I hate him!! Just hate him. The liar to my soul, the threatener to my joy and peace. The conniving, deceptive, loud, obnoxious stealer of anything good in this life.
I've been fighting him toe to toe this morning. Even though I still have a boot on one foot (from surgery) and a tennis shoe on the other, I have my battle posture on. No more! At least not for today! I am not gonna buy into his crud, give place in my mind for him to carefully, oh so carefully, place those toxic thoughts.
Who am I talking about? No, certainly not Ray, or one of my kids. Not my neighbor, or someone at church, though he does try to make an appearance there. No, I am talking about the enemy of our soul, the prince of lies, the hater of our beloved Christ. He is a sorry suck-egg booger, in the words of my Dad, Mike Janszen.
He is such a poser, appearing to have it all figured out, and trying to get me to come along side and start agreeing with him, that maybe, just maybe, God isn't really working in my life, or that He might be withholding His best from me, or my husband, or even worse, my children. Maybe He doesn't really mean what He says in His Word, or that it just doesn't seem to apply to this specific circumstance. He has been telling this lie since the beginning of time, you know?
Eve thought maybe the devil was right, and God was wrong. I am the same woman, born of the same nature. For me to even give him a moment in my mind, to ponder, that maybe he is right, and God is just not all that great, makes me wanna throw up! It ticks me off!
For Heaven's sake! I know better! When I am on my game, battle posture on, I can take those thoughts captive, wrestle them to the ground like a police officer tackling a criminal suspect, and kick his sorry behind right out of my mind. Telling him where he can go in not so nice of terms. I hate him, and God help me that I would allow him one inch of ground on the fertile soil of my mind and heart.
This morning I was reading in 2 Chronicles chapter 32. Hezekiah had just cleaned house, restored the temple, reinstated all the Holy Days that God had commanded Moses and His people to carry out weekly, and annually. The people had come together, worshiped, then gone back to their own homes and cleaned house in each of their individual communities and households. Revival had taken place, starting with the king, and spreading to the entire nation. Awesome!!
But then, the enemy shows up, and I quote, "After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria, came and entered Judah." (2 Chron. 32:1) King Hezekiah encourages the people that The Lord is with them, and He will fight this battle against the "arm of flesh" of the Assyrians. (31:7-8) The Assyrians, and their king begin filling God's people's ears with lies, lies, lies. He tells them they have no chance against him and his army, that no other nation has withstood, so why would they? He places doubt about King Hezekiah and his intentions, stating that all the king has said cannot be trusted. The enemy finally starts "proclaiming in a loud voice, in words they could understand (Hebrew)" saying things to "frighten and trouble them" (31:18). Oh God, is this not what happens with me!! The enemy knows just what to say, and how to say it in a way that I understand, to frighten and trouble my heart.
But praise Him, they did not cave, they prayed and cried out to the Lord. And what did He do?? Ha!! He took the enemy out! And I quote, "So the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the Assyrian camp." (2 Chron. 32:21) But He didn't stop there. When the king, Sennacherib, went back home, he went to his temple of worship to his gods, and his own offspring turned on him and slew him dead!
Isn't that the way it is? The enemy spews out the lies, wants to put fear and trouble in our hearts and minds, so we will give in and go his way, reject our King, and follow him. All the while, he is already defeated, and even his own, will turn on him in a New York minute.
He roars like a lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:9), but our God, our King, our Lord, our Savior, He IS the LION of Judah. He's not all bark and no bite, He is the One true Lion, and He wins!! His bite crushes the head of the enemy (Gen. 3:15). Satan is a poser, roaring loudly, trying to scare the livin' daylights out of us, but really, he's like one of those tiny, yippy, (fake dogs, I call em') chihuahuas! They try with all their might to bark and intimidate those around them. Pathetic!! Let's see him for what he really is, a defeated, madder than anything, but defeated foe. Hallelujah, God wins!!
As I was reading this passage this morning, I began to talk with my Heavenly Father about it, and telling the devil just what he could do with his crud. I got a little fired up, and Ray came running into the den to see what in the world I was going off about and who I was talking to in not so quiet of a voice. After I preached a little to him about what I had just read, He agreed, smiled, then went back to what he was doing, relieved I wasn't talking to someone on the phone like that!!
I pray we can take these lies, these thoughts captive, that are rearing up their ugly head in our hearts and minds. Take them to the Word, and let God replace them with His truth. And in Hezekiah's exhortation,
“Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.”
Hallelujah!
