If it hasn’t happened to you, it will.
Hackers are on the rampage. Face Book posts, emails, tweets are compromised. Safe “share” posts have lewd images hidden in them, or links that illegally access your profile. Banks, hospitals, even government entities are not immune. It seems there is no firewall strong enough.
Our souls are not immune to being hacked, either. Call him what you will…the devil, the evil one, satan, the father of lies. He leans in and whispers into our brains –interrupting our thoughts and warping around blessings.
You aren’t strong enough to resist.
You’ll never achieve that goal.
You don’t serve God’s favor.
God has walked away because He’s mad at you.
You’ll never get back in His good graces after this.
Everyone does it, it’s not so bad.
The Bible is outdated. That verse doesn’t matter anymore in today’s world.
And the worst of all….I’m a good Christian. Nothing big can tempt me.
C.S. Lewis said in his book, Mere Christianity,
“A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is… A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.”
“….When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
John 8:44b
This hacker know the places where our “firewall” is the weakest. He knows what words to say that will crack our will and get to us emotionally. Then He wiggles in with a negative suggestion and clouds our positive viewpoint. Soon, like a virus, it begins to affect all of our thoughts and actions, even our prayers or desire to pray. Step by step, we become more and more vulnerable to his wiles. Trust me, as soon as you begin to do God’s will, this hacker will show up. Big time! You got it wrong. God didn’t mean for you to take this on. That’s why this is so hard. You misunderstood.
Where is your firewall the most vulnerable? How can you make sure your soul is “unhack-able“? Paul shared the algorithm two millennia ago:”Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12). Jesus used Scripture to keep Satan from seeping into his thoughts while he was in the wilderness being tested. (Matthew 4:1-11) “Remaining joyful and counting your blessings no matter your feelings at the moment keeps your attitude up and running.” (Philippians 4:6)
Prayer is the best defense against becoming compromised. Scripture is the best method to detect hacked messages, and a joy-filled attitude that knows without a doubt that God is faithful, true and loves you is the best way to have uninterrupted power.
