Please don’t stop reading right after I tell you this. It isn’t the theme of the blog, but a fact that made me think more deeply about the ideas you will see in these pages.
I am in my late 30s and still single. I don’t like being single and I have always wanted to be married. God has never taken me down that path (yet) and it has been heartbreaking. I have been downtrodden and yes, hopeless sometimes. I have gotten upset, angry, said some not so nice things to God. I have balled my eyes out. But I keep coming back to this dream. I just can’t let it go. Even being single, I still hope, dream, and pray for this.
I always told myself it was because I am a hopeless romantic. But after so many heartaches I had to ask why I kept coming back. I have prayed to have this desire removed, or to be fulfilled. I still don’t have an answer. But I think I keep coming back to it because I can’t kick hope. Too many people these days have lost hope and that’s where this blog begins.
There has been a strong shift over the past decade in having “realistic endings” to stories. And it comes from this negative outlook on life. Everything is offensive and isn’t acceptable to one group or another. How depressing.
Where did this come from? The deceiver.
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” - 1 Peter 5:8
While Satan has control and power here, he wants to convince (read: deceive) you that we are doomed. He wants us to feel desolate; for us to believe that nothing will get better and that in the end it doesn’t matter. He wants us to believe we are hopeless.
And when we feel that way, we give up on our dreams. Dreams will never happen; they are impossible. You won’t have stability. You falter and fail. We give up on people and trusting them. Relationships never work, the grass is greener with someone else. So we give up on hope, kindness, faith, belief and we lose heart.
But in the verse right before this Peter writes, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” It is a reminder that we are not hopeless. That we have a God that gives hope and we do not need to worry because God cares for us. He cares for you. This is what the deceiver is attempting to make us forget.
I think C.S. Lewis’ collection of “The Screwtape Letters” is one of the best examples of how Satan weasels his way into our heads. Ways that go unnoticed many times. Lewis really points out the subtlety of Satan’s work. In one letter, Screwtape writes to Wormwood explaining ways to distract this human from authentic prayer. He says, “If this fails, you must fall back on a subtler misdirection of his intention.” Misdirection is a cunning way to deceive. How many times did you have good intentions, but were then distracted? Or your intentions shifted towards selfishness? This is the kind of misdirection Satan wants to use to keep us from a deeper, personal relationship with God.
And while Satan may be a force now, he knows his ending and he wants to take down as many as he can with him.
How do we combat this constant barrage of negativity?
“No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit. It is an unconquerableness.” - Oswald Chambers
We are unconquerable in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, we are given hope in our soul. We are given comfort and encouragement.
God created man in His image. We have a soul and that soul yearns for something. Some people try to find the answer in other places, but our peace is found in God. We find our place in Christ. John 17:16 says we are not of this world. So we still hope. We still have a spark.
“I don’t want to be a flame. I want to be a raging fire.”
-Ginny Owens, “Moved”
Questions and Challenges:
- What is something you have struggled with for more years than you care to remember?
- Think of an example where God opened your eyes to a deception.
- Pray about the lies you have believed and ask to have the ones you haven't noticed revealed. Seek God's truth in the Bible and through prayer to defend against Satan't lies.
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