Living Faith Church of Augusta

…forgive…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. – 2 Corinthians 2:10, 11 NIV

Most people know what it is like to hurt emotionally. Emotional wounding comes through various sources. Satan is the originator of our wounds, and he works through situations and people to hurt us for two major reasons.

First, he enjoys destruction. He wants to build a dam in our lives that consists of emotional wounds. 

Second, he wants to control our feelings. The devil knows that when we have been hurt emotionally, we usually act emotionally. If he can hurt our feelings and get us to react accordingly, he will be able to keep us separated from many of God’s blessings.

We cannot expect never to get hurt. But we can expect to learn how to stay in control of our reaction to our hurts. We can expect to be the victor, not the victim. 

Here are some things God has shown me we should do to overcome the devil’s schemes:

First, turn to the Holy Spirit, don’t run to people. Second, remain stable during hard times. Third, remember that God is our vindicator; He will see that we are repaid for our pain and loss. 

If you are hurting, I exhort you, don’t fall into Satan’s trap: be the victor, not the victim.

…God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you…” – Hebrews 13:5

Many people are lonely, often even those who have others around them. The death of a loved one can leave a person lonely and confused as well as feeling abandoned.

Your circumstances do not have to be quite so severe to put you into the category of loneliness. Perhaps you have moved to a new neighborhood, have begun attending a new school, or have just started a new job, and you just don’t seem to fit in yet. 

I know what it is like to be lonely. “Social poverty” is under the curse. Learning to like myself and learning to pray for favor have changed my social status, and it will change yours too. 

I encourage you to pray for favor. I also encourage you to be friendly. Don’t just wait for someone to fall into your life before you are willing to have fellowship. Beware of being passive. Get involved. Giving always brings joy.

Remember Jesus as He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. All of His friends had disappointed Him. He needed them for only one hour, and they had let Him down by falling asleep. (Matthew 26:36-43.)

The Lord does indeed know how you feel, and He has promised never to leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), so that you will be strengthened to press on.

Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. – Romans 8:1

Guilt and condemnation are major problems for many believers. 

It is Satan’s greatest delight to make us feel bad about ourselves. He never tells us how far we have come, but rather, he constantly reminds us of how far we still have to go.

When the enemy attacks me, I say, “I’m not where I need to be, but thank God I’m not where I used to be. I’m okay, and I’m on my way.”

Like David, we must learn to keep ourselves encouraged in the Lord. (1 Samuel 30:6.) None of us has arrived at the state of perfection. We cannot perfect ourselves: sanctification (holiness) is the job of the Holy Spirit, and it is worked out in our lives as a process. 

The Bible teaches that we can have complete forgiveness of our sins (total freedom from condemnation) through the blood of Jesus Christ. We must decide if Jesus did a complete job or it He didn’t. WE don’t need to add our guilt to His sacrifice. He is more than enough. 

Let Jesus do His job. He wants to forgive you. All you have to do is receive His forgiveness. Complete forgiveness is completely free!

….In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] – John 16:33

Stress is on the rise in today’s world. The good news is that, although we Christians may be in the world, we are not of the world. (John 17:11,14.) We do not have to operate on the world’s system-thinking, talking, or acting like the world-and we shouldn’t. In fact, our attitude and approach toward the situations of life should be entirely different from the world’s.

The source of our stress is not really difficulties, circumstances, and situations, but our attitude and approach toward them.

Jesus said that difficulties will come our way, but they do not have to upset us. We don’t have to accept the stress being offered us. We have the privilege of approaching the challenges of everyday life in a calm, peaceful manner.

I believe we can live stress free in a stressful world, but it will require some decisions-possibly some radical decisions.

Allow God’s Spirit to lead you out of a stressful lifestyle into one of peace and joy. Change your attitude and approach, and God will change your circumstance in due time.

Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith…. – Hebrews 12:2

Do you fellowship with your problem or with the Lord?

The devil wants us to think about our problem, worry about our problem, talk about and try to reason out our problem. God desires for us to spend time with Him, talk to Him, and think about Him and His Word. 

Jesus is the One we are to look to in order to have our needs met. If we dwell in Him, our problem has no power over us, but if we dwell on the problem, we magnify it above Him. The more attention we give our problem, the more we feed it, the more power it has over us.

I remember when my husband and I were having financial struggles. I would give Dave the bad report, and he would give me the Word, telling me to cast my care on the Lord. He would fellowship with God while I fellowshipped with the problem. The more I did so, the more upset I became.

The devil starts the problem rolling. The more you think, worry, reason, talk, plan, and scheme about it, the bigger it gets. If you look to Jesus, you will experience the miracle power of God as you trust in Him. 

Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. – 1 Peter 5:7

Have you been worried lately?

Worry torments and is totally useless. In the natural realm there is usually plenty to warry about, but the good news is that we believers do not have to live in the natural realm. We have the privilege of casting all our cares on the Lord.

The word casting refers to throwing or hurling. We can throw or hurl our worries on God because He takes care of us. The seed we sow is our care of ourselves, and the harvest we reap is His care of us.

Our refusal to worry shows that we are trusting, but actions do speak louder than words in many instances.

Our heavenly Father has promised to take care of us. God is for us, with us, under us, upholding us, around us, and watching over us. In other words, God has us covered! He is our shield and our buckler, our high tower, our fortress and hiding place, our place of refuge, and our sure foundation.

Be anxious for nothing-you are too smart to spend your life worrying!

And the servant of the Lord must not strive…..-2 Timothy 2:24 KJV

Strife is a thief and a robber which we must learn to recognize and deal with quickly. We must control strife before it controls us.

Strife is defined as “the act or state of fighting or quarreling, especially bitterly…discord.” It is bickering, arguing, being involved in a heated disagreement, or shows up as an angry undercurrent. Strife is dangerous. It is a demonic force sent by Satan for the purpose of destruction.

The Bible says to resist the devil at his onset. (1 Peter 5:8,9.) Almost any time someone hurts us, or offends us, anger rises up within us. It is not sin to feel anger. But we must not act out the angry feelings in an ungodly way. We must not hold a grudge or get into bitterness, resentment, or unforgiveness. Ephesians 4:26 says don’t let your wrath, your anger, last until the sun goes down.

A judgmental attitude is an open door for strife. We must remember that mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13 NIV). Judgment usually leads to gossip. Gossip begins to spread the strife from person to person. It gets us out of agreement, harmony, and unity. It actually moves us out of the realm of God’s blessings.

When the temptation comes to judge others, and then spread our opinion through gossip and back-biting, we should remember this helpful hint: Let the one among us who is without sin cast the first stone. (John 8:7 KJV.)

Remember: God changes things through prayer and faith, not through judgment and gossip.

Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. – Proverbs 4:23

The spirit of offense poisons lives and attitudes. According to Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, the word offense is derived from a Greek word skandalon, which “originally was ‘the name of the part of a trap to which the bait is attached, hence, the trap or snare itself…” It was the part of the trap that lured or snared an animal.

We easily see that offense is what Satan uses to lure people into full-blown cases of bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness. Satan uses offense to cause us to stumble and fail to go forward with God. 

The temptation to get offended is a trap that should be avoided like the plague. If we would not take poison, we should not take offense. If we would be champions for God we must not be easily offended. 

Many people never become what God desires them to be because they get offended. They get bitter. Offense becomes a stumbling block to them, and they never progress beyond that point. They are the loser and the devil is the winner.

No person can do permanent damage to you if you are willing to be mature enough to refuse offense and trust God. This kind of attitude will make you a winner in life. 

But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. – Hebrews 11:6

Dread is a close relative of fear. Both dread and fear loudly and clearly declare that we are not operating in faith, which is the only way to truly please God.

Fear frequently prevents us from going forward and doing what we desire to do. Dread steals the peace and joy of “now” because we have a negative attitude toward what we are going to do even though we don’t want to feel that way about it.

Understanding that God always equips us for whatever we need to do will bring deliverance from the spirit of dread. We need not dread hard things, new things, challenging things, or even unpleasant things.

We can face life with a confident attitude, knowing that where God guides, He provides. God gives us grace one day at a time just as He gave the Israelites manna one day at a time.

Every time you realize you are dreading something, make a decision to stop dreading and just believe that you can do whatever you need to do with joy because God is with you.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear) …. – 2 Timothy 1:7

Fear robs many people of their faith.

Fear of failure, fear of man, and fear of rejection are some of the strongest fears employed by Satan to hinder us from making progress. But no matter what kind of fear the enemy sends against us, the important thing is to overcome it. When we are faced with fear, we must not give in to it. It is imperative to our victory that we determine, “I will not fear!”

The normal reaction to fear is flight. Satan wants us to run; God wants us to stand still and see His deliverance.

Because of fear, many people do not confront issues; they spend their lives running. We must learn to stand our ground and face our fear, secure in the knowledge that we are more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37.)

Fear of failure torments multitudes. We fear what people will think of us if we fail. If we step out and fail, some people may hear about it; but they quickly forget if we forget and go on. It is better to try something and fail than to try nothing and succeed.

Approach life with boldness. The Spirit of the Lord is in you-so make up your mind not to fear.