I freely admit there have been times when I have given Satan entirely way too much power by focusing on him and his latest attack rather than on God.
It is true. Satan is real, he is our enemy, and he does attack God’s people. But our attention should not be directed toward him.
Yes, we need to understand how Satan works and how to engage in spiritual warfare, for to completely ignore our enemy’s presence would be foolish, but it seems to me that there’s a difference between recognizing and protecting ourselves against attack and being consumed by a current or possible attack in the future.
The human mind is incapable of focusing on two things at the same time, so in all actuality, when we focus on Satan, we take our focus off Jesus. But this will never do. We will never be able to defeat Satan by focusing on Satan. It just won’t happen. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that (Martin Luther King, Jr.). And Jesus is that light. The Light. So our attention must remain on Him alone if we are to defeat Satan in our lives.
Any thoughts? Share in the comments.
Please note: I’ve intentionally kept this post short and sweet because Satan gets enough attention, as it is––he certainly doesn’t need more. The more attention he gets, the more power we give him, so let’s be sure to keep our thoughts of him in check and our eye on God.
I love that illustration!!! Thank you, Kenny!
I am in a life group and I hear the same people each week who talk so much about the attacks of their week. Today’s topic is focussing too much on the enemy instead of the God’s glory. Like you I will keep this short but I would like you to have this illustration.
I am an electrician by trade. I can not see, hear, taste, or smell electricity. I do understand it is there and there is a danger of death because of the power. I can not be scared of it, but I have to understand it and how it works. We use what we call PPE in my line of work. It consist of hot gloves, fire retardant suit, face shield, and rubber blankets. Does this sound familiar? Armor of God. The most important safety equipment we can use is knowledge. In electrical it is the Code book, experience of others, and experience of myself.
As a Christian it is the Bible. God has given us this book to arm us against attacks. If we put on this armor each day then we are ready for battle. The most awesome thing is that God has already seen what the enemy has in store. We go into battle being victorious already. We have won before the battle starts.
God bless you,
Kenny
Makes perfect sense!
I certainly agree. The other place we place to much focus on is ourselves and I tend to be the worst enemy that I have. If our enemy causes us to focus on Jesus then good. A proper reaction to an enemy attack can in fact do us good. I know stuff outside of ethical items that I may have an “enemy” on I usually work hard to make sure I am in good shape to handle the strikes that may come my way. So in a way an enemy can keep us from being ‘soft”. If that makes sense.