II Cor. 2:11, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

I believe that love is the most important eternal quality we must have (I Cor. 13:13), and I feel is the most important earthly thing we must possess is faith. Why is it so important? Faith is vital. Without it we cannot please Christ (Heb. 11:6). Faith is our spiritual breath. We must have it. Faith is our spiritual currency while in a human body. It’s our ‘spending cash.’ We want as much of it as we can get.

Faith is the gift God gave us (Eph. 2:8) that we give back to Him upon salvation. Faith is necessary and beyond important to every Christian. So….. with such a precious commodity, you better know that Satan is going to attack our faith! Faith is the #1 target that the Devil wants to destroy. If he can taint our faith (trust, belief), he can keep us from salvation OR keep a Christian from living a successful life for Christ on Earth. The Bible instructs us to “not be ignorant of his devices.” We are to be “wise as serpents” (The Devil was called a serpent.) We must realize his tricks if we are to stay clear of his attacks. He wants to distort the faith that the Lord gave us.

WE MUST GUARD WHAT WE BELIEVE!

I am going to speak a few weeks about our beliefs (our faith). Those of us who grew up in church can easily feel that we understand Satan’s devices. This is dangerous. He is brilliant. We will never out-smart him. We must rely on Christ to conquer the Devil’s attacks. We are taught what NOT to believe. Most fundamental Christians know not to believe evolution. It is contrary to Genesis chapter one. We know not to believe Satan’s lies about alcohol or drugs or immorality. We know not to believe things types of things, so we think we are okay. But, my friend, when the Devil cannot convince us to buy-into a worldly lifestyle, he can still taint our faith.

Let’s look at a few things that Satan convinces spiritual women to believe:

  1. You are not loved. Wow! Logic tells me to look at nature all around me and see how much God loves me. The Bible is FILLED with evidences that Jesus loves me. Could a person be more loved than to have a King die for them? God SO loved us!! Yet, a daily spiritual battle we face is the feeling of being unloved.

We may believe the lie that our husband does not love us. (God is not whispering that in our ear!) What a wasted life- to have a husband who works hard, sacrifices, pays the bills, rears the children, takes you to church, and comes home to you at night-BUT Satan has convinced you that you are unloved. And we believe him!

I just don’t want to live a life-time feeling unloved by God, family, friends, when all the while I was loved; but I believed a lie of the Devil. Ladies, let’s wake up to his devices. Have you been believing a lie?

I hate that I can be so easily persuaded by the Devil sometimes. My husband can do work so hard for me and my boys, but I’ll look at something around the house that needs to be fixed, and I’ll be tempted to think, “Well, if he loved me, he would have fixed that by now.” I know that I would hate to be put on trial like that everyday. It’s just not fair. Too many women live sad, lonely, depressed, bitter, lives because they are blinded into feeling unloved. Look at the facts; don’t rely on your up-and-down emotions. The fact is, you are SO loved. The Savior of the world loves you! Tell Satan to get out of your mind! You won’t believe him one more day!

Just as we would not believe the lie of evolution or alcohol, let’s refuse to believe the “unloved” lie of the devil. He is after our faith. He can’t have it! That gift is from God and is meant for God alone.

Next week we’ll discuss another lie Satan tells us to distort our faith.