the poor guy just doesn't get it

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. (1 John 4:18)

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

I realized something this evening: There is nothing Satan would like more than to use fear to make me ineffective. He would love to slap all of my joy and hope away. He uses every opportunity to throw my faults and uncertainties and stupidities into my face. He especially loves it when I lose my focus and try to make others as miserable as I am. But his work against us humans is not about you or me. It is about his conflict with God and ultimately, himself. How can he hurt God?

 I had a startling thought the other day: the deceiver is, in fact, the most deceived.

But we have been given power: our minds. Satan has no more power than we give him. Why do we think he is more powerful than he is? Why give him all the credit for anything that 'goes wrong'? Well, it isn't surprising. He has always taken great pleasure in taking credit for what isn't his.

On a brighter note, I believe God works on the same basis. He does not force us to believe in Him. He does not force us to cast ourselves at His feet in worship. He does not force us to commune with Him. But He asks for our trust. He asks for our fellowship. There is such delight in having a conversation with Someone who knows us best. There is such peace in the belief that He loves us. There is such power in that joy.

I find the differences in the two very striking: Satan always throws my faults and fears into my face; God heals me and brings happy thoughts and memories into my head. Satan is quick to take all the credit for anything I've done wrong (this is partly my fault as I always love saying, "I couldn't help it."); God never takes more credit than is His due, even though it is all due to Him. Satan encourages negativity and dark thoughts, thus tempting me to throw my misery and self pity onto those I love most; God reminds me of His love, which brings me to a place of self forgiveness (before we can truly love those around us, we must accept God's love of us) and peace... which bubbles over from my heart and touches everyone I am with. Satan revels in self hatred, self pity, selfishness (self, self, self!); God delights in love.

All things are possible through Jesus Christ. All power is given unto us. No, it's not a choice! We already have it. The choice lies in the question of what we're going to do with it. :-)

And my brain has stopped. The funny thing about this post... it was only going to be a short, two verse post. But I suddenly had these thoughts and felt inspired to share them. I don't think I've ever written a post this late at night. ;-) If it shows... well, what can I say?? Lol! I am going to get chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow's dinner (chicken breasts, rice, etc) because I'm not up early in the morning and the refrigerator is a lovely place to thaw chicken breasts out overnight. :-) Then, I'm going to bed. Lord willing. Goodnight, peoples. :-)