Someone Wants You to Fail

If you have given your heart to Jesus, Satan cannot touch your soul.  But just because that battle has been lost to him, do not think for a moment that the enemy has stopped waging war on you. You see, if Satan can’t have your soul, his next goal is to make you ineffective in the kingdom of God.  

Many of us too often lose sight of the fact that there is a spiritual battle raging in this world.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians ‭6:12‬).

The very fact that you are reading these words makes Satan angry.  He desires greatly for you to be put off by the supposed fanaticism of living a life devoted to Christ.  It’s not that hard for him to pull us away when we begin to draw close to God.  He knows human insecurities.  He revels in the naysayers scoffing at our zest for Jesus.  He would love for us to uncomfortably imagine others rolling their eyes when we mention our desire to walk closer to Christ.

He hopes that you forget to finish this challenge.  He is working hard to make this experience seem unnecessary and inconvenient.  He does not want you to be an active warrior for the Kingdom of God.  And if you’re a role model for children, he’s even more determined.  He knows that if you go through your day putting God on a shelf, your children will grow up to do the same.  Oh how desperately he wants that for our kids.  He wants the next generation of Christians to see through our example that God can be put on a back burner and that life can go on just fine.

Oftentimes, it does.  We are busy. We have work deadlines, club meetings, soccer games, luncheons, maybe church…..(right?!). We are so focused on checking things off of our to-do list that we often fail to give this spiritual battle a second thought. In fact, most of us never think about our enemy. I mean, it sounds a little weird to talk about your ‘enemy’, doesn’t it? But make no mistake, Satan IS our enemy.  He wants this awkwardness to throw us off.  He wants his presence in this world to be minimized. If he can keep us so distracted that we aren’t recognizing his tactics, then bravo!  Easy enough!  His job is done!  

It’s so important for us to realize that the very moment we decided to get in the game for Jesus, Satan began strategizing our defeat.  He desires for us to fail.  He wants us to grow complacent in our Christian walk.  He does not want us to step aside and allow the Holy Spirit to show us what parts of our life could use work.  

Yesterday, as you surveyed your surroundings, you likely felt a tugging at your heart to let you know there are some changes that need to be made within your home.  Satan does not want you to see that!  He doesn’t want you to allow time for the Holy Spirit to work.  He wants to drown out that conviction with busy schedules, family time that centers on things other than Christ, and noise from the world.  Each of these things is such a central part of the modern life that we fail to realize their impact on our emotions and decisions.  

Satan desperately desires for you, your friends, your family – everything about you – to align with the world and be a fruitless witness for Christ.  But there is good news!  With Jesus, we are not defeated!!! We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; (2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:8‬).

God has given us the victory!

Yet in order to claim that victory, we have to prepare.  Professional soldiers, athletes, and performers know that before they can be successful in battle, in a game, or on the stage, it takes practice and training. Christians are no different. To think we are going to be successful in the world as witnesses for Christ without digging deep in our Bibles and spending consistent time with God is foolish. He has given us everything we need, but we must purposefully and consistently focus on Him and His word every day.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Today’s Challenge:  Set aside a specific time in your day to spend on scripture and in prayer.  Don’t try to simply fit it in somewhere.  Instead, make this time priority number one in your schedule.  You might need to wake up a bit earlier and focus on this first thing in the morning.  You might leave for work sooner and spend this time with God in a parking lot in your car before you head into school, your job, or the office.  Perhaps you can have some time alone with God during your lunch break or maybe at night before you sleep. Create a routine, and make this time a priority for the remainder of this challenge.  Mold your schedule around these most important moments. If the time you set aside isn’t working, make a specific plan to try something different the following day.