You are Invited

You are invited to enjoy a life filled with worry, confusion, misery, hatred, anger, bloodshed, poverty and injustice.

Suppose you received a beautiful invitation with your named so exquisitely written across the front with those words written inside? Would you accept such an offer? Would these words entice you? How many of us would see it as an outrageously disturbing invitation? I think it is safe to assume that we all seek to live a life that is free of such pain and discouragement yet many of us find ourselves caught in the middle of this very place. We do not purposely choose this kind of a life but we oftentimes surrender ourselves, if even only for a moment, to the invitation presented by Satan. He is unyielding with the attacks and quite relentless to get his way. Every day we find our minds bombarded by every weapon he has at his disposal.

We are engaged in warfare-a battle that rages every day and does not end. We can choose to put on the the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and stand fast on His Word but we will not put a complete stop to the end of this war. As long as we are living, our minds will remain Satan's battlefield. Most problems arise from our thinking patterns and this is where Satan finds the most victory. He entices with the lure of what we will gain and what will feel good not showing us the harm or injustice that it will bring.

Eve gave in to the first temptation and ate of the fruit from the tree of life. Satan used the appeal of being like God to entice her with the fruit. Just imagine if he had said, "Eat of this fruit and you will bring to yourself and everyone else complete misery and anger and hatred and so on." I feel certain that Eve would have run the other way if presented with that kind of an offer, but instead he promised her that she would be like God and know good and evil, which is so much more appealing and quite clever. Satan did not tempt Eve to do something bad but instead said it in such a way that what she heard sounded good. The true appeal of evil is not to do harm but instead to gain something.

Satan's temptation worked on Eve and she lost the very first battle of the mind but because we have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, we can win!

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

1 Corinthians 10:13