It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands., but it is pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. Romans 7:21-23 MSG
There have been days and even seasons in my life where it seems like that everything that can go wrong does and then some. Several years ago, we bought another business in Roswell, New Mexico, and it seemed like all hell broke loose, the women we hired to manage the Roswell office, would steal the jobs our salesman was selling, by sending their nephew to give the customer a cheaper price and the nephew would put his time on that job on his time card for us to pay but they pocketed the whole job on the side, we lost one of our major builders because he did not like us taking on a new location, another contractor did not like the ad we ran in the paper and started threatening to sue and several other things all hit at once. It got so bad that I dreaded when my cell phone rang, worried about what else was going to happen. I remember waiting until everyone in the Roswell office was gone to lunch and I went around the office anointing every door with anointing oil and rebuking the devil and praying over all that went on in that office. Have you lived through a season like that or maybe you are there right now? When we go through those seasons it is so easy to blame the devil and tell everyone the devil has been after you all week and you just need some relief from the attack. According to Ephesians 6:12 there are very real attacks of the enemy, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places.” If we were to be really honest, not all the problems we are facing are caused by the devil. Sometimes the devil does not need to bother with keeping our life a mess, we do a really good job of helping him out. I listened to a preacher this week that was telling that he went to rebuke the devil one time and the Holy Spirit told him, you need to rebuke your decision instead. Ouch that hit home, how many times has the Holy Spirit told me to keep my mouth shut or not to do something and I went ahead and did it anyway and the outcome was painful? We went though a difficult season in our marriage when our children were little and it seemed like we were at each other’s throats frequently, we went to eat at Abuelos one night and when we were leaving, I got me a tooth pick and I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to get one for my husband. I was frustrated with him that day and I told the Holy Spirit “No, he did not deserve me being nice to him.” The next day we had a big blow up and he told me I was so selfish that I would not even get him a tooth pick.” (Thank God that season was over quickly.) Had I just listened to the Holy Spirit; I would not have given my husband fuel for the fight. Each of us have made bad decisions and when the consequences are due, we run to God crying how hard life is and accusing the devil of sabotaging our life. Decisions can be in relationships, if we do not cultivate and invest in our children when they are young, they will find other sources to meet there needs and when they are older, we reap what we sowed and they do not have time for us. We have had employees that called in sick just because they did not feel like working that day on a regular basis, only to hear the complain about not making enough money. I knew a lady once who knew her car needed oil and she wanted to go out and eat instead of spending the money on oil and she burned her motor up. Maybe you go shopping and buy something with the money for the electric bill, that you really did not need and want to blame the devil that the electricity got turned off. Has a bad attitude ever taken over at work and you sulk around and complain all the time and then blame the devil that your boss gave the promotion to someone else? Perhaps the nightmare neighbors just got tired of your dog making a mess in their yard and it had nothing to do with them being difficult to get along with. By now, I am sure the Holy Spirit is reminding you of the time or situation where you did not make good decisions and instead of confronting your own bad behavior, you took the easy way out and blamed the devil. It is not easy to take a long look at your own behavior and ask what could I have done to prevent this problem or what should I have done to solve the problem for a better outcome. Our kids’ Ag teacher would tell them at the end of every pig season, look back honestly over the season, did you do everything right, were there things you could have done better and if so fix them next year. (There are times of difficulty when you have done everything right and problems still arise unexpectedly and you need to rest and trust God to work the problem out.) If we are too busy blaming everyone else, we give away our ability to take responsibility and change the next chapter in our book. The things we do not deal with, the unhealed wounds, the betrayals, the bad habits, like procrastination, the lack of self-control, the money issues, or our people skills will continue to follow us everywhere we go and the same issues will keep coming up. I challenge you to find the courage to ask the Holy Spirit to shed light on the issues and decisions in your life that you need to take to Him in prayer. I love what the Psalmist wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” Psalm 139:23-24. I believe God has great things planned for us that we never seem to walk into because of the decisions we make and the chaos those decisions create.
Another thing that Christians do that causes destruction in our lives that we want to blame the devil for are the words we speak. Some people gripe and complain about everything and they cannot figure out why their life is such a mess. How many times are we like the wolf in the story of Goldilocks, this food is too hot, this is too cold, this is just right: this bed is too hard, this bed is too soft, this is just right? Our complaining is not pleasing to God. In Numbers 21 the people complained against God and Moses, calling the Manna (Angels’ food)that God provided daily “worthless bread.” God sent the serpents to bite them and many of them died because the complained. Once we give into complaining, it seems like everything around us seems wrong. We have all watched certain people who go through trial after trial, complaining that the devil is after them, when in all reality God is allowing them to eat the fruit of their lips. Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” One time we went out for supper and we had a long wait on our food, and I started to complain and J.D. told me “There is no where else we need to be, just enjoy the family time.” He was right, I did not have to cook supper that night and I was able to sit and enjoy the meal with my whole family, I had so much to be thankful for. I learned a lesson through that moment, stress will build pressure and something will come out as a way to release the pressure, we have the choice of whether we let complaining come out or praise. No wonder 1 Thessalonians 5:18 admonishes us “in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” If you are struggling with a complaining issue, you need to do a heart check. Luke 6:45 Jesus taught, “A good man out of the abundance of his heart brings forth good: and an evil man, out of the abundance of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Proverbs 4:23 we encouraged to “Keep your heart with all diligence, for form it flow the springs of life.”
When we have decisions to make, we need to take time and seek God’s will for our lives and let Him order our footsteps. Once we make decisions that line us with His plan for us, we must be mindful about the words we are speaking. Our words have life and they have death and we reap the harvest of what we speak. Many of us were told as children that if you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything at all. So, we are silent with some people and never look for ways to speak life into them. It is not enough to keep from speaking death, we must be intentional to speak life and healing into the people around us that are hard. I wonder what harvest we would reap if we started looking for words of life to speak into everyone we come in contact with. It will be amazing when we start making better decisions and quit cursing our lives and the people in our lives with our words. Many of the so-called “attacks of the devil” will stop. All it takes is for us to realize that we are not victims and that with some simple changes, we can reap the harvest of a more productive and peaceful life. Cathy Nesmith