“So you’ve gotten right with God, have you? You think you’re all religious now and are naive enough to believe that God is just going to accept you with open arms because of what Jesus supposedly did. Well, tell me something, my precious – how come you can still sin like you did before your little religious experience? How come you are still selfish? Why aren’t you holy like all the other Christians? You poor, self-deluded dolt! You know what you’ve done in your past and I’m here to remind you that it is no secret that there are times you still want to do those same things – would a genuine Christian ever desire those forbidden fruits? Your heart is NOT pure, and I’m coming to you today to insist on your agreement with me that your Holy God can’t overlook what you’ve done and the type of person you are. Face it, you hopeless and helpless sinner, you’re deceiving yourself because nothing of substance has changed with you. How arrogant can you be to really believe that God accepts you? Surely you can’t be serious. Look in the mirror and admit that you are still who you’ve always been. Remember it all and then admit it! If you can’t…let me help you recall exactly what you have been and what you surely must still be.” – Satan
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” – Revelation 12:10
On good days, we deeply feel our faith, and the power of the Gospel is like Teflon on our minds, as it forbids any accusation from sticking. Other days, when the mind is weary and our resolve is worn, when the spirit is willing but our flesh is weak…we hear so clearly the enemy’s accusation against our souls, and we allow our minds to be moved off-center. In these unsteady moments we fear, doubt, dread and tremble as we wonder if our confidence in our soul’s hope is nothing more than self-delusion. Standing in the shadows, whispering from an undetected position is our enemy, hissing his lies in yet another attempt to convince us that we stand in deep peril with God. Not wanting to give him an ounce of glory, I must honestly acknowledge that Satan has surely perfected his art of accusation. Truth be known, he cannot touch the soul of the child of God, but he still exerts great force in assaulting our sense of peace and assurance. His constant bullseye is pinned to our minds as he targets our thought-life every day. This is his job, but I want to let you know that he’s been given a pink slip, and his termination date is on the calendar when he will be once-and-for-all cast down to the most intense of judgments (go back and re-read Revelation 12:10 above to be assured that this is true).
To whom will you choose to listen, Christian friend? You really don’t need the participation of the enemy to remind you of your past sins and present struggles. There are others in your life, fellow sinners, who are eager to serve up a healthy heap of reminders about your shortcomings. Additionally, you yourself have a tendency to unlock that foul-smelling vault in your own mind, and for some inexplicable reason you sometimes go backwards in time, meandering down memory lane, often lingering the longest over your worst moments. Yes, chipping away at your confidence in the completed work of Christ on your behalf is the corrosive trio of your accused conscience, unforgiving people who prefer you to remain a slave to your failures, and a diabolical enemy who will withhold nothing to ensure you continue as a prisoner of doubt and fear. You are not alone in this battle because it is all part of Satan’s strategy to hamstring all of the children of God.
So I ask again, to whom will you listen?
Scripture teaches that you are accepted in Christ (Ephesians 1:6), you are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10) and have all of God’s promises secured in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). You stand today in a position of perfect righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) in spite of the fact that you still experience weakness while living in Christ (2 Corinthians 13:4). Your true sense of security must be recognized in that you have been chosen in Christ before time began (Ephesians 1:4), and that God views you as already perfected & glorified in Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:12). You see, what all the voices of accusation serve to accomplish is to “talk over” what God has said about what He has secured for you in Christ.
One more time: to whom will you listen?
You should not give one moment of consideration to the many lies of an enemy whose date of destruction is already appointed. Your own conscience will betray you and God, who knows all things, speaks truth over the weakness of your unreliable conscience (1 John 3:20-21). We must insist on Gospel truth being the governor of our hearts and minds, and we must fight back in faith when we are tempted to listen to lesser voices. I’ll leave you with this capstone of truth concerning our security. Let Satan and his accusations go to hell.
1 John 5:20-21 – “And we KNOW that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may KNOW him who is true; and we ARE IN HIM who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. HE is the true God and eternal life.”
Timely word in due season…bless you.
One of many of your best shepherding writings. Thank you for tenderly caring for your little sheep
Thanks Jeff I needed that. It helps me realize when we turn to the Lord 1st each day as he says he will strengthen our faith for that day. We think we are strong and Satan uses that against us for his purpose to weaken our faith. He knows that’s the only way he can defeat us.
My brother you hit a HR on this one. My life as I believe many lives should be heard as “In Christ” period. I know my failures are great but it makes me hurt to know the worldly failures break my Saviour’s heart. Well done sir. May God richly Bless you and all this day.
This is gold. Well done