Jenny For Jesus

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10a) Satan is a thief. Yet the one thing he wants most, our souls, is off limits when we choose salvation through Jesus. Because he cannot take this from us, he uses our temptations to hinder our joy. Jesus reminds us that he has much better plans for us. “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10b)

Recently, I have felt the devil creeping in and trying to take away the joy that God wants me to experience. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with the challenges that come with being home with a wound up toddler 7 days a week. I’ve found myself yelling more, losing patience, and giving in to temptations to use worldly coping mechanisms instead of falling on my knees in prayer. Why?

Temptation is part of our human nature. “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.” (James 1:14) The devil knows this and preys on our weaknesses in an attempt to keep us from experiencing the fullness of God’s joy and peace. Since he has no chance to capture our souls, he wants to draw us as far away from God as he can. He uses the temptations of our own human nature to lure us into sin.

You see, if I am too busy yelling at my child, exuding frustrations, and focusing on the negative, I am missing out on the blessing God intends for me to experience as a mama. And that’s exactly what Satan wants. Not only is he isolating me from my Savior, but he is stopping me from being a Godly example for my child.

Yes, temptation is a part of our human makeup. But I truly believe God designed us this way so that we would need to lean on him. He didn’t create us to be predisposed to failure. He wants us to CHOOSE him. He fashioned us to have freedom to decide for ourselves whether or not we will follow him. And guess who doesn’t like when that happens? Yep, the devil.

So when Satan wraps our worldly temptations in these pretty little packages that look so appealing, it isn’t because it’s a good gift. It’s because he wants to destroy our relationship with the Heavenly Father. We cannot resist the attacks of the devil on our own. So it is ever more important that each day we “deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.” (Matthew 16:24) Every. Single. Day. We must immerse ourselves in God’s word daily. We must pray fervently. Only then will we be strong enough to say no to whatever is drawing us away from God.

Aligning ourselves with God’s will for abundant life isn’t promised to be an easy journey. When we decide to follow him, attacks from the enemy increase. You see, while we are living in sin, wrapped up in our worldly ways, Satan has no need to bother us. But when we bring our lives into balance with our Lord’s will, spend time in his word, and spend time in prayer with him consistently, that’s when Satan steps up his game. He uses every tactic at his disposal to keep us from the goodness of God. I think that is a major reason temptation is so hard to walk away from.

When I realize that Satan is working relentlessly to cause me to stray, I take a moment to reevaluate my own behavior. What I typically find is that I haven’t clothed myself in the armor that God provides to resist the devil. Ephesians 6:10 clearly tells us to “put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.” It saddens me to admit that I have let Satan steal my joy. And I’ve allowed it way more than I want to admit. I am grateful that my God loves me enough to give me reminders, through the Bible, of how I can be restored. “But he gives greater grace… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:6-8)