The Battle

I'm a thinker.  And I overanalyze a lot.  I attribute my excellence in Calculus (in the day) and noteworthy determination for a research paper to my thinking nature.  I attribute my inability to get through a novel rather quickly to my thinking nature.  The latter being the more unfortunate.

My overactive thought processes have also become satan's little playground.  Within the past week, I have read various scriptures, articles, and blogs about the tactics of satan on our thoughts.  Clearly, the Lord has been trying to tell me a thing or two.

Most of us, especially girls, engage in regular battles within our minds.  Our minds are where we make the decisions of life.  Faith and trust are a choice.  We choose to believe in God.  We choose to trust Him.  Because this is the key area where decisions are made to follow God, it is no mistake that satan sees the ideal area for attack and goes in for the kill.  Our days, my days, are not marked by the fairies and unicorns that we want the world to see.  Really, it's more difficult than that.  Underneath our Facebook pictures and Instagram pictures is a person that may be struggling.  We try to put our best face forward, but really we may be broken and are in desperate need of our Savior.  Our thoughts can range from continual comparison to others, doubt, mistrust, self-deprecation: Am I good enough? Is something wrong with me? Am I moving too fast?  Should I commit to this? What's wrong with me? Does God really love me? Am I missing God's blessing? I can do this on my own, etc.  These questions and many more plague my mind regularly.  Yet God has been faithful to reign those thoughts in and teach me more of who He is.

The questions plague my mind because that is where satan is strong on the attack.  Satan attempts to block my thoughts of choosing to follow God and the sufficieny of Christ.  In Matthew 16:21-23, Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me.  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."  Peter's doubt and unbelief in this moment is a result of satan becoming a stumbling block.  Satan is clearly trying to be a hindrance to the will of God.  When thoughts come to mind such as the ones mentioned above, satan is trying to block our faith.  He wants to do anything to prevent the will of God from moving forward and our participation in it.

We must recognize these attacks for what they are and command satan to get behind us.  We must be confident in knowing that satan is only attempting to be a stumbling block to God's glory; these have been his tactics since the garden. We must choose to move forward knowing that we have already been justified.  The victory has been won.  The enemy defeated.