THE WAR OF PRINCIPALITIES GOD’S WAY VS SATAN’S WAY
We Christians have great hope. Jesus came to save sinners and to offer us eternal life. Through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection, He opened the gates of heaven for all who would believe in Him and follow His teachings.
But God gives us the gift of a free will, and while Jesus asks us to follow Him, He never forces us to. Ultimately, He leaves the determination of our salvation or damnation up to us. In the end, it will be our choice as to our eternal destiny.
Throughout our lives, we are going to be continually faced with two different and opposing ways of living; God’s way or Satan’s way. We’ll constantly have to make choices on which path we want to follow.
We’ll have to decide on God’s way or Satan’s because we can’t act upon the word of both because they are completely opposites of each other.
The Word of God declares us to be His adopted and beloved sons, daughters, His chilldren. His joy and delight, sons and daughters of God.
The word of Satan tells us that we don’t have to be children of God. We can be our own gods, living and dying on our own terms.
The Word of God tells us that we are so important to God and that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us in the most horrible way.
Satan tells us that we have no need of anyone dying for us and that we can become important on our own, as self-made men and women.
God tells us that we belong to Him and Satan tells us that we belong to ourselves alone.
The Word of God reveals that we have been created in God’s Own Image and Likeness.
Satan tells us to create our own self-image, our best self-image is the one that is pleasing to us, a self-image created according to our wills and desires.
God tells us that He is the Way and that we should walk in His light. Satan tells us to go our own way and to walk in the light of our own pride.
God tells us that there is no profit in possessing the whole world at the cost of losing our souls.
Satan tells us that we have no soul. So we need to grab for all the things and pleasures that we can get, right now, in this life.
God tells us that there is life after death and that Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven, where we can share in God’s life and glory for all eternity.
Satan tells us that there is nothing after death, we are going nowhere. And so it doesn’t make any difference what we do.
God tells us that He is Truth.
Satan, the father of all lies tells us that there is no such thing as absolute truth and that we must create our own truths that allow us to achieve our own worldly ambitions and desires.
Satan is a tough opponent and always tries to make us feel small, insignificant, and helpless. And many times he fools us into being our own worst enemy. But even when Satan does fool us, God doesn’t give up on us and continues to address us in His Word and Spirit.
We say it’s impossible, we can’t do it; God says all things are possible through Him.
We say I’m too tired, God says, come to Me and I will give you rest.
We say I can’t go on, God says My Grace, My help is sufficient to see you through hard times.
We say I can’t figure things out, God says I will direct your steps, if you ask.
We say I can’t forgive myself of my many sins against God and against my fellow man. God says I will forgive you.
We say I can’t manage my life, God says, if you seek My kingdom and it’s righteousness, then I will supply all your needs.
We say I am afraid, worried and frustrated. God says I have not given you the spirit of fear, cast all your cares upon Me.
We say I am not smart enough, God says I will give you wisdom.
We say I don’t have enough faith, God says I have given everyone a measure of faith.
We say we feel all alone. God says I will never leave or forsake you.
We say nobody really cares or loves me. God says I love you.
Yes, all our lives we will be faced with countless choices. The Way of God or the way of Satan.
And we need to clearly decide what we want, God or Satan, good or evil, life or death, salvation or damnation. Jesus offers us His salvation as a free gift.
But the choice of Jesus salvation and our own damnation will always be ours to make. If we want salvation, then Jesus and His truths need to be at the center of our lives. Not Satan’s lies, not worldy pleasures, and not our own desires.
A few final thoughts. All our lives we’ll be faced with spiritual battle, between God and Satan. We need to be ever alert and aware of our weaknesses, because Satan knows our weaknesses and he’ll tempt and attack us where we are the weakest.
But remember this, God isn’t too interested in our past lives and sins, He cares a lot more about our future lives.
We’ll all fall in to sin and make the wrong decisions many times during our lives. Sometimes we battle and struggle with the same sins, over and over, maybe for many years, maybe for a lifetime.
But, each time we do fall, never give up, it’s important not to run away from God, but that we get right back up, repent, and turn to Jesus. He’s always willing to forgive and take us back and let us start our lives all over again, in Christ.
