You won’t get me!

The other day I had a tough weekend. Tough for me means being with people from morning till night, several days in a row. Then I know that I need to rest, withdraw, sort out my thoughts and bring the various situations that still concern me to God. That fills my tank again.

This time it was especially hard because several things had robbed me of my peace:

• I wasn’t sure if I had made a mistake and had missed the chance to ask.
• Someone had talked down to me and not taken me seriously.
• Someone had asked critical questions about faith that I couldn’t answer on the spur of the moment.
• And at the end, I had a heated discussion with my husband about a topic where we always argue.

The consequence of all these things? Self-pity, doubts about my worth, doubts about my faith, the feeling of being a victim. In addition, anger arose against other people. I had lost my peace. I thought: no one treats me the way I deserve as a valuable human being. I’m withdrawing. I need to protect myself from the evil world and bad people! My thoughts were circling around this and I realized that they were pulling me away from peace, love and trust. It was dark in my thoughts and feelings. It would have been good to go directly to God. But even that was difficult for me at that moment.

And then it dawned on me what was going on and I said loudly and firmly:
No, Satan, you won’t get me!

This worked like a switch that turned the light back on!

What does God say about me? Am I still his beloved daughter? Why yes, of course!

My doubts, self-pity and feeling like a victim disappeared and I could love myself and the world again. Now it was obvious to me once more who spreads such doubts, who is the liar and confuser and against whom I have to be on my guard. I am not fighting against people and certainly not against God.

The devil puts such lies in my mind. He has an interest in my faith wavering, that I have no peace and no love. He is extremely skilled at presenting lies so that they sound true. Satan means adversary or opponent. The word devil literally means “muddler” in the sense of confuser, fact twister and slanderer. He is the opponent of God who wants to prevent the goals of God by all means. With this he wants to prevent love, faith and hope in you.

So place yourselves under God’s authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. James 4:7

I do not have to be afraid of Satan because I can fend him off. But I should be ready and alert. I am fighting to keep my mind on God’s truth. The battlefield is in my thoughts. That is where I must win my battles, and it is valuable to know who I am fighting against, and what is truth and what is a lie. That’s why it is important for me to feed my thoughts with God’s love instead of self-accusation, devaluation or accusation against others.

Do not give the devil a way to defeat you. Eph 4,27

Decide for a loud NO against the lies of the devil and a clear, determined YES for God’s love and truth. Jesus gives you life in all its fullness! If you know his goodness and love for you, you will notice when attacks on your value and on your faith come along and you will be able to ward them off. Even mistakes that you inevitably make do not change your value. You may come to God at any time and pray that He will show His love to you again. Choose to have God’s light in your thoughts so that you can see His love! His love for you is switched on at all times!