21 Ways to Finding Peace and Happiness (7 page)

T
HE
W
EARING
-O
UT
T
ACTICS OF
S
ATAN

Daniel 7:25 says that Satan seeks to wear out the saints of the Most High God. How does this wearing out take place? Often his work is barely noticeable, because he slowly tries to wear us down—a little here and a little there. Satan sends people to irritate us just as he did with the apostle Paul (see Acts 16:17–18).

A woman followed Paul and Silas, crying out that they were servants of the Most High God. This she did for many days. It annoyed Paul, it grated on him that she
continually
shouted the same thing all throughout the day. Paul finally turned to the woman and cast an evil spirit of divination out of her. Satan hopes we will just be aggravated and never deal with the situation aggravating us. He does this to wear us out.

Felix used his authority to postpone Paul’s trial and keep him in prison. He wanted money from Paul, so he continued to send for him (see Acts 24:26). We know this went on for at least two years: Paul continued to argue about uprightness and purity of life, and Felix continued to prolong Paul’s sentence without trial.

When people continue to be irritating, it has a different effect than someone who is irritating once or twice. In Judges 16:16, we see that Delilah pressed Samson
daily
until her deception worked, and he revealed the secret to his strength.

Likewise, Satan seeks to wear me out in various ways, but one of his favorite tactics is through trouble with employees—and not just one employee, but several in a row. For example, we might have to deal with several people who are initiating strife with other employees or remind people we have hired them to do specific jobs, not to run the ministry. Not too long ago, we had to deal with three issues concerning pornography in a ten-day period of time. That had never happened before, but suddenly we had three separate situations to confront.

You may be shocked to think that people working in a Christian ministry would have problems with something like pornography or commit such obviously disobedient acts, but they are tempted the same as everyone else, if not more so. Satan worked through their weaknesses and used them to drain me of much-needed energy.

I want you to pay particular attention to the fact that I said it had never happened before, and
suddenly
we had
three
issues with pornography at one time. That sounds like a wearing-out tactic of Satan to me. Satan not only attacked the people involved, but also the people who had to deal with the issue. He often works through other people to get to leaders of ministries. If Satan cannot get to you directly, he may try to work through the weakness of someone you know or love, hoping he can upset you through them.

Once we had a trusted employee steal from us. We had chosen him to help with a special financial project in which he had to count a lot of cash. We selected him because we “knew” we could trust him. Then five hundred dollars was missing, and at the same time, this man’s wife was sharing how she had mysteriously found five hundred dollars in her mailbox at work. We questioned him, along with everyone else involved in the project, and of course, he denied any involvement. We had no proof and had to let the situation rest; however, we were convinced in our hearts he was the guilty party. A few months later, he and his wife quit working at the ministry and moved back to their hometown.

A few years went by, and one day we got a call from him, asking our forgiveness for stealing the money. I was glad for him because he could not have had peace with God until he told the truth and asked for forgiveness from God and us. This situation was most unfortunate for the man and his family, but Satan also used it to try to wear us out. It is draining when you trust people and find out they are dishonest.

These, of course, are isolated cases, and 99.9 percent of our employees at the ministry are quality people who walk in truth and integrity. But Satan does seek to find someone to work through to bring aggravation and trouble.

Another way he might seek to wear me out is through something I mentioned earlier: judgment from people in the world or the church who know absolutely nothing about the ministry, or the price we have paid to get from where we began to where we are today. People are jealous of the success of others, but they don’t want to do what they did to get there.

I have to remind myself all the time that it is not my concern what people think of me; my concern is what God thinks of me. I will stand before Him, not anyone else, on Judgment Day. I want to have a good reputation because I know people cannot receive from me if their hearts are not open, but I cannot make myself responsible for what everyone thinks of me, and you cannot make yourself responsible for what everyone thinks of you.

It seems these situations also come in groups. A long time may go by without any occurrences at all, then suddenly it seems that the faultfinders and troublemakers come from every direction. Satan knows it takes more than one attack to wear us out, so he relentlessly comes again and again.

Satan seeks to wear out the saints by stealing our time, forcing us to deal with trouble that he starts. He actually would like us to spend our lives trying to put out the little fires he builds.

What is the answer? James 4:7 says we are to submit ourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. We see that we have to
resist
the devil. When should we resist him, how long should we wait, how much should we put up with before coming against him? The Bible teaches us as Christians to be patient, but we are not to be patient with the devil. First Peter 5:9 shares a wonderful and most important principle; it says, “Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined].” We are to resist the devil
at his onset.
I have benefited greatly over the years as a result of this Scripture.

When Satan attacks, we should immediately begin to praise God; in this way, we resist Satan. When he speaks lies, we should speak truth. The instant we sense an attack, we should draw near to God and pray. The Bible tells us to be alert for when we can practice prayer. Several times the Word of God instructs us to “watch and pray.” This means to watch for things going wrong in our own lives or the lives of others and immediately pray—don’t wait—
pray!

Another way to resist Satan is to apply the blood of Jesus by faith to the situation. Just as the Israelites were delivered from death by putting the blood of a lamb on the lintels and door frames of their homes during Passover (see Exodus 12:1–13), so we can apply the blood of our Passover Lamb, Jesus, by faith and be protected.

Remind Satan of the cross on which Jesus totally defeated him; remind him that he is already a defeated foe and that you will not be deceived or deluded in any way. Let him know that you recognize that it is he who is coming against you and that you won’t blame people, God, or life.

Satan wants us weak and worn-out; that way we have no power to resist him. He knows that if he gains a foothold, he can get a stronghold. As I said before,
resist the devil at his onset!
Be aggressive; don’t wait to see what will happen. If you wait, you won’t like it. Stir yourself up in the Holy Ghost, fan the embers of your inner fire, and don’t let it go out during trouble. Remember that Jesus, the Victory, lives inside you—you have the Victory!

Matthew 11:12 teaches us that the kingdom of God has suffered violent assault, and violent men seize it by force. When we study the original Greek of this word
violent
(as defined by
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible),
it reads more like this: “The kingdom of God has suffered violent attack, but the
energetic
take it by force.” The
Amplified
version adds: They take it “[as a precious prize—a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].”

Satan loves a lazy man or woman; he knows that our inactivity is victory for him. We are to resist Satan in the power of the Holy Spirit; if we do, we will trouble him instead of his troubling us. As one minister said, “Trouble your trouble.”

You will trouble your enemy by keeping peace when he tries to bring you worry, fear, and dread. Read on to see how to overcome these common temptations.

Peacekeeper #4
DON’T WORRY
ABOUT THE FUTURE

W
orry, fear, and dread are classic Peace Stealers. Anxiety is a problem for many, if not most people, and it is a sure sign that they are not pursuing peace with God. These Peace Stealers are all things God tells us in His Word not to do, because all of them are a total waste of energy; they never produce any good results.

Worry can drain our energy, make us grouchy, and even make us sick. Worry has many negative side effects and none that are good. It is totally useless! We worry simply because we don’t trust God. We worry because we think we can solve our own problems if we dwell on them long enough. We worry because we are afraid things in life won’t turn out the way we hope.

The only solution to worry is total abandonment to God and His plan. Even when unpleasant things happen, which they do in everyone’s life, God has the ability to make them work out for the good if we continue to pray and trust Him (see Romans 8:28).

T
AKE
L
IFE
A
S IT
C
OMES

Like most people, I resist things I don’t like. One day the Lord said to me, “Joyce, learn to take life as it comes.” That does not mean I am to lie down and become a doormat for the devil and people who would abuse me; it does mean there are many things that I can do nothing about, so it is pointless to fight them.

If we are traveling somewhere and suddenly find ourselves in heavy traffic due to an accident or bad weather, it doesn’t do any good to resist it. Only time will change it. Worry will not change it, being upset will not change it, so why not relax and find some way to enjoy the time?

God has equipped us to handle life as it comes, but if we spend today worrying about tomorrow, we find ourselves tired and frustrated. God will not help us worry! Each day has enough for us to consider, we don’t need to anticipate tomorrow’s situations while we are still trying to live out today.

Jesus said, “So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). This is some of the best advice any of us will ever receive.

Ask yourself: What good does it do to worry?

Tell yourself: It does not do any good at all. It never solves the problem, it actually adds to it.

Most of the things we worry about are solved in time; sometimes they even solve themselves. Somehow an answer comes, and all the time we spent worrying was a total waste.

I have realized that when I worry, it is because I am really concerned about me. Worry is rooted in selfishness, just like so many other sins. Worry is a sin because it is not faith, and Romans 14:23 states that “whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin.”

Usually when I worry, it is rooted in what I fear people will think of me, what people will say about me, what will happen to me, or what I am going to do. All of us worry about other people and what they will do or what may happen to them, but we can do less about them even than we can about ourselves. If we cannot even control our own destinies, how can we hope to control someone else’s?

Worry definitely torments us. There is always, absolutely always, something to worry about unless we consciously choose not to.

Peace and worry do not cohabit together. If you intend to enjoy a life of peace, worry is one thing that you will have to give up.

The Lord wants us to be free from all anxiety and distressing care. He wants us to be free to serve Him without being “drawn in diverging directions” (1 Corinthians 7:34). He does not want our interests to be divided between Him and the things in this world we feel we need to worry about.

We should strive to keep our lives as simple as possible; it helps us to have fewer temptations toward worry. The more we are involved in, the more we face temptation to be concerned in new areas. I have discovered, for example, that the less I know, the less I worry. I was the type of person who wanted to be “in the know,” but now I would much rather have peace.

Paul even went so far as to instruct people to consider remaining single in order not to have spouses they would have to please. He said “The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly matters—how he may please his wife” (1 Corinthians 7:32–33).

It is certainly not wrong to get married, but Paul’s point was that we should keep life as simple as possible so we are free to serve the Lord. Married or single, we should seek simplicity in our daily lives.

L
ET
G
OD
T
AKE
C
ARE OF
Y
OU

God wants to take care of His children, and He has promised to do so: “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).

We can either try to take care of ourselves, or we can trust God and He will do it for us. Psalm 55:22 says to cast our care on Him, and He will sustain us. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and He will not force His help on us. We must ask for it.

We can say that we trust the Lord, but He also wants to see the fruit of it. One of the ways we show our trust in God is by refusing to worry and be anxious.

Because of being abused in my childhood, I learned at an early age to take care of myself. Those I turned to for help had let me down; they disappointed me, so I vowed not to trust people. It took me a while to learn that God is definitely not like people; if He says He will do something, He never fails to do it.