One at a Time

The Enemy's Strategy

  2. Share
Southeast Christian Church
2 0

Whether we want to acknowledge him or not, Satan is a very real enemy who only wants and yearns for our destruction and downfall. He knows that his ultimate win is to convince as many people as possible that Jesus and all his promises aren’t true; that Jesus was just a good man with some nice things to say who did some neat things. However, once you have seen past this lie, accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and started following Jesus, Satan has to change up his strategy to get you to fall away from everything God has intended for you.

We are often told when we get baptized that your entire life will change – and that’s completely true. But what if our enemy is able to whisper the lies that nothing in your life changes after accepting Jesus? We may still struggle with the some of the things that we did before we came to know and follow Jesus and we undoubtedly will still go through pain and hurt, but our perspective on situations has totally changed once we know who we belong to, that our future in Heaven in secure, and that God is always going to carry his good work in your life. 

By reframing where we find our confidence, we discover that everything does indeed change once you surrender your life to Jesus. Our confidence is no longer in our jobs, our money, our abilities, our gifts, our families, etc., but our confidence about our path rests unwaveringly with our King and Savior.

Reflection/Discussion Question: What is a lie that the enemy has told you regarding your life after accepting Jesus?

Community tags

This content has 0 tags that match your profile.

Purpose

Identity
Spiritual Disciplines

Comments

To leave a comment, login or sign up.

Related Content

0
Keeping God's Commands
It’s one thing to say you love Jesus, but it’s another thing for people to see that you love Jesus. Have you ever interacted with someone and wondered if they were a Christian because of the way they loved the people around them, to then later find out that your suspicion was correct? If you truly love Jesus, you shouldn’t have to say it for people to know you are a Christian. Did you know that the term “Christian” translates to “little Christ”? So, when Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands. . .” (John 14:21), the term “Christian” is the perfect way to describe it. Our lives should be an echo of Christ’s life. We should be a bunch of “little Christs” walking around and loving people one at a time. It’s not that our love for people makes us acceptable in Christ’s eyes, but that our love for people is evidence of whom we love. If we say we love Christ, but we have no love for his people, then the love of Christ cannot be in us. But if we love people like Jesus did, then it’s obvious that we love Christ.  The disciple John grabbed ahold of these lessons that Christ was teaching, because 1 John echoes much of what Jesus was teaching his disciples in these last moments of his life. First John 2:3-6 says, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, the love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (NIV). If we say we love Jesus, our lives should be the proof. Reflection/Discussion Question: If you say you love Jesus, does your life back up your words?
0
Longing for Relationship and Connection
When Jesus prays before heading to the cross, he shows us the kind of relationship he was securing for us with his death. Jesus’s relationship with God as he prays to his Father is a foreshadowing of what he was accomplishing for us on the cross. Without Jesus, we are separated from God, alone, trapped in our sin. Without Jesus, we don’t get to enjoy free access to our Father whenever we want and need.  But because Jesus prayed to his Father and submitted himself to God’s will, he willingly went to the cross to secure our salvation. He was separated from God so that we could be reconciled. He was cut off from the Father so that we could enjoy free access to Him whenever we want. The Son of God died so that we could become sons and daughters of the King. Because of the cross, we get to pray the same way that Jesus did in John 17. We get to pray to God as our loving Father who wants to hear from us. He is a Father who wants to spend time with us and desires deep connection with us. He isn’t waiting for us to pray so that he can reprimand us or demand something of us. He isn’t going to remind us of the ways we have failed. He will simply pour out his love and grace on us as his beloved children. He is exactly who we need in our times of crisis. Reflection/Discussion Questions: How do you pray to God? Do you pray to him like he is your Father?

Philippians 1:6 tells us, "...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." No matter where you find yourself today, whether on top of a mountain or in a deep valley, you can be confident that God will never abandon you on your path and will be with you for every step. When you go through difficulities and struggles, it is especially important to remember that God never leaves you and "all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28 NIV) All you need for this week's 1X challenge is some paper and a pen! Write the phrase "God finishes what He starts" and place that phrase in three different places that you will frequently see it throughout the week to remind you of God's promise. Share your story of what this phrase did for your mindset this week. 

Read Stories
One at a Time
Powered by Cause Machine. All rights reserved.