recognition of demonic activity. Everything that is true, good, pure, and peaceful is of God (Philippians 4:8). That means everything else is not of God, which in my system of beliefs, points to the devil. Until you learn to recognize your enemy, you will never be able to defeat him. Instead we live in a state of blissful ignorance, unaware of the attack, and incapable of defending ourselves against it. In other words, we become the victim.
Daily Life
Expanding God’s Presence in your Life
Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). The Bible also states that darkness cannot coincide with light (I John 1:5; John 8:12; John 12:46; 1 Thessalonians 5:5). We can’t fill our lives with darkness and expect the presence of God to be evident within us. We spend too much time pursuing our desires and counting on God to bail us out when things don’t go our way. If you’ve been following Jesus for any amount of time, you realize it doesn’t work that way. As creatures of freewill, we have the ability to limit the power and presence of God in our lives. The more we fill our lives with sin and things not of God, the less room we have for Him.
Dealing with Despair
There’s a part of me that wants to believe that followers of Jesus should never have to deal with feelings of depression or despair. After all, the Creator of the Universe gave up His only Son just so we could live. He promises to heal our afflictions and rejoices in the fact that we will spend eternity with Him. He is the giver of all good things and loves us without limits or conditions. How could we ever get down on life? Having accepted Christ, we understand that the good news isn’t just good, it’s great! The reality is that we live in a broken world and generations of sin and abuse have left our minds in less than perfect working order. Add to this the fact that Satan delights in attacking us every waking moment of our lives and the unfortunate result is that we are sometimes overcome with despair.
Trust without Borders
I often listen to music as I drift to sleep at night. Recently I’ve been playing the song, “Oceans”, by Hillsong United. When I woke this morning, the lyrics were stuck in my head. In particular the line, “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders”, kept impressing itself upon me. I started to think about what that looks like in our lives. What would I do if my trust in God had no borders, no limits? It’s easy to confess our faith in God, particularly for those of us who grew up in the Church. It is much harder to proclaim your faith without putting any limitations on it whatsoever.
Give Me Your Eyes
Building the Kingdom of God is accomplished by living our lives in such a way that we look just like Jesus. If you want to honor God, do the things that Jesus did. While no one I know has mastered the art of walking on water or giving sight to the blind, there are many less super-natural ways we can live that beautifully reflect the love and character of Christ. Jesus told the crowds in His day that He had come to seek and save those who were lost (Luke 19:10). That is something you and I can do in our everyday lives, no miracles required. All it takes is a willingness to see the world through the eyes of Jesus.