Satan Hates Me
We all know the old song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” And he does. The problem is that often we let that thought overshadow the reality of the spiritual battle going on for our soul. We expect smooth sailing, a love-filled path. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Paul just talked about putting on the full armor of God. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes delivering the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit – which is the word of God.
Why would we need such armor if this is one big lovefest? Because we are in a battle. The battle is against Satan and sin, and we cannot live successfully as a disciple of Christ without understanding this. Indeed, Jesus love us, but let’s not be naïve. Satan hates us, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And there is a battle going on between God and the prince of darkness. In fact, the Bible tells us that Satan is the ruler of this world currently (John 12:31). He will eventually be judged and thrown into Hell, but meanwhile he fights for your soul. He’d like you to go to Hell with him. Misery loves company, they say.
Let’s say you are about to join the war between Russia and Ukraine. If the military leaders say they love you, but fail to equip you, fail to give you resources and tools to fight with, that’s not love. In a similar vein, we must realize that when Jesus loves us, part of that love is equipping us for the battle going on.
We live in an age when many “Christians” walk amid this battle naively, no protective equipment, no armor, no weapon to fight with, and the enemy subtly makes his moves to influence with little resistance. Satan’s weapons are not guns, but things like God dishonoring music, immoral values promoted in movies, TV, and social media, the lie that being a good person is good enough, promotion of the LGBTQ agenda within public schools, etc. “All you need is love” the Beatles sang, and many who claim to follow Christ instead follow such sound bites, resulting in shallow lives without the biblical substance they really need. Certainly, we need love, but real, God ordained love, which comes with discipline and virtues that must be developed over time and comes with Bible study and encouragement from fellow Christians we meet with, our fellow soldiers in this spiritual battle. There are doctrines (teachings) that require study and adjustments as we counter the junk we’ve picked up from culture.
“Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8). He may say he loves you, but don’t be fooled, he wants to devour you, to capture your heart through deception, through half-truths, and then make you feel good on the pathway to his eventual home, hell. Don’t go there with him.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:7-8). We are double-minded when we try to live in sin while calling ourselves Christian and playing the game of “religion.” It won’t work. “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil” the apostle John tells us (I John 3:8). God did not call us to just say a little prayer and invite Jesus into our heart. He called us to be disciples of Jesus! That means we reject sin as we discover it and follow him.
Satan hates me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. But he’ll pretend to love you. Don’t be fooled.
Cross Point: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8).
Why would we need such armor if this is one big lovefest? Because we are in a battle. The battle is against Satan and sin, and we cannot live successfully as a disciple of Christ without understanding this. Indeed, Jesus love us, but let’s not be naïve. Satan hates us, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And there is a battle going on between God and the prince of darkness. In fact, the Bible tells us that Satan is the ruler of this world currently (John 12:31). He will eventually be judged and thrown into Hell, but meanwhile he fights for your soul. He’d like you to go to Hell with him. Misery loves company, they say.
Let’s say you are about to join the war between Russia and Ukraine. If the military leaders say they love you, but fail to equip you, fail to give you resources and tools to fight with, that’s not love. In a similar vein, we must realize that when Jesus loves us, part of that love is equipping us for the battle going on.
We live in an age when many “Christians” walk amid this battle naively, no protective equipment, no armor, no weapon to fight with, and the enemy subtly makes his moves to influence with little resistance. Satan’s weapons are not guns, but things like God dishonoring music, immoral values promoted in movies, TV, and social media, the lie that being a good person is good enough, promotion of the LGBTQ agenda within public schools, etc. “All you need is love” the Beatles sang, and many who claim to follow Christ instead follow such sound bites, resulting in shallow lives without the biblical substance they really need. Certainly, we need love, but real, God ordained love, which comes with discipline and virtues that must be developed over time and comes with Bible study and encouragement from fellow Christians we meet with, our fellow soldiers in this spiritual battle. There are doctrines (teachings) that require study and adjustments as we counter the junk we’ve picked up from culture.
“Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8). He may say he loves you, but don’t be fooled, he wants to devour you, to capture your heart through deception, through half-truths, and then make you feel good on the pathway to his eventual home, hell. Don’t go there with him.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:7-8). We are double-minded when we try to live in sin while calling ourselves Christian and playing the game of “religion.” It won’t work. “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil” the apostle John tells us (I John 3:8). God did not call us to just say a little prayer and invite Jesus into our heart. He called us to be disciples of Jesus! That means we reject sin as we discover it and follow him.
Satan hates me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. But he’ll pretend to love you. Don’t be fooled.
Cross Point: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8).