Satan Is Not Afraid of You, Sister!
I have no clue where I saw it the other day...a woman saying that Satan is afraid of girls who do A, B, and C, but as lovely as spiritual practices are--and that I teach and encourage with a passion--I do not agree!
Listen ladies...Satan is NOT afraid of us. He understands how wretched and prideful all of humanity is. IN FACT, he is the one who has stroked your pride with the lie that you and your piety intimidate him. He is far more cunning than we realize, and we are far less powerful than we recognize.
That is not to glorify Satan! It is, however, to shake off the perception that we have anything inside of us EXCEPT JESUS to rattle Satan. Now...you could be thinking I am getting semantical, and there is nothing wrong with encouraging women to think of how much Satan hates the good works we do. You may be right, but let's learn what God's words mean first...
Isaiah 64:6 says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."
Do you know what that verse actually means?
Here's a more literal translation given by a pastor...
"But we are unclean; we are like menstrual rags; our righteousness fades like a leaf; our iniquities have taken us away."
In southern short, sisters...Bless our hearts! We just ain't got what it takes to shake Satan!! And to be uncomfortably honest...in our fallenness and brokenness, we are the equivalent of drenched maxi-pads. Look at Romans 3:10-18...
"There is no one righteous, not even one.
There is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away;
all alike have become worthless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.
Their throat is an open grave;
they deceive with their tongues.
Vipers’ venom is under their lips.
Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and wretchedness are in their paths,
and the path of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes."
In short, Paul is continuing Isaiah's thought. He is declaring how desperately wretched humanity is, having fallen short of the glory of God! Jesus had to come to save us from the condemnation that we have placed on ourselves (John 3:16-21).
Y'all...praise God for Jesus!! It hurts my heart to know how true this is about me...the worst of sinners! And the least likely to make a dent in Satan's convoluted conscience.
As I was thinking deeply about all of this, I ran across this graphic with the perfect response...
It's true...none of it is us...It is all Jesus!
We live in a world that is working at Satan's behest to confuse the identity of a woman.
One extreme says women should be completely quiet, have no influence or power, and more or less, just make biscuits and be ready to please their man.
Then the other says that women, more or less, should just please themselves and squash everybody along the way.
While there are nuances to these arguments (biscuits and loving your man are good, confidence and assertiveness in a woman are valuable), the extremes are wrong!!
God made you, girl...with fear, wonder, and purpose. A woman's identity is so much less about her and so much more about Him!
He made us to bow before His throne and behold HIM. There we RECOGNIZE OUR WRETCHEDNESS and RECEIVE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!
You know we've probably rung these next two thoughts dry, but maybe not! I can't help but shout them from my very weak corner, where I try my best to pray, read my Bible, and serve with more than must sacrifice, but with a heart that wants to want more of God...
WE BECOME WHAT WE BEHOLD: If I keep on beholding me to any extreme (loving or hating me too much), that is all I will ever be.
HE HAS HELD ME FAST: Oh goodness...the more I marvel at how wonderfully strong, faithful, loving, and kind He is, even though I am totally, completely weak and depraved...Well...that's where Satan loses his power. Not because I've done even one thing at all, but because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Goodness gracious...I cannot wait to go to Church! I am so grateful that being on holy ground is not about showing up and proving anything about me. In fact...just going to be honest...I'm going to be wearing something loose because I ate too much last night. That's the most I will prove about me.
The truth is, if we are making every spiritual exercise about proving how powerful and put together we are, we have completely missed the mark and lost our focus. It's about Him...It's always been about beholding Him!
Get up and get ready to be in HIS house today, precious girl! Check out these songs..
They might help prep your heart!
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