Recently, I've been trying to stay more intune to the Spirit at work in my life. I've been reading the Bible and other books a LOT, I've been praying, I've been trying to meditate, and I've practiced other spiritual disciplines that help me stay in touch with God.
Because of this attempt to stay in touch with the Spirit, I've been able to see God's work in my life. For example, my wife and I were having a discussion the other day about where we were going to get the money to buy spring and summer clothes for our children becuase they are both a lot bigger this year than they were last year. We talked about Matthew 6 where Jesus says to seek first God's kingdom and things like food and clothing will be provided for us. So we agreed to do this. That same day, a friend of ours called Megan to tell her they had lots of clothes that their son had grown out of that would fit our son. That Sunday, they brought us four boxes full of clothes... way more than our son will ever need! God is at work in our lives.
However, staying in touch wit the Spirit has also allowed me to see Satan at work in my life as well. Last week, I made a commitment to give up all caffein for Lent. It is a daily struggle not to drink coffee or Dr Pepper. I crave it all day long! Sunday night, at our youth group meeting, we had a cookout, and the only thing that was provided was 2-liters of soda. Satan at work. Then yesterday, I received THREE separate coupons in the mail from Coke offering me a free 20-ounce coke. They came from playing McDonald's Monopoly last October, but they just happened to arrive right in the middle of my fast from caffein. Once again, Satan is tempting me.
I've seen Satan tempt me in lots of ways recently. I've come to the conclusion that Satan works in obvious ways! He really doesn't have much variety to his attacks on us. He finds a weakness that we have and the hammers it over and over again till we give in. If he hits on something that we aren't tempted by, he will give up on that and move to something that we are tempted by. Once we give in to that temptation, it gives him an anchor and he will continue to attack us there till our walls cave in and we become consumed in our sins.
The only reason we don't see this happen regularly is because Satan has convinced most people in our culture that he doesn't do this sort of stuff. We don't like to think about it. It scares us. So we live our lives either completely oblivious or completely ignoring what he's doing. This just makes him that much more successful at what he does.
It's time we wake up to what Satan is doing! I've found the best way to recognize his work in our lives is by staying in tune with the Holy Spirit. If I am praying constantly or practicing other disciplines such as study, fasting, meditation, service, worship, etc, then I all of a sudden become very aware of what Satan is doing in my life and I am that much more prepared to resist him.
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