Sunday, August 1, 2010

Defense Against The Dark Arts


I can across this email this morning and had to share it with all of you. It never really clicked until today when I realized how deceptive our enemies ploys are in bringing us down on a daily basis. I hope you enjoy! ~ Kat

Counting on Our Vanity and Blindness

The core of Satan's plan for each of us is not found in tempting us with obvious sins like shoplifting or illicit sex. These things he uses more as maintenance strategies. His grand tactic in separating us from our heart is to sneak in as the Storyteller through our fears and the wounds we have received from life's Arrows. He weaves a story that becomes our particular "Message of the Arrows." Counting on our vanity and blindness, he seduces us to try to control life by living in the smaller stories we all construct to one degree or another. He accuses God to us and us to God. He accuses us through the words of parents and friends and God himself. He calls good evil and evil good and always helps us question whether God has anything good in mind in his plans for us. He steals our innocence as children and replaces it with a blind na?vet? or cynicism as adults.

At the same time Satan is at work reinterpreting our own individual stories in order to make God our enemy, he is also at work dismantling the Sacred Romance-the Larger Story God is telling-so that there is nothing visible to take our breath away. He replaces the love affair with a religious system of dos and don'ts that parches our hearts and replaces our worship and communion services with entertainment. Our experience of life deteriorates from the passion of a grand love affair, in the midst of a life-and-death battle, to an endless series of chores and errands, a busyness that separates us from God, each other, and even from our own thirstiness.

Part of Satan's grand strategy of separating us from our heart, once Jesus has drawn us to an awareness of being his sons and daughters through believing faith, is to convince us that our heart's desires are at core illegitimate.

(The Sacred Romance , 107-9)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

G'day sweet Kat ~ Couldn't have said it better myself ... so since I didn't & you did!, I add ... AMEN, sweet friend.

Have a lovely sumer's day ~
TTFN ~ Hugs, Marydon

Country Wings in Phoenix said...

Good Morning Kat Sweetie...
Oh how I love this post. Beautifully and elequently written.

Thank you for sharing this morning. Amen and Amen.

Country hugs and much love, Sherry

NanaNor's said...

Sunday Blessings to you Kat,
Love this quote and I've got the book so should reread it...so very timely.
Have a glorious afternoon dear friend.
Noreen

Rita said...

Satan will steal our souls if we let him, but we have a God that is bigger than he. He blindsides us with all kinds of lures, but if we keep our eyes on our Lord, we can't fail. Praise His might Name! Thank you for this reminder, Kat.

momstheword said...

This is why we need to compare everything to His word, as it is the only Truth we have.

Our enemy works deceptively to get us to take our eyes off of the Lord and put them on ourselves. I am so glad we have a God Who is greater than anyone and anything!

Your word verification is "tests" and I think that it suits your post, doesn't it?!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting this. This is so very true.

Just Be Real said...

Great quote and picture Kat. Wow, thanks for sharing. Blessings.

David C Brown said...

"Is it even so that God has said, Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?", Genesis 3: 1. He still at the same tactics!

Denise said...

Fantastic post.

sunny smiles said...

He comes as a thief in the night or day...I look forward to getting to know you and besides we are almost neighbors..Lol!