Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you.  Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.  1 Peter 4:12-13  HCSB

It’s been almost two years now since God laid it on my heart to start this blog.  The funny thing is that when he laid it on my heart, I wasn’t even really sure what a blog was.  I was totally technologically illiterate and didn’t know where to begin.  But, no problem, God put people in my path to work all those things out for me.  I never know what I’m going to type, but that’s okay because God gives me the information.  He provides the title, verse, and body of my blog each and every time that I write one.  All I have to do is type.

Now if two years ago, God had simply said,  “I need you to do a little typing for me 6 days a week”, I would have said, “sure, no problem”.  But God said I need you to start a blog.  Do what?  I have to admit, that instilled a little fear in my heart.

God has given me many blogs about being faithful and fearless.  This is the way that we should live as Christians.  But I have to admit to you that there are times when that devil likes to douse a little fear onto me.  Now when this happens, the devil has a good time playing the “what if” game with me.  What if the worst case scenario happens?  What if it’s more than you can take?  What if you just can’t overcome this?  What if your life as you know it is destroyed?  Have you ever played that game with the devil?  The devil loves that game, because if he can engage us in it, he can destroy our faith.

There is another game the devil likes to play with me and I call it the, “but the last time game”.  In this game, the devil reminds me of what happened the last time.  He reminds me of what happened the last time I trusted this person.  He reminds me of what happened the last time I tried to do something nice for that person.  In this game, the devil loves for us to look at past events that went horribly wrong and assure us that history will only repeat itself.  In this game, the devil tries his best to convince us that if we are trusting in God to produce different results than the last time, we are just plain crazy.

The devil has tons of games in his toy box.  There is the “you will never be able to do that” game.  There is the “you will never be good enough” game.  And my personal favorite is the “what if God deserts you?” game.  That’s the scariest one.

Now the real danger in playing these little games with the devil, is that you can never win.  You see, if you allow the devil to engage you in these games, he will beat you every time.  You will also notice a common theme in these games and this is the lack of faith in God.  In each and every one of these games the devil will try to convince you that you can’t trust God to work all things out for your good.  Now Romans 8:28 tells us that this is a big fat lie. The devil wants you to believe that God doesn’t care about you and won’t listen when you bring your cares to Him, but we know from 1 Peter 5:7 that this is a lie.  Actually we know from John 8:44 that the devil is a liar.

You see, this morning I was awakened at around 4 am, which is not so unusual for me.  But as soon as my little eyes popped open, the devil wanted to play games.  Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not the sweetest little so and so around until I have prayed and had my coffee, in that order.  So I got up around 4:30 with the devil dancing around me, like a small child wanting to play, and I read a short devotional and I prayed.  Then I fixed myself some coffee and I prayed again.  I opened my bible and God brought me to our scripture passage for this morning.  He reminded me that when I step out for Him, that the devil will come against me.  He reminded me that I don’t stand alone, that He is with me.  He reminded me that He goes with me wherever I go.  He reminded me that He will never forsake me.  But most importantly He reminded me that these little games that the devil tries to play, are just his way of testing me.  They are just his way of trying to get me to open the door just a tiny crack so he can bust up into my life.  But most importantly, He reminded me of who He is and the many times that He has had my back in the past. The last verse in chapter 4 of 1 Peter says this, So those who suffer according to God’s will should, while doing what is good, entrust themselves to a faithful creator.  Now funny little side story here, when I looked this verse up on my bible app, I had it highlighted.  Hmm, I must have needed this one once before.

If you love the Lord and are trying your best to do what He has called you to do, you need to know this.  The devil is going to dance around you like a small child wanting you to play his games.  He is going to try his best to distract you and keep you from getting God’s work done.  He is going to try things like using shame, fear, and guilt to wear you down. He’s going to throw some big temptations in your way. Don’t let him!  Stand firm in the faith!  Remember that you serve a faithful God who will never leave you nor forsake you.  You have no reason to be afraid or discouraged(Deuteronomy 31:6).  Remember that there is nothing you can’t do when you rely on God’s strength (Philippians 4:13).

So, if the devil has been tempting you to play one of his games, resist him and stand firm in the faith and know that you are not alone.  He is working on Christians throughout the world (1 Peter 5:9).  Never forget that God is much stronger.  Oh and also, if you read the back of the book then you will know that we win!

Have a great day!