“When Satan is Near”
“And man’s enemies will be those of his own household” Matthew 10:36 (NKJV).
For those of you that don’t know I have been going through a lot with the passing of my mother and other drama in my life. Between all of it I feel tested to my limits and drained. A fellow brother in Christ named Keith told me to “pray and meditate”, I kept reflecting on God’s word and this verse kept popping into my head, in regards to the drama and chaos. This verse didn’t pop up by coincidence. I strongly believe Satan uses family drama to suck you dry spiritually and emotionally. Why? Because it hurts more when it is family against you. Jesus said earlier in Matthew 10:35 (NKJV) “For I have come to set a man against his Father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter against her mother in law." Let us think about that a second and let it sink in. This translates to people in your own family will not always be happy for you especially if you decide to follow Jesus. However, it is not just family, Satan has no problems using friends or strangers to hinder you either and steal your joy, I will cover that later.
Reflecting more on Matthew 10:36 it made me think of another verse, 1 John 4:1 (NKJV) Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone into the world. I thought about it. How can you test the spirits to see who is from God if not every single person in your life came from God into your life? Easy: Spirits from God will help you, will be happy when good things come your way, and will speak the truth. A spirit not from God is going to be the opposite: these spirits from Satan will destroy relationships, steal your joy, lie (because the scripture calls Satan the Father of lies), be jealous of anything good that comes your way, and you can tell, because they are just not spiritually healthy to be around at all (see John 10:10). The best thing you can do when you notice these types of spirits entering your life is to walk away! (see Matthew 10:14, Mark 10:29-30, and 1 Corinthians 5:5), these 3 scriptures all pretty much say sometimes you just got to walk away or just let people go.
Satan will also use your friends against you. Two examples that immediately popped up when I thought of this one. Both times Satan used Jesus Apostles (his friends) to try and hinder him. The first one is Peter trying to talk Jesus out of being crucified, Jesus rebuked Peter “Get behind me Satan, your minds on things of man and not the things of God” (See Matthew 16:22-23). The second one is when Satan entered Judas to betray him (see Luke 22:3-4). If Satan had the audacity to do that to Jesus and his Apostles do not be naive in thinking he wouldn’t use your friends, family, or even strangers around you against you. Ever have a person even a fellow Christian not like you for no reason and even talk bad about you and they don’t even know you? I know I have had it happen. I even had people I hardly knew spread rumors about me or speak for me? I can speak for myself and don’t need a rumor mill. Truth is, we don’t know what angle or direction an attack from Satan could be coming, therefore Satan is described as a roaring lion seeking who can devour and that we are to be vigilant against him (see 1 Peter 5:8).
What I hope you gain from this is to be more vigilant as to who and what you let in your life. Not all things are from God and not all things are spiritually or physically healthy to let in. Also, I hope you take in not everyone will support your choices or your faith but that don’t matter if God is with you and maybe those people just are not a good fit for your life. I hope you have a blessed holy Trinity Sunday. God be with you Father, son, and holy spirit amen.
Romans 8:31 (NKJV) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us who can be against us?
