Kamis, 03 November 2016

Do You Know Satan’s Favorite Days?

Do You Know Satan’s Favorite Days?

There are two days Satan can use to accomplish that much more frequently than Halloween.
Do You Know Satan’s Favorite Days?
If you had to pick a favorite day for Satan, what would it be?
As we enter October, many people immediately think of Halloween and all its supposed associations with evil. Someone really into numbers might think June 6, 2006 (6/6/6).
But in reality, those days don’t give Satan what he’s after. He wants to cause Christians to stumble and prevent us from pursuing all that Jesus has for us. He wants to cause followers of Christ to stumble.
There are two days Satan can use to accomplish that much more frequently than Halloween—yesterday and tomorrow.
With yesterday, Satan can draw you into dwelling on your past.
Sometimes, even hearing the word causes the pangs of regret to stab deep in our heart.
Yesterday. We blew it. Yesterday. We chased the idols of our heart and wandered far from God.
We all realize there is nothing we can do to change our decisions in the past, but we spend so much time focusing on them. We wish we could fix them or erase them, but our obsession with them grants them even more power and permanence.
Or maybe, we have some victories in the past and Satan knows bringing those to mind will set us off course.
It can be so easy to see God work in and through you during one time and then try to coast off that. Instead of gathering fresh manna every morning, we want to keep a jar of leftovers from yesterday.
Yesterday. I did some great things for God. Yesterday. I saw Him move in tremendous ways.
All the while, you have spent time with Him. Today. You haven’t sought His face. Today.
Because you are distracted by what happened yesterday, you never see how God wants to use you today.
Satan loves yesterday, but he also loves tomorrow.
Instead of choosing to obey God today, Satan wants to convince you that tomorrow would be a better day to make that decision.
Have you ever been in a discussion with a salesperson trying to close a deal? They want to do everything they can to get you to make the decision right now—today—because they know anything could happen tomorrow. Now is their best chance.
Satan realizes that if he can convince us to push back a decision or a life change to tomorrow, he can do it again and again.
We can convince ourselves that we aren’t actually disobeying God. We’re going to get around to it. Just not today. We’ll do it tomorrow.
More often than not, planned obedience tomorrow is actual disobedience today. Our enemy understands this better than we do.
So does this mean we should treat yesterday and tomorrow like some treat Halloween? Not at all. Christ is there in all of our days: today, yesterday and tomorrow.
Through the cross, we have a better perspective on our past and future, so that we can follow Christ completely with our present.
Satan may want you to focus on your yesterday, but instead go further back. Go to the cross. Through His sacrifice, Christ has forgiven you your past mistakes and given you your past victories.
Satan may want you to focus on your tomorrow, but instead go further forward. Go to Christ’s return. In that day, Satan’s defeat that has long been secured will be realized.
Our enemy may love yesterday and tomorrow for how they can tempt us, but our Savior has redeemed them. No matter what days Satan may love, Jesus loves us even more.
Aaron Earls is a writer living outside Nashville, TN with his wife and kids. You can read more from him at TheWardrobeDoor.com and follow him on Twitter @WardrobeDoor.

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