There is someone that wants us to fail...

The force we battle....

I have been thinking about how to write this entry for the blog for a while. Its a subject that might be a little touchy, a lot scary,and maybe something that most people don't want to think about. I, on the other hand, think it is vital to our walk that we acknowledge that there is a power that is trying to undermine our every single move as Christians.

So many people think of the Devil as the guy with the red cape and pitchfork, or maybe he's a huge scary "Predator" type of monster in your mind. Possibly you don't think he exists at all.

I hate to tell you though, he is none of those things. He is very real, very present, and very busy. Satan was God's most thought out angel. God took great time and energy to create this being to be dedicated to praising Him in Eternity. He was everything that we as humans picture as an angel of God, but times 10. He was the epitome of beauty. He had a voice of silken majesty. He was smart, probably quite funny, and just as passionate. Trust me, I doubt that it is much different now. Although the beauty is tarnished because of his fall from grace, I promise you he's not ugly. Scary oh yes. But not ugly. I've had numerous encounters with the enemy in my life. From major events, to just every day hindrances and only on one occasion was he ugly, and that was because at that moment he was showing himself to me as the beast of the future in a very scary, horrible dream.

From the time I was a little girl I have had this "connection" with people. I'm not psychic, I don't claim to have any supernatural powers, and I'm definitely not able to read minds. This is just the way God made me, and I know this because the closer I am to God, the stronger my feelings about people become. I am very empathetic towards others, I can't stay mad. I am passionate, emotional and loving. I'm very much a servant, and I don't feel bad about it at all. In the same instance, I cannot watch scary movies, human suffering literally makes my heart hurt,and conflict is awful to me. I kind of quit trying to explain it a few years ago. So needless to say, with that little bit of background information about me, you can see that during my life I have had to learn to battle my way through the attacks of the enemy. He is so smart. Man, its scary how smart he is. He knows how to use the tiniest thing to make you crumble into pieces. He has manipulated and used my flaws, over and over. Until just recently have I learned how to effectivelyfight him off. It has taken a long time, and he still tries. Right now he is trying. He is taking my insecurities of writing about him and my "differences" and trying to convince me I don't need to post this. He has taken my desire to please others and is trying to tell me that I can't write about him. But its not going to work this time. I will be strong enough to share with you what I know about him and help you learn to fight him off yourselves.

How does he work....

Well Satan is an angel, NOT a god. He isn't omnipotent or omnipresent. He has to have help to figure out what is going on in the world. Now that doesn't mean at all that he isn't powerful. Cause he is. He's stronger than you think. He has jurisdiction over the earth.

This is HIS realm. We are inhabitants of his kingdom. But we have a God that will use His power when need be to knock the devil back into his place. Thank goodness for that!

Because Satan cannot be in every place at once he has to use his followers to do his bidding. That is where the demons come into play. Now I do not think they are these creepy crawly creatures. They are ugly because their spirits are ugly. Think of it this way, when a human is not a Christian and doesn't have Jesus in their lives, their hearts are dirty and covered in their sin. It is like a rotten piece of lifeless flesh. When Jesus comes into your life, your heart becomes beautiful, blood covered and pumping strong and true. So now take that image and relate it to demons. They may not be ugly, but their souls are awful. They are rotten flesh. Make sense? That is why I am telling you that the Prince of Darkness is NOT ugly. I will explain that more in a minute. But he uses his demons for information, to be in many places at once, and to carry out his plans. That is how he appears to be like a "god". These fallen creatures come in the forms of worry, fear, anxiety, and depression. People say that the end of the earth is coming sooner than we think because of all of the natural disasters that keep occurring. To me I know it is coming because of the mental state of our world. You can go to any doctor and say you are sad and get a slew of pills in one afternoon that will mimic any street drug you can take. That is a good thing? I don't think so. We have more depressed, anxious, and fearful people in the world than ever before. More murders happen today than the day before. We find more people killing themselves because they can't take what is going on in their heads and hearts. And you think that is of God? Not a chance. Just look at the gang life in most major cities. Those gang bangers are more angry, selfish, and deceitful than most people you can imagine, and they are that way because they have let the power of the devil convince them that it is the way to be. Our human nature is flawed. Think of us as holy Swiss cheese. If you don't have something to fill those holes then other stuff can come in and out of your life. You need God in those holes to keep your bread from getting moldy. lol.

The Enemy...

Ever had something give you a chill and you don't know why? Ever heard a whisper in your head that you aren't good enough? Ever looked at an actor on TV and wished you could be with him instead of your spouse? That's the the devil at work. Those little whispers, thoughts, and feelings are his way of manipulating you. Feel violated enough yet? Wait there's more... You know that book that you read that has consumed your thoughts. The one that you are a member of a club because of? The book that has a character in it that you idolize and talk about daily? The one that is made into movies and now have made the actors into "gods". That is the devil. Not the books, but the places your mind goes because of them. And that my friends is scary. You know how many women idolize that one series of books? Millions. Take that in and let it soak into your mind for a minute. Did that book keep you from reading your bible? Did you dream about the characters? Did you find yourself drawn in and couldn't put them down? Yes... You were being used.

This is what I picture the Devil to look like... Tall, broad shoulders, muscular, and dark headed. Crystal blue eyes and a smile that is killer. He will say he loves you, he wants you, and that he will protect you, all through the fantasy of what the perfect man is supposed to be. He will easily enter your mind, thoughts, and life. He used my insecurities to tell me that people didn't love me, others hated me, and that I'd never amount to anything. He looked at me and laughed when I wanted to die because if I died he succeeded. He pushed those pills into my hands. He made me obsessed with books that were dark and evil. He convinced me that cutting myself was a way to feel better. He made me think that sad people didn't eat, and sad people didn't sleep, because that is what the movies tell us. And because I was sad, I starved myself and didn't sleep for days. Now let me stop and say this to you, I am not blaming my mistakes on the devil. I am saying that he influenced me. I let him do this to me because I felt like I deserved it. I let him push God out of my mind and filled it with the idea that I controlled my own destiny. Boy was I wrong. I control NOTHING. God is in control. Not us. NEVER us. I let Satan tell me I was and I believed him for a while. Regardless though, I accepted the responsibility for following through with it and I've been forgiven for it by my precious Jesus.


How else can he use you? Every time you think you achieved something because of your own power, that is the devil telling you so. When your pride keeps you from saying you are sorry, or makes you act out in anger, that is Satan. When you want to hurt yourself, that is not GOD, that is the devil. Those voices you think you hear  at night in your attic, its not a ghost, its a demon attaching to your fears. Let me explain something to you. When you accept Christ you go to Heaven. When you don't you go to hell. Period. There is no in between or purgatory or floating in the realms between heaven and earth. YOU have two options. That's it. Sorry to you catholics out there. But if you believe in purgatory then you are saying that the death of Christ wasn't good enough to cover all sin. I'm sorry, but the bible says his death covers a multitude of sins. Not just the ones that fit into this or that category. You can't be reincarnated,you don't get another chance, you aren't able to work your way into heaven. You either have God or you will be separated FOREVER from him. You know why Satan is so mad at us humans? Because he is separated from God and we have the opportunity to get into the ONE place he cannot ever return to. Trust me he doesn't like that at all. He might not say that now, but I promise he would give anything to take back what he did. But he can't and now he has to deal with it. Think about it, if you had to watch something "lower" than you get what you want, I promise you'd want to destroy them. And at any cost. So don't for one minute think he isn't going to try. Its become a competition with him. "Lets see how many I can turn away from God" is exactly what he thinks. He doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you, and sure doesn't need you. All you are is a number to him. Don't be a number.

The defense...

There is one defense against the power of the devil. The name of Jesus. That's it. You claim it in Jesus' name and it comes to pass. You tell that anxiety to leave you in Jesus' name. You pray to God to help you when you feel worthless. You banish Satan from your house by the power of the Holy Spirit. I defeated depression because of God. Not by my own doing. Not with doctors, therapists, or pills. With GOD and GOD ALONE. You can do it too. I was having a "devil" attack the other day by him filling my mind with things I could not control, I stopped right there hit my knees and prayed for Jesus to take that away from my mind. I declared it in Jesus' name and you know what, the thoughts were gone. GONE. It takes practice and you have to have the faith. You can't just pray it and it happens. You have to believe in the power of the One True Holy God. That's the most powerful weapon against the devil. That and Love. Love conquers it all. Jesus defeats it all. That is the one person you need to focus your attention on. Go back and look at the description I gave of Jesus in the previous entry. See how I described Jesus... and see if that fits what a perfect man should be. The thing that is different, is Jesus is ALL of those things and more. He is the only perfect one. He is the savior. I am thankful to have him on my side. I am so much stronger because of him. PRAISE GOD!

I could write an entire book on this subject so I will save some more for later. I hope that you understand that I am not trying to give glory to Satan by

showing his power and might, I just want you to be aware that he is at work, and that we have a God that can defeat him. We just have to use

the tools we are given. Prayer, the Bible, and Jesus.

Until next time, love someone more today than you did yesterday,

Jessica