Not today, Satan! Not today!
I learned something the other day. When we are giving God all of our attention, and the devil sees that we are not focusing on our sin, our failures, or any other problems, he gets frantic. He worries that we’re not giving him the attention that he wants and feels the need to throw something else in our face to knock us off balance.
I was beginning to feel self-pity creeping in. “Woe is me,” my heart was saying. But when I sat down in my car, I said something I don’t usually say:
Not today, Satan! I am not giving in this time.
I turned on one of my favorite songs currently (“Never Lost” by Rita Springer, give it a listen!) and just began singing and declaring those words over my family and the situation.
I took the authority that God has given me as His child, and I told the devil he could go back to hell where he belongs. I don’t make it a habit to talk to the devil, but when I do it’s always a one-sided conversation that ends very quickly. This time, I began reminding him of his past and his future.
I’ve always found it comical that the devil haunts us with our past, yet he has the worst past of them all. Has God ever kicked you out of Heaven or removed you from His presence? No! I mean, the devil literally fell from Heaven because God no longer wanted him there.
God wants us. In fact, He actively pursues us and longs for our attention. Even more amazing is that He sent His most precious Gift, His Son. Think about it. God gave everything just so He could spend eternity with us. That’s a crazy kind of love! He has never sacrificed that much for any part of His Creation except humankind. I remember sitting at my desk when this realization hit me. I just wanted to get up and shout! Ok, so I did get up and shout. I threw that in the devil’s face and made sure to rub it in good! As my husband would say, the devil is just a butt hurt little boy!
We have to remember as daughters of God that we have all the power we need. Our Father is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. No one is above Him. HE is top dog.
The Creator of the world looked down from Heaven and said, “Her. I want her.”
It blows my mind!
Big Daddy Weave sings a song that I love called “My Story.” When people hear my story, I want them to hear about the Lord. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all parts of the beautiful story He is writing called my life.
One of my favorite verses is found in Hebrews 11:11. If you have read the story of Abraham and Sarah then you know that God promised them a child, but many years passed before that promise was fulfilled. It took so long that Abraham actually took it upon himself to help God and father a son whom he thought was the “promised” child through Sarah’s handmaiden, Hagar. As we all know by reading the rest of the story, it did not work! You can find the full story of Abraham starting in chapter 12 of Genesis.
Fast forward to Hebrews 11:8-19 where the Bible talks about Abraham’s faith. My favorite part is verse 11:
“And by faith even Sarah who was past the childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.”
Look at the last part of that verse!
“…because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.”
Another word for “considered” is “believed.” Because she BELIEVED Him faithful! When I heard this preached at church I didn’t realize this verse would become a lifeline. I think sometimes we get so caught up in trying to fix everything ourselves that we’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Then when it all falls apart, instead of believing and having faith that God will come through, we find ourselves begging for Him to fix our mess. The truth is, we need to activate our faith. We need to do as Scripture says and BE STILL! (Psalm 46:10)
As daughters of God, it is time to
ACTIVATE our faith.
BELIEVE Him faithful.
REMEMBER the promise.
Edited by Rebekah Pendergrast