From Lysa Terkeurst
"Make no mistake — we are in a battle. A daily one. Darkness is trying with all its might to overcome the light. Satan will even go so far as to disguise himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Thankfully, knowledge is power. If we can recognize Satan for who he is when he tries to show up in our lives as light, then we can call him out on it and reach for the true light of Jesus.
So, how do we tell the difference? If something looks like light, how can we know if it is really light or if it is counterfeit light?
To tell if something is truly the light, we must hold it up to the light of God’s Word.
We must keep testing our decisions against Scripture. Our world tells us that we don’t need God’s Word, that the Bible is out of date. It’s certainly not popular. So, the tendency is to let it fall by the wayside and simply go with what we feel is right. Any time we feel it may be easier to go it on our own and not bring a decision back to God’s Word, we must recognize that thinking for what it is — a lie from Satan.
The Word of God is our handbook for living. Let’s keep it close and use it as a light unto our path every day."
This is so true, and to her admonition to "test our decisions against Scripture", I would add, our thoughts, attitudes, actions and reactions as well.
We're to have the mind of Christ, and to reflect Him and His great grace in our lives. And that doesn't always look like some would think. It doesn't always have "all the feels" that as an emotional creature I would be more comfortable with. Jesus' actions didn't always set right with the religious crowd, because it ran counter to their way of doing things, their goals and agendas, and threatened their positions. He often called them out on their hypocrisy. Even the disciples were often confounded as He corrected and taught them. Remember Jesus saying to Peter, "Get thee behind me Satan!"?
"Jesus turned to Peter and said, Get away from me Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God's." Matthew 16:23
In the moment, Peter's emotions were running high, and they were blurring his perspective and understanding. He actually rebuked Jesus, questioning His plan! Been there??
Part of the personal battle is to not allow satan to have victory in the hurts, disappointments and failures of my life. It's so easy to throw stones, to place blame, to pass judgment, to begin comparing my situation with another's, to defend and justify my own actions and reactions, all in an effort to lessen or avoid pain, change, or the undesired and sometimes unavoidable realities of life altogether. This too must be brought back to the Light of Scripture so that the true condition of our hearts can be revealed.
If satan can gain the upper hand, keeping us from seeing and acknowledging our true heart condition, he has succeeded in moving us a step away from Jesus. Without even being aware of what's happening, our priorities change, intimacy with Him is lost, and He is no longer first place in our lives, we are. We are going our own way, having what we believe is still a right relationship with Him. But it's really one that suits our own terms and conditions and placates our emotions. It's not the oneness with Christ we should have. And it's not the Lordship in our lives He should have.
Everything that comes into our lives, everything He allows to happen, we have to be able to accept and embrace with faith and grace and humility as from His hand. This is hard, and definitely a battleground for the mind and emotions.
"Make no mistake---we are in a battle". The "counterfeit light" might try to make us believe that the enemy is our situation, if it would just change; other people, if they would just meet our expectations; or even other believers! (we're all perfect though, right? so how could that be!) But again, the enemy is satan, waiting to devour us as we wallow in our wrong attitudes, our negativity, our unkind, selfish thoughts, or discontentment with what life is handing us right now. The Light of Scripture shows us the way back, reveals the deception of the "counterfeit light", and keeps us close to the Savior, right where we need to be.
