A Tactic of Satan

A Tactic of Satan 

by David Brenneman 

It's as old as the first sin and used more than probably any other in his arsenal. 

Self condemnation and perpetual guilt. 

Getting people to dwell on the past and do what God never intended for people to go through.  

Jesus said of him that he was a liar and the father of lies.  

Any who have ever driven a vehicle of any kind knows that if you only refer to the rear view mirror while moving forward you'll inevitably wreck into something or someone.  You either will do this or you will come to a stop for fear of doing that.

All the while consumed by your past.

I lived through many decades of heavy assaults by Satan and my sin nature in regards to my past sins. 

We who are in Christ should respond with the truth of God. That He promised to cast those sins as far away as the east is from the west, remembering them no more.  Psalm 103:12.

It's on us to forgive ourselves. To ask forgiveness of our sins from God.  To be intentional on walking away from them.

We won't get very far by being forgiven, being set free from sins, the chains broken, only to willingly put them on ourselves again.  We do have that capability. Sin lost at the cross of Jesus Christ. It's power broken. Defeated. 

The cross of Jesus Christ, as a graphic representation put it, was Jesus being the only one who could take two pieces of wood and build a bridge to Heaven with it.

Our present is a gift from God.  

Your very breath, borrowed. 

Your very heartbeat, a gift.

Forgiveness is a requirement to move through life.  I used to probably make Satan and his minions laugh at me for my own self condemnation. 

In Romans Paul writes this:

"Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." 8:1-2 NASB.

We need to stop giving him and or our sin nature the satisfaction of doing what we do to ourselves. 

Jesus forgives and forgets. Drop it already.  In Christ Jesus the charges were dropped. Case dismissed. 

This is but one tactic of Satan. 

For the Believer, realize he cannot possess you. This too is a lie. He can't cohabitate with the Holy Spirit. 

Another is that Satan cannot read the minds of Believers.  Pray silently and it drives him crazy. Pray out loud and he learns of what he won't be able to stop if it's in the will of God. 

Satan really loves to get people, Believers and those who don't believe yet, to mutilate their bodies in all the ways we see people doing.  To recreate their bodies into their own image rather than in the image of God as God created them. God made no mistake, my Dear Reader, in who and what you were born to be.  As Jesus quoted of the book of Genesis, "male and female He created them', He made no mistakes!

We would do well to remember that we who are in Christ Jesus need to stand firm and resist Satan and he would flee.

He prowls around like a roaring lion seeking people to devour.  

Knowing your enemy is a taught exercise in the military. In Spiritual warfare you need to know you've got an enemy, if you are in Christ Jesus. Satan will do his best to keep all others from finding the truth of God, that Jesus wants to save them and have a relationship with them. 

Pray for yourself to realize you are forgiven in Christ Jesus. Pray for those chains to be broken. To find that promised freedom. 

It's only a prayer away, both freedom from those shackles, or even to just come to Christ for salvation.