My Goal

“Oh NO…she’s up!” Yep, I am determined to wage war on Satan in 2015! This 5′ 1 1/2″, 52 and half year old woman with blonde hair from a bottle…in the Back 9 of life…is sick and tired of being sick and tired and I am going down fighting the enemy! I am determined to expose him for what he is…….a vicious enemy of our souls.

The first place we have to engage the enemy in battle….yes, I said engage…is to win back our minds and our thought life. If you follow Back 9, you are going to read a lot about this in 2015. Why? Because it is so easy to be deceived by our thoughts.

Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, you are gonna reap a destiny. Your destiny is either going to be holy or unholy…heaven or hell. That, my friends, is the simple truth!

Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you, But his heart is not with you.” In the context of this Proverb we are being told to not eat with a stingy man but back up for a minute. Take a closer look at this man. This man was one way on the inside but portraying a different kind of person on the outside. His thoughts and actions did not match up.

WE have got to pay attention and give thought…to our thoughts….where we allow our mind to go…rest…circle…camp….! I have learned you cannot completely control what you think, but you can COMPLETELY CONTROL what you do with your thoughts!

I ask myself daily, sometimes hourly….”Hey, who are you? Where did you come from? You gonna help me or hurt me?”…when it comes to thoughts that enter my mind.

When we learn to control what we do with our thoughts, the Bible calls it “renewing your mind!” “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” (Romans 12:2). In this Scripture Paul is talking to Christians….and being transformed. I did a word study on “transform“. It means to change into something entirely new, a quality of beauty you have never known! Wow…Wow…Wow… Don’t we all want that?!!!

The first assault Satan ever made in history happened in the Garden of Eden. Read the account in Genesis 3:1-13 slowly and allow it to “simmer” in your mind. Do word studies on words like transform, conform and patterns. You will learn and grow so much from this type of study. As I have studied these passages in detail, this is what I have learned about our enemy Satan. I see seven tactics he uses in his assault on our minds…thus our lives.

1. He is cunning…crafty…subtle…sneaky. We often do not recognize his attacks. They can go unnoticed…just like finding a spider bite on your arm and you didn’t even feel the bite! He will press in…then step back. He will lie in wait….press in…step back. It’s almost like a full court press in basketball and then fall back into zone. You never can predict his defense…very unexpected and changing.

2. He tempts…and it is usually where we are weak. Ice cream doesn’t tempt me like Skittles do. Yum! Yum! Nor do I think of murder at all, but gossip…is a trap for me!

3. He challenges God’s truth. Did God really mean that? Did He really say that? Satan can challenge our thinking, especially when we don’t know the whole of Scripture. Have you ever heard someone say that they know just enough to be dangerous? Allow me to elaborate with an example about diabetes. After 15 years of living with the disease up-close and personal, I can talk to someone and find they know just enough about diabetes to be dangerous. They think they know more than they really do. They make comments to me that seem just downright ignorant.

It makes me very thankful for those who truly did understand and I was able to leave Thomas in their care when he was a child. It could have been a dangerous scenario if I had left him with someone who only thought they knew what diabetes was all about. Someone whose limited knowledge would trick them into thinking they knew more than they did. Satan does the same thing. He challenges our thinking when we don’t know Scripture and when we don’t study Scripture. We can end up believing we know more than we really do!

4. He twists God’s truth. In chapter 3 of Genesis he says, “…every tree…?”

5. He LIES! He lies to everyone, Christian and non-christian alike. He told Eve, “You shall not die!” A lie. If you listen to his lies…YOU DIE! John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Philippians 4:8 tells us whatever is TRUE….think on these things. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

6. He maligns. Satan tells you to “go ahead and eat.” Satan tells you God is limiting you, withholding from you…to GET IT YOURSELF. Don’t wait. Matthew 7:9-11, “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

7. HE DECEIVES. Satan is the master of deluding, seducing. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The god of this age is SATAN!

People, learn to pay attention not only to what you are thinking about, but your INPUT as well. It directly relates to YOUR OUTPUT…which eventually dictates your destiny.

We have an enemy. Don’t let him have control. Allow God to invade your thoughts, thus your life!

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