Satan knows how to push my buttons. And if you will be honest, he knows how to push yours too. The guy has had thousands of years to learn the mysteries of the human psyche and to test the endurance of a bruised flesh. He has learned that if he knocks us around a little bit, we are more likely to comfort ourselves with his alluring temptations. He has especially excelled in cataloging and triggering a person's emotional, psychological and physical reaction to a simple passing thought or memory, and can, in a single moment, with one single accusation, reduce a strong, faith-filled-warrior saint into a crumbling shame-faced and self-accusing worm. I can't speak for you but as for me, I have had it with this guy. I have engaged this fight for years, moving through anger and righteous indignation to pure unadulterated wrath. It is time to expose this sleaze-ball and put him in his place – stop him in his tracks – and reclaim the joy and confidence he has stolen. I like to send him back through time to the scene of the Cross, the shed blood of Jesus – the day he lost everything. You can hear him screaming through the centuries and you know what– its okay… This is why we plead the Blood of Jesus when danger threatens – Satan and the demons of hell scream in agony and fear when we mention that precious blood, so filled with power, so pure for cleansing, so necessary for the life that is abundant in Christ Jesus. It is no wonder we proclaim it, it is no wonder we defend it… This time you and I will engage the fight together. There is power in numbers - two can put ten thousand to flight - and if two or more agree on touching anything for the Glory of God, it shall be done. Let's go get him, let's tread on him, put him under our feet, and let's destroy forever all his chances of ever intimidating or assaulting our faith again. Like you, the sins of my past were all washed away by the Blood of Jesus when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. Those sins were erased from my heavenly account and God does not remember them anymore. But Satan does and he delights in reminding me what a dunce I was in my youth and how many times I have failed since then to live up to the Lord's expectations. Again and again I have failed my Lord, Satan says, and again and again I have polluted myself with the world. I confess I keep the news on continually, even though I am not watching, I can hear it, because we live in extraordinary times and I feel I need to know if anything happens suddenly or catastrophically. And I keep eyes and ears open for the signs of latter day prophecies coming to fruition. It is our duty to stay informed and to be alert, and it is our responsibility to interpret these things for the Body of Christ - being the watchmen on the wall we are called to be. Remember, God’s people perish for lack of knowledge. Therefore, when they ask, we need to be instant in season and out of season with an answer… Some people may think the TV and the computer are idols of this modern day. I suppose one can make them idols, indeed, one can make an idol of anyone or anything. But when I use the TV for headline news and alerts, and the computer for teaching and communicating with the Body that is scattered around the world, that makes my computer a ship, a plane, a vessel of travel that I may fellowship without expense, without danger, and without leaving my home. I can even peruse the websites of the prophets while wearing my pajamas – a blessing our grandparents would have loved. Sometimes I listen to the brief spurts of local gossip to avoid offending a neighbor, sometimes mean thoughts assail me when I am angry with someone and sometimes, I just “can’t stand” being around a certain person because she is nosey and can often be a public embarrassment (even though she calls herself “Christian). Sometimes I recall really old offenses I caused others, and it’s too late to say, “I’m sorry.” Sometimes I remember old offenses against me and I know I forgave them long ago – so why are they coming up again? I have concluded that – while we may make the effort to endure with longsuffering - and while we may forgive - sometimes it takes awhile for the hurt to melt into a Godly love for that person. And sometimes, we simply dismiss the hurt and move on with our lives, never really dealing with the offense until years later. I have learned that we must forgive our offenders on the spot if we are to be forgiven our own offending moments, and if our faith and spiritual strength are to endure when we need them the most. A warrior that is reduced to a shame-faced worm can't fight. He can only be crushed. A warrior that is nursing his pride, devastated because he is not perfect, stoking the flames of self-condemnation can't fight. He is put down and out of commission before the fight begins. He is of no use to the armies of the Kingdom... But all praises be to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. We have a truth and a Holy Ghost support that is more powerful than our failures and more glorious than any of our victories. But a fight is a fight, and the closer we cling to Christ, the stronger we become. God protects our life but he cannot always protect our flesh. We are going to be bruised and torn and knocked about, so we have to fight and we have to win if we want to live. The fight begins when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord. We engage the fight daily, and daily we win or lose according to our faith, our spiritual strength and our obedience to the Word of God. Knowing what God's Word says about us, and how God sees us is a major weapon, it is the sword of truth that Satan fears and cannot defeat. Therefore, the most important weapon we have is our confidence in God’s Word, our confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit and faith as the warriors of the Almighty God. We begin our training for the fight by picking up the most important weapon of engagement – forgiveness of ourselves, bearing the banner of our salvation and engaging the heavenly cause as you would defend your toddler from the lion. When we can do that, we become warriors with a quest against the formidable foes of hell. Having accepted a heavenly mission we become true defenders of the truth and the faith... The only way Satan can defeat us, the only way he can win the fight, is to convince us and convict us of our weaknesses and the sins our Lord and our God have already forgiven. If he can cause us to accuse ourselves, to condemn ourselves, and to buckle and weep when he accuses us of wretched unworthiness, we lose ground, we lose the battle, and we fail Christ all over again. We cannot win the battle for Christ and the saints when we crumble under Satan’s lies. Remember, he was a liar from the beginning, everything he tells us is a lie, and that includes the lie he repeats again and again about our so-called unworthiness. If we were so unworthy Satan would not be trying to destroy us – we would already be in his corner - advancing his godless causes. It is because The Father has accepted us in the Beloved, made us the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus, brought us into the Kingdom with eternal citizenship, and loves us as much as He loves Jesus, that infuriates Satan so much he wants to steal our joy and our faith, kill our bodies and destroy our souls. He can do this through our willing disobedience, any un-repentance, and rejection and/or denial of the deity of the Son of God or the authority of the Holy Ghost. The lie that there are many roads to Heaven, and not through Christ alone, has deceived many. Jesus Christ Himself tells us in His Word that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no man comes unto the Father except through Him. It is time to reclaim the deceived who believe the lies, it is time to turn Satan back with the precious fearless truth that is so available to us, and advance the cause of Christ… First, we must learn to forgive ourselves - everything - holding nothing back - just as we forgive others who trespass against us. If we trespass against ourselves, and all of us have - and do, we must forgive ourselves and move forward. We must never retreat to the past for the past is dead, buried, and has no more power over us, unless we bring it up and give it the glory it needs to whip us with. God's mercy and redemption and the precious Blood of Jesus are more powerful than our weaknesses, more understanding of our mortal flesh. The power of the love that is in that Blood is able, willing and quick to forgive and cleanse our foulest sins. What has been washed clean is no longer dirty. It is pressed of wrinkles, equipped with Sword and Shield, and is prepared for the defense of the Kingdom. Believe it! Declare it! Act like it! Fight like it! Let Satan and his cohorts know you are somebody - you are the child of the Most High God and you are not afraid of him - you have the truth and Satan cannot stand in the face of truth. Rebuke him, renounce his hold over you, his ability to inflict fear in you, and command him to cease and desist in his operations against you. Command him to take his hands off of God's property or be cast into outer darkness forever. They cringe at this threat - they fear the outer darkness. Crying aloud, sparing not, the Name of Jesus will bring heavenly armies to your side, and they will fight alongside you as you speak the Word of God in the face of the enemy. Go ahead, pull down strongholds, rip the fortresses to pieces, and chop off the escape routes, dry up the waters, and cancel the assignments of all - from the princes to the lowest demonic elf - then, when the battle is over - be kind to yourself, rest with His praises on your lips and be refilled... And never, never again let Satan pull you down with accusations and taunts of shame. Remember, all your sins are under the Blood of Jesus, and He is your Lord, your Savior and your Redeemer. If you goof, and we all do daily, repent immediately and move on! We honor our Lord Jesus Christ the most when we trust Him to know our weaknesses, our failings, and forgive us anyway when we lay them at His feet… Joan Krempel |