Whom Do You Praise?

As I go through my newsfeed over at Facebook Land, I often see posts from some of my Christian friends talking about what the the father of lies (the devil) is doing in their lives (i.e, "I'm under attack from satan", The devil is messing with my life", "I must be doing something right; satan sure is mad at me", etc., etc., etc.).

Additionally, as I go through a day, a week, any time-frame, really, I often am privy to other similar offline conversations, as well.  Granted, not all Christians do this; but it does seem to be a very common practice. 

Frankly, this strange behavior has *always* bothered me.  If Christians are followers of Christ, shouldn't they, instead, be talking about what Christ is doing in their lives?

I wrote the following the other day as a comment to one of y'all's blogs that I read.  It sums up pretty well my feelings and opinion of whom Christians should be discussing regarding what's going on in their lives.  I share it here now, with y'all.  :)

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I can understand how easy it is for people to focus more on the abilities of the father of lies than they do regarding Our Lord’s Majesty. Sure, satan can really muck up our lives – IF we let him; if we believe his lies. I personally prefer to remember that he is already defeated and that he will *always* be defeated; even (and especially) through Eternity. There’s an awesome security in knowing that he simply cannot hurt me; not in any manner that means anything. In fact, on the rare times that I do refer to satan (such as discussions like these), I intentionally refer to him as the defeated one; because that’s exactly what he is.

It’s not so much what other people do or say (or don’t do / don’t say) that shapes our lives; it’s our response to them (or any situation) that is what’s really important. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own lives. Having said that, each of us should also strive to treat people the way that Jesus would have us treat them. Sometimes people (anyone) can miss the mark on that – BUT, that doesn’t negate that ultimately we (and no one else) are responsible for our own lives.

Also, do we listen to the lies from the defeated one or do we turn our focus and attention to Our Lord? Do we praise the defeated one by talking about what all he’s doing in our life (because that’s exactly what it is to his ears; anytime we talk about what satan can do or is doing, we’re giving him praise) – OR do we choose to praise Our Lord instead, and to stand on His Word?

In Ephesians, Our Lord gives us specific instructions as to how to stand firm against the defeated one: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Here’s to standing firm in Our Lord’s Peace and Joy!
Be blessed,
Sharmie