This week I fell for one of satan’s tools. Something happened that left me spinning, probably more then it should have. I placed someone who was in biblical authority on a pedestal, and that person fell. Only Christ should be placed on that pedestal and only Christ is faithful in all things. This week the Lord really showed me how I got to that point, because it is sneaky and it reminded me how satan works. Someone else’s sin can lead to sin in your own life, but it manifests in a different way.
Let me review how satan works:
1. He knows his tools. And his biggest tool is a voice in your head, and a sympatic ear. We are all prone to wander. For me personally, I was already going through some spiritual warfare before this week, I felt battle weary. I was beginning to regroup and refresh, feeling that I was fighting the good fight. I felt the sympatic ear of how my weariness was understood, and I should relax a bit.
2. Satan knows our wiring and our tendencies. It was made evident to me that I lost sight of spiritual leaders human tendencies. We are all human, but in my tunnel vision I lost sight of that. So when a leader who I was close to fell, it rocked my world. How could he sin? This person was Godly, he could do no wrong. Here was a tendency/belief Satan was aware of I had, even if I was not aware of it myself. I do now.
Satan’s goal is to create an environment where he can tempt your mind. He wants to fill your head with thoughts that will stir your affections in hopes you will enact the free will given to you, to participate in activities or make it easy to lead you away from Christ.
When you enact in that will, you fall into sin.
James 1:14 states: But each one is tempted when he is carried away (mind) and enticed by his own lust.
Many times Satan wants you to believe this is as good as it gets, you begin to feel defeated, and you wonder what all the fight is for if you will only fail. So he will move you to a place where you should not be or thinking things you should not think.
My temptation this week was to walk away from any ministry I was involved in, no more devotionals, no more Internet Café, no more… for all it leads to is pain and disappointment. If the person I looked up to could fall into sin so greatly, then what hope is there for me to make a difference in the Kingdom of God?
Do you hear the lies that were whispered to this battle weary girl? Satan knew I was already weary; I was already feeling a bit attacked (notice he created the environment), and then suddenly my mentor/spiritual advisor fell and hurt everyone around (and provided me a simple reason to just walk away, to say it is not worth it).
But God carried me, and used this pain to make me aware that I was placing human men (and by men I mean men and women) on a pedestal, that is not fair to them and it can lead me down the wrong path. Only Christ deserves that position.
So now I know a weakness, a temptation that I have. How do I defeat this when it comes up again? And it will, we are all human.
Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 4:16 “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching..†Basically KNOW YOURSELF, know what tempts you.
I know if I walk into a mall with a pocketbook full of money, this is a serious temptation for me. Because I know this fact about myself, I will not walk into a mall if that money was not supposed to go towards things in a mall. Know what your triggers are, and move away from them.
If when you are alone you have the tendency to think negative thoughts, or to fall into a negative pattern. Be aware of that and move away from that environment, surround yourself with positive words of Christ, surround yourself with a body of believers, do not allow yourself to be alone for an extended period of time. Know what your triggers are. Sometimes it is something very physical like the computer, the type of books you read, the type of magazines you surround yourself with, the type of music you listen to.
For me now, I am aware there are many wise and wonderful men and women here to teach me more about Christ, but they are never to be placed on a pedestal. My trigger in this was placing others on the same spiritual pedestal as I placed Christ. Also I need to be aware when I am weary in battle to surround myself in his word. We are all one in the body, just with different spiritual gifts. And the only person who will not fail us is Christ. I know this seems obivious, but like I said satan is tricky and it can happen without you being aware.
In Matt 26:41 it states “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation.”
All of this cannot be done in our own power, we can only fight temptation with God’s power, we are nothing on our own. On our own we are a squirt gun trying to put out a forest fire, but with Christ we are heavy torrential rain to that forest fire.
Walk worthy, know yourself, and do not allow Satan to place you in the environment that will lead to temptation. Sometimes it can hit you out of the blue like it did me, then pick yourself up, run to Christ and with his power he will teach you, stretch you and put out the fire of temptation with His word of truth.
Heavenly Father, help us examine ourselves, to know what our temptation triggers are, I know they are different for each person. Help us to stand up and be bold and to say, “I can not do that, for it is a trigger for me” and give us the strength to walk away. Through your power, nothing can defeat us. Thank you Father for when we do fall, you are there to teach and instruct us in the way to go, and to help us grow stronger in the knowledge of you so we do not fall for the same lie each time.
Amen.
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