Christian Living

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Many Christians, myself included, consistently underestimate the power of Satan to corrupt lives and relationships. Many of us need to change our view of him and understand how he compromises our faith in Jesus.

I must admit that I don’t give Satan his due. I’m so self-centered so much of the time that I often blame myself for his activity in my life, but now it is time to give the Devil his due.

The first step in this process is acceptance. We must accept that Satan is real and actively undermining us, encouraging us to fail. We must accept that there is a real battle within for the lordship of our hearts and by not fully committing to Christ we are tacitly giving access to Satan.

Secondly, once we accept that we are in this battle, we need to understand how our Satan’s attacks us. Like many Christians, I’m pretty good at recognizing and repelling frontal attacks, but I often fail to recognize the enemy’s flanking maneuvers. He slips into camp under the cover of darkness reeking havoc and mayhem.

Thirdly, it is the little things that seem to take us down. The seemingly insignificant happenings in our lives that accumulate over time that undermines all that we do, destroying our faith in Jesus.

For example, after a long day I don’t feel like doing anything. So I turn on the news only to have my purity hammered every 15 minutes by provocative commercials or video logs about Brittney Spears or Anna Nichole Smith (I thought she was dead?). Who cares about girls gone wild? We all know that some young women are choosing to act badly in public so why is this important news? We all understand about the immorality of celebrities and the Internet, but why do we have to see the video of it every night on the news?

Another way Satan attacks us is through activity. He encourages us to over commit, to pack our schedules with so much stuff, that we are unable to accomplish anything. We become so stressed out by our commitments, so distracted by our failures that we don’t want to spend time with God, preferring to believe that His love for us is unjustified.

Another area of vulnerability is our frame of mind, our mental attitude. As a “glass half empty” person I tend to see the negative versus the positive in most situations, playing right into Satan’s hands. I start the morning out feeling great only to end the day tired and defeated.

The truth is that many Christians live distracted lives, many don’t expend the effort it requires to be positive and, for many of us, it’s easier to be unhappy, easier to give in to our negative natures then to celebrate Jesus.

Matthew 6:33 must be our call to arms, must be that compass that directs our lives: “...seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

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