For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 28:11
One of the biggest ways that Satan uses to destabilize our faith, is to have us question God’s promises towards us and to have us doubt his faithfulness.
How does he do this? He achieves this with through suggestions and if we fail to discern his suggestions and shut them down immediately it graduates into a conversation of doubt and ultimately, he brings us into defeat. No one has ever won a conversation with Satan outside the word of God.
This is satan’s long trusted and tested weapon that has brought many saints into ruin. Satan would have us contrast our circumstances with what God has promised us or with what God has warned us not to do. He seeks to bring us into a logical conversation in order to bring us into disobedience or defeat.
This was the same strategy he introduced to Eve-“ Did God really say you must not eat from the tree in the garden?”.
This is classic satan: he starts his conversation by introducing doubts and questioning the rationale behind every divine instruction and every divine assurance. Therefore we need to monitor our thoughts from the outset and test them against what God is saying in his word or against what He has personally assured us.
To effectively shut down satanic thoughts and conversation we must know the word of God and meditate constantly on what God is telling us or else Satan will bring us always away from faith into the realm of logic, therefore using our circumstances to trounce us.
This was the great Prophet Elijah’s experience: once the devil drew his heart out into the realm of self pity he forgot all about his divine assignment and cried out saying “ “I have had enough, LORD, Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” ( 1 Kgs. 19:14).
The Bible says that the serpent was crafty; he was sly, he was shrewd and conniving (Genesis 3:1); the same bible warns us to guard our heart with all diligence since from it comes all the issues of life. ( Proverbs 4:23).
How do we resist satanic thoughts and suggestions? We must constantly stay in touch with God and with his promise. We are most vulnerable when we are drawn away from prayer and meditation in the word; and this happens more often when we are lazy or idle. Many thoughts will always bombard an idle mind not filled with God’s word.
Satan works best when we feel lonely, tired or when we are “ chilling”. If Eve and David were up and about doing God’s work satan wouldn’t have had the chance to bring them into a destructive conversation. If they were busy meditating on God’s word his suggestions would have been defeated from the outset.
A classic way to deal with satan is to see how the Lord Jesus dealt with him, not with his own thoughts, for he was hungry and tired, and alone, but with the word of God every time satan used his circumstances to question Him.
After the satanic inquisition the Bible said Satan left him for a season, or an opportune time. ( Luke 4:13).
Satanic inquisition never stops and we have to develop our resilience in the word because his strategy is to wear us out. Even more dangerous than ever before are these present times when the devil unceasingly rolls out thoughts, visions and prophecies through more than a thousand sources. (1 John 4:1-6).
Many of us do not even know what it is to discern these thoughts or too lazy to put them to test in prayer, or too gullible and therefore not listening to what God is telling us because these false voices appear more glamorous and promises immediate rewards.
God is telling us today that he remains faithful and that his thoughts for us is for good and not of evil, and even more importantly, to bring us to an expected end.
He goes further to tell us that “ the vision is yet for an appointed time; It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3).
When we are in a strait, trying to discern what is of the Lord or of the devil we should know that before the word of the Lord comes there will be turbulence of the mind, troubled thoughts that never rests and a total lack of peace.
But the moment the true word and promise of God strikes a situation we would experience tremendous peace even when circumstances appear troubling.
How do we know that God’s thoughts is bigger than our thoughts? Because we know that God’s thoughts towards are are of good and not of evil and therefore any evil suggestion and thought that assail our minds are not of God but of Satan.
Therefore we must trust the word of God than our own thoughts- why ? Because our thoughts are fickle but the word of God is settled and unchanging and like our Lord Jesus Christ we must master the act of loudly rebuking Satan and affirming God’s word our our lives.
Reading: Luke 4:1-13
