I've been having a few conversations on Facebook recently that really rather stressed me. I thought about not blogging them, but God has put them on my heart for a reason.
I am reminded why I started this site to begin with, and that being sharing about my faith and personal things that people can relate to. I rarely have time for it, but need to get back to it, especially since I get the most comments/responses from these posts.
I imagine it is because people can relate to them. For me personally, I tend to not read something so long, but apparently there are a lot of people much better than me out there. :)
I have three topics to share with you on three different posts, but I will spread them out into three days. I cannot believe how these things have stressed me. Maybe sharing them will cause the stress to leave.
So, without names, there is a young man who struggles with sexuality, but he has turned to Jesus and is sharing his journey on Facebook. What a great testimony he is giving daily! Praise God for him!
However, we do not agree on theology because his is more radical and mine is more conservative.
It has really bugged me when he posts that he is talking to Satan.
Matthew 16:23 says "Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
I've been familiar with this verse and have used it myself before (just a few times over my entire lifetime) to tell the devil to "Go away!"
I do not really see anything wrong with that, but I am learning that some denominations have a much stronger habit of talking to Satan and "rebuking" him.
However, the other day this young man posted when he had fallen into sin, "I messed up and now I feel awful and I can hear Satan laughing at me and saying yes I got you."
My reply to him, "Didn't I tell you to stop talking (praying) to Satan? Why can you "hear him laughing?" Focus only on what God is saying and His promises. Listen to God and He will comfort you. Don't listen to Satan. That's just not right."
Yes, I am seeing more and more that using this verse to rebuke the devil is actually "praying" to Satan. What is prayer other than "talking" to Jesus? So when we talk to Satan, are we not praying to him too?
Why would we EVER want to open the door to let the devil or any of his demons into our minds? Once he is in, trouble is sure to follow. I would never "hear" him laughing at me or "hear" him saying "yes, I got you." I don't want to EVER hear him saying anything!
YES, I would say "Go away! Get out of my brain!," but other than that, I am just going to practice never, ever talking to him. It's just an invitation for him to reply. I don't want to listen to him. I want to listen to God.
The devil is not omnipresent like God. He cannot be everywhere at once, but I understand he does have demons that help him. So actually, is the devil or a demon in our minds? It's a bit comforting to know the devil is only at one place on this great big world at a time, huh?
James 4:7 says "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
I note that this verse does not say we have the power to tell him to go away, like Jesus does, but rather God gives us the power to "resist" the devil. I would rather focus on being able to do thing through Christ's strength, not mine. I would rather focus on putting on the full armor of God to resist than to spend my time and thoughts thinking on the devil. I have always practice thinking only on God.
I have never been around Christians who spend so much time personally rebuking the devil. Facebook and social networking sure are giving me a glimpse into other denominations. I know they do it under the name of Jesus, but it is just odd to me. I have seen tv evangelists do it, so I have an understanding of what they are doing.
However, for me personally, I am going to choose who I talk to carefully.
Written 10/03/2012