Finding a Voice

The devil’s main tool is deception: misleading us about God and each other. If he can get us to turn against God, if he can pit us against other people, and if he can get us to hide from God and others, his deceptive strategies have worked.

Lately, I’ve been detecting how widespread this deception is. Friends tell stories about relationships gone all wrong. They blame the other people involved. I had that experience just today. Worse, we can question and blame God. God can handle our doubt, yet it doesn’t glorify him.

Guy Chevrau doesn’t recommend taking evil head-on, instead engaging God’s truth through basics like praise and discipline. Consciously cultivating fruit of the spirit is one key in shutting out the enemy: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.

Philippians 4:8 repeats inside me: “Finally, brothers [and sisters], whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (NIV). Brian Doerksen set this verse to music, blending it with Hebrews 12:2: “Jesus you’re true, Jesus you’re right. Jesus you’re pure, you are lovely. We will fix our thoughts on you.”

Jesus is the light of the world (John 1:5-9); “in him there is no darkness at all” (1st John 1:5). It is crucial to declare truth in our lives, to claim God’s truth, nobility, rightness, purity, beauty in our situations. Bringing Christ’s light, empowered by the Holy Spirit, changes the very atmosphere around us. Concentrating on Jesus, who is the light, pushes back the darkness.