The Devil is hiding in the bushes

I don’t normally write about the devil, as I would rather focus on the goodness of Christ.

However, a recent conversation inspired me to reflect on satan’s activity in our lives.

Scripture gives us some clues on Mr. Evil’s activities within the world, and to sum it up he basically is a deceiver.

Or in laymen terms; liar.

Actually my favorite image of Satan is found in St. Peter’s first letter. St. Peter writes,

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Satan is looking to deceive us in all kinds of ways.

He wants us to believe that we are less than.

Less than what?
Less than perfect.

In Matthew 5 Jesus teaches about loving your enemies and ends this section of scripture by telling everyone that we are called to be perfect like our Heavenly Father.

Perfection does not mean crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s. Jesus’ perfection means being whole.

Being completely whole.

We were originally made whole, but because of the fall in Genesis 3 and our own sin we are broken. The Good news is Christ’s death and resurrection makes us whole again!!

Satan gets a hold of this though and tries to get us to believe that our brokenness cannot be fixed.

He whispers,

“You are not pretty enough.”

“You are not smart enough”

“You don’t belong”

“Your depression and anxiety are just who you are, you can never experience freedom from them”

“You are only here to make yourself happy”

“You are not loved and you are too broken to be loved”

“Your house isn’t nice/big enough”

“You will never have enough money, it’s your only security in this world”

Ect.

I’m sure you have heard something similar in your own life.

These insecurities are crippling when they are all we believe about ourselves, and Satan is waiting in the bushes, hoping if we hear these lies enough we will start believing the lies.

Here is the Good News; we don’t have to be defined by our insecurities. We get to live as kingdom people right now.

We get to experience the freedom of the life transformation of Christ Jesus!

Lately I have been feeling the burden of these lies in my life. I have sat in self pity for too long over some things that have happened and have decided that I am wallowing in my own sin.

Satan doesn’t want me to move towards Christ, so he is going to try yell louder from the bushes. He might even try to get inside my heart house and stick his dirty little hands all over the different parts of my heart.

Scripture is clear on how to stop this from happening.

St. Paul gives us the image of putting on the armor of God to the church of Ephesus, to keep Satan at bay.

He writes, “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

Let us keep our hearts from being weighed down by the lies of Satan an rejoice in the resurrection of Christ.