Tag: destruction

Satan’s ultimate goal is to separate us from God and he will use whatever he can to distract us, deceive us, divide us, and finally to destroy us, but there are a few things we can do to combat this. Knowing that this is his goal is only half the battle. We also need to know how to defeat his efforts in our lives.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

1. Be Aware: The first thing we need to do is to be aware that this is what is happening. Most of the time we are so busy fighting for our health and struggling with our daily issues to even notice that this is what he is doing. Chronic illness is the PERFECT target for Satan. It’s much easier to attack the weak and weary. But once we know that this is exactly what he does, we can be on the lookout and be proactive in thwarting his efforts to derail us.
2. Be in the Word: Don’t let a day go by without reading and feeding your soul. Don’t let a day go by without going into your prayer closet and spending time with the Lord. If you can’t go to church, have church come to you. When I can’t make it out to church, we watch it on TV. I love Dr. Charles Stanley. I even record his sermons to watch later.
3. Make an effort to connect: It’s easy to let ourselves drift from our support whether that’s family, friends, or church. Make an effort to get out if you can, invite others in, or reach out over the internet. Any time with others on the phone or over text is golden when you are alone with your thoughts on a regular basis.
4. Find your calling: Find what feeds your soul and adapt it if need be to your health/financial issues. Make art, write those stories, take those pictures, blog about that topic that inspires you. See how many you can inspire, support, help, and feed with your talents. This makes for a productive and joyous heart.

God created each one of us with a purpose. Do you think that just because He has allowed chronic illness or financial struggles in our lives that He has taken that purpose away? No. That purpose may be handled differently or you may have a new purpose.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

No matter what struggle we must endure this side of heaven, God has blessed us with the tools we need to fulfill our purpose. That starts by understanding how Satan works to derail us and taking steps to use God’s Word, God’s people, and your God-given talents to take back your joy. Who’s with me?

Next month, I’ll be sharing a new series that will go a bit more into depth on our purpose despite chronic illness/issues for a series I’m doing called Don’t Give Up! I hope you’ll join me!

So Dr. Charles Stanley’s sermon on the four things Satan uses against us that I watched last month really touched me because I felt it applied in a specific way to those with chronic illness.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” – John 10:10

Satan’s ultimate goal is to separate us from God. First, he uses our chronic illness to distract us from our joy and from our purpose. Next, he deceives us into thinking we don’t matter. Then, he divides us from our support (family and friends), our church, and God’s Word in the hope that we will be distracted from God. When he does that, he stands a better chance of succeeding in the destruction of our faith.

At our lowest, we may question if God still loves us. There may be times when we may think that, if God really did love us, He wouldn’t allow us to go through all of this. At that point, we may begin to pull away from our church, our church family, and even God.

Knowing that Satan is out to destroy us, we need to be on the lookout for situations we find ourselves in that are ripe for Satan to use for just this purpose. I don’t know about you, but there are times when I’m so tired I don’t have enough energy to sit up. I am so exhausted that all I want to do is go to sleep. I can’t prevent the times when I’m too tired to go out or in too much pain to do something for someone, but I can control how I react to that.

I’m pretty ornery by nature. If someone tells me I can’t do something, I’m bound and determined to try (unless it’s something I don’t agree with anyway). I’m not saying I always recognize Satan’s tricks at the time or that I can always keep a sunny attitude. I’m just saying that I can decide to do whatever it may take for me to control my attitude and turn it around.

There are still times I am down. I still have times when I get angry and don’t recognize that I have blessings I’m not concentrating on at the moment. But I do eventually notice and I do eventually turn myself around. And I challenge you to do it too. I challenge myself to help you.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” – John 10:10

The way I look at it, if Satan’s desire is to turn me from my Lord and Savior and from my God-given purpose, then it’s my great pleasure to throw it back in his face as I cling even closer to Him and get creative to find a way to serve others according to His will however I can! Won’t you join me?