Today, I want to make you aware of one of the most used tricks of satan. As the enemy of God, his schemes always work counter to the good gifts that God gives to us. The Bible says satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. It is the stealing aspect I want to deal with today. While God gives us joy, the enemy tries to steal that joy away. But the jewel he seeks to rob us of most often is the thing that is most crucial to maintaining our sanity in the midst of trials. Peace. The peace of mind that cannot be explained when the whole world seems to come against us, that is something that the devil truly hates. So he will always try to rob us of that peace, and he will sew turmoil in its place.
A while back when this podcast was still called The Kingdom Hero Show, I spoke of how I was forced to delete someone from my friends list because he had become a constant voice of mockery and visceral hatred toward my Christian faith. I took no joy in cutting him off. It simply had to be done. With social media so much a part of our lives now, we sometimes face the difficult decision of leaving certain people and parts of our past behind. It’s unfortunate that some folks seem to make it their mission to tear you down, and an occasional pruning is necessary for us to continue to grow.
There are indeed people out there who are, knowingly or not, acting as agents of evil to destroy our peace and provoke us to act out in rage. Here’s what one such person said recently about how she used to love getting on social media to steal peace from Christians…
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The scripture she mentions is important, so let’s look at it…
JOHN 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Here, Jesus was speaking to His followers and preparing them for the days ahead. He spoke of a powerful gift of peace that He was giving them. This peace is not like anything they had perceived before. It would be strong enough to hold them steady when troubles came. It was a peace that could even prevent fear or distress from setting in when they held to it firmly, trusting in God no matter what.
This is perhaps one of the most amazing gifts the Lord has ever given us. I’ve often mentioned how someone might come to me and ask how I can keep my calm in the face of trials. “How do you stay so positive and confident, even when things go terribly wrong?” The answer is always the same: my confidence is not based on earthly things, but on the peace that only God gives. It’s incomprehensible to people who don’t have the faith we do. It is truly a “peace that surpasses understanding.”
But I’m here to tell you today that satan is very clever in how he goes about his attempts to steal your peace. Take, for example, that opening ceremony of the Olympic games a few weeks ago. Such mockery of our faith naturally causes outrage. And while I believe we were right to call it out for what it was, we should also be able to show the world that we remain unmoved by it. Not that it didn’t affect us at all, but that as an attack against our minds, it was unsuccessful. What do I mean? Please pay close attention here…
Our minds are the battlefield on which dark spiritual forces wage war on us. By attacking our faith in such a manner, with wicked imagery and symbolism, this was the enemy trying to pick a fight. When hell’s forces attempt to manipulate us, we have to understand the reaction they are trying to evoke and why. If we let them provoke us to anger, it could lead to an unholy response. There is such a thing as “righteous anger” when we carefully obey the command which says to “be angry and sin not.” But our enemy knows how hard it is for us to not give in to the flesh when provoked to anger.
If an openly paganistic display like that can be used to manipulate our response, satan will use it to steal away our peace. Then he will have not only mocked our faith but made us appear as hypocritical in the process. For him, that’s a win-win. We have to be aware of his methods, hold on to our peace of mind, and respond accordingly. Otherwise, the enemy will successfully plant turmoil within us and cause us to fall right into his trap.
So how do we maintain peace in turmoil? Let’s look at what happened in Paris after this example took place. French people spoke out against the display, yes. Many even apologized to the world for it. But what started happening in the streets of Paris immediately following? Riots? No. Did people start burning buildings? No. Believers gathered and began singing songs of praise and worship to God.
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I’m sure that wasn’t the response the enemy was hoping for. But when we hold on to the gift of peace, we make those evil forces look completely foolish.
What was meant to instill turmoil, to provoke an angry unrest, and to make Christianity appear hostile and hypocritical, instead caused Christians to unite in one voice of peaceful worship to God. While it might have made some of us angry upon first glance, the peace that only God gives is what won out. The scheme of satan failed. And glory was given to God in front of the whole world.
I’d imagine Lucifer turned to one of his lieutenants and remarked, “Clearly THAT didn’t work.” But you’d better believe he moved right on to the next plot to steal our peace. As children of God, we don’t have to fear whatever might be coming next. Remember…
2 TIMOTHY 1:7
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Using what God has given us, we can face every attack of hell. And where the enemy wants to bring about turmoil, we can instead see peace prevail.
Shalom shalom, my friends, and keep shining the Kingdom Light.
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