I have a warning for you. It may be the most astute and critical warning that you will ever receive. It is more important than that of “Smoking will kill you!” or the shrill, ear-piercing noise of a fire alarm. Failure to heed this warning will certainly lead to a fate worse than death. If you continue to ignore this truth you will be destroyed and everything you love will be destroyed. However, if you pay attention to this warning and make adjustments in your life accordingly, you will have a wonderful and successful life free from the worry and trappings that most everyone falls into. Are you ready for it? Here it is.
THE DEVIL IS OUT TO GET YOU!
If you are like two thirds of Americans who, according to Barna Research Group, as reported by The New York Times, do not believe that Satan really exists, then you may desire to dismiss this warning out of hand. You may even decide to stop reading and assume that I have nothing good to say on this subject. But, I encourage you to hear me out.
Satan’s purpose in life is to thwart God’s will, or rather to try. We know, with confidence as children of our Almighty Father in heaven, that God’s will cannot be thwarted. God wins in the end, but that does not mean that Satan will not do everything in his power to reek as much havoc as he can in the meantime.
In short, God’s will is that all that He has created will bring to Him the glory that He deserves. He loved us, and so saved us from sin through Jesus on the Cross, so that we can love him back. When we love him well, meaning that we deny ourselves and put God and others before us, God gets an optimal amount of glory. Satan just hates this! Satan wants the glory. Stealing glory from God is the original sin. That is what got Lucifer kicked out of heaven in the first place and it is what got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Stealing God’s glory is what every single person in the history of mankind has been guilty of ever since and it is really the essence of every sin that we are guilty of as rebellious humans.
Satan’s purpose is to trick us into being accomplices in his effort to steal the glory that rightfully belongs to the Lord of the Universe. And he is really good at it.
Every single one of us humans would be slaves under the Devil’s spell if it were not for the active and loving work of the Holy Spirit in the world. The only thing that can keep us from being glory stealers who are controlled by Satan is we are held within the arms of Christ, our Savior. When we follow Jesus, Satan can’t touch us. However, if we only BELIEVE in Jesus we are not safe. Even Satan believes in Jesus. We must be Disciples of Jesus. We must live our lives everyday striving to live into the example that Jesus has set for us. We must go wherever it is that Jesus goes and do whatever it is that Jesus does if we truly want to be FOLLOWERS of Jesus.
Life is only worth living within the safe and secure arms of our Lord Jesus. In the arms of Jesus we have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). We also receive, as gifts from God – Faith, Hope and Love (1 Corinthians 13). These are the things that make a life worth living. Outside the protective arms of Christ we are vulnerable to the attacks and lies of Satan where we find death and destruction at ever turn.
Look around at this world we live in. Can you see the Devil at work? Look at the media; look at Hollywood; look at Washington DC; look at all of the people you know who do not know Jesus. The Devil is having a field day all around us. Now look at the people who have a relationship with Jesus. Observe the people whom you know to be strong people of faith. Are they safe from the Devil? Can you see Jesus in their eyes?
The Church has much work to do, for Satan is picking off our neighbors, our friends, our family members like a wolf picks off sheep. The Gospel of John says that Jesus is the “Good Shepherd.” We need to be like Jesus.
