To understand the good you have to know the bad.

Dear Friends-

Today I write to you about something that most wouldn't write about. I normally write to you about the good that is found in the Lord, but to understand how good the good news is you must understand how bad the bad news is. I think a lot of times we forget that there is an evil entity that exists and has people working on his team. We only tend to think about the fact that the Lord will protect us as it says "

Psalm 32:10
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

This is true. The Lord will keep you and protect you if you pursue Him, but I firmly believe in spiritual warfare. I believe that Satan wants nothing more than to make you feel alone, and broken, and unredeemable and that God is more powerful than that and He will in his perfect timing overcome that and save you, but I do believe that after you are saved Satan will realize He has lost a soul to the Lord and then though He can't keep you from Christ He will try and make you less effective in that He will scare you into thinking that you shouldn't share the gospel. He will make you feel alone and like an outsider. None of this is true. Our God is good and holy and there are people around you but you can't forget that who the Son sets free is free indeed.

I have been reading a work by C.S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters. It is a compilation of letters from supposedly an older demon instructing him on how to make christians less effective. Let me start by saying I don't know how Lewis got these letters, if He wrote them or what but I do know that they present some interesting insight and as you read them you see where they really do reveal areas where we need to be guarded.

In letter 7 it says this:

"Once you have made the World an end and faith a means you have almost won your man and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes and crusades matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity he is ours.- the more "religious" (on those terms) the more securely ours."

I quote it only to make a point ---and the point of many of the letters is to distract us from our cause. In one it talks about that if the demon can get you running after a charitable cause rather than God you won't notice the difference but you won't be doing the Lords work. It's an interesting account and I hope to compile a short list of things we can all be watching for from this. But here is what I want you to take away: If you are saved by the grace of God you have a power inside of you that is stronger than any one and anything. He will guard you and protect you and the more you run after Him and the more you know the word (the sword of the spirit) you will know that the lies that Satan feeds are just that: LIES. If you are weak in your walk and not pursuing Him it can be hard to see this contrast that must be present. If you can't tell what is from God and what is from Satan then I would thoroughly encourage you to really search yourself and your heart and figure out if you are serving the Lord wholeheartedly or not. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then I'd encourage you really read your bible as there are a ton of places where the word talks about Satan. For instance:

2 Thess 3:3
3The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 

We have to remember the need for the good news that is Jesus Christ and that is to save us from the sinful, wicked, ways that we are accustomed and to breathe into us a new life. He cleans us from our natural and makes us understand slowly and in small part his supernatural ways. We do not and will not ever know everything about God here on earth but we can know this: Our God is greater, stronger, and higher than any other. Of course, we don't love to think about these things, but I think it important for you to know that you need to guard your mind and heart against the common. You need to actively pursue Christ each and every day, every moment. Don't be lukewarm as Christ warns against but remember that an incredible, loving savior died for you so that you might have life and have it more abundantly. He made you and is the truth and the light and if you aren't moving toward God you are moving away from God. RUN toward Him not out of fear but out of confidence and adoration for the miracle of salvation.

If there is anything I have gotten from reading this is that Satan hates it when we pray, so he distracts us from it. Let's be on guard and run after the protector. Let us not allow the normal to infiltrate us, but rather we need to be running after holiness. We need to remember that we are called Saints and to not be conformed to the pattern of the world but to allow God to renew our hearts and spirits and to fight with God not against Him.

Keep praying for His presence for He is the source of strength and He alone is the power. Let Him be these things for you. Let Him be your strength when you have none. Let Him be your hope and your promise. Let His presence be your everything and remember that without Him we are nothing.