Pitchfork Wielding Bully

Posted by Laura Baker on Aug 1, 2011 in Daily Bread | 3 comments

That glittery kid from “Twlight.” That’s how I view Satan. No, I do not think that he IS Satan, but I think that Satan is just as enticing and harmless looking. It’s a very scary thought that Satan is REAL. He isn’t just this pitchfork wielding cartoon character, he is a deceitful slimy being who is actively trying to draw each and every one of us away from God, and the scary thing is that he knows exactly where to hit us.

Most of my life, I have struggled with self-image issues. It is very difficult for me to look in the mirror and see the good in myself. During a recent battle with this, a friend of mine told me to stop listening to Satan and to tell him to “SHUT UP!” I was so blinded with my desires to be perfect and to be “in the world” that I forgot that God made me HIS daughter for a reason. I didn’t even see the thousands of ways that Satan was pulling me from my Father. Satan blinded me from all of the good things in my life and instead fed my irrational fears.

James 1:16 says, “Don’t be deceived, dear brothers.”

I don’t think that it is a coincidence that James sandwiched this verse in between two passages. The first about temptation, “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” (James 1:14) and the second about the great gifts that are from our Father. James is warning us to not be tricked into thinking that temptation comes from anyone other than Satan and to realize that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above,” (James 1:17) God has given us all great gifts, but why would Satan want us to see that? He is going to try and keep us from our Father any way he can.

Until we recognize that we are in a battle, how can we possibly ask for the help we need to fight it? What battles has Satan convinced you to fight on your own?