Satan used the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve. He was full of manipulation and deceit, just as he is today. Satan was not out to make friends with Adam and Eve. His desire was to make certain that they were no longer friends with their Creator. He made sure that he made them believe he was on their side and for their good. In fact, he was only looking to his own agenda. His goal then and now is seperate us from God. Satan is crafty and sly enough to convince us that we must look out for ourselves. He tries to tell us that number one is us and not God.
Satan is forever angry that he lost his position in heaven. He is beyond mad, he is humiliated and wants revenge. He will stop at nothing to turn anyone he can away from God. He wants us to be seperated from our Father by following our egos rather than following our Maker. Charles Stanley says it this way, "If Satan could not defeat God the best thing was to defeat His prized creation."
Good ol' pride brought down Satan. Funny, he uses pride to bring us down too. Satan whispers in our ears that our choices to honor ourselves won't hurt anyone. In fact, if we are happy, he tells us, then everyone around us will be happy too. We hear the "I am" statements and believe them.
I am unhappy with my spouse. He's not fun anymore.
I am tired of pleasing everyone else. It's time to focus on me for a change.
I am important, therefore, I can do what makes me feel good.
I am a child of God. (True) He wants me to be happy so I choose to ___________(fill in the blank with selfish decisions.)
I am overweight so I choose to starve myself to feel better.
I am not my family's maid. I refuse to keep my house tidy.
I am a good person so it's okay to make this choice.
We must never forget that there is only one I AM and that is Jesus Christ. Proverbs 16:18 tells us that pride comes before destruction and an arrogant spirit before a fall. I don't know about you, but that scares me. Who on earth plans for destruction to enter her life? Sadly, we do any time our hearts are full of pride. Any time we puff ourselves up and think we are it, we have a prideful spirit. We are to love ourselves as Christ does, but we must never think higher of ourselves than others. Jesus blesses us in so many ways. May we always give credit where credit is due. May we boast in our Lord and Savior and not ourselves. May our eyes be constantly on our Redeemer.
