What do you wish for? What makes you happy? What do you seek after? You ask yourself these questions pretty regularly. It is what drives your actions each day. While God gives the freedom to express yourself freely and to choose whom you will serve today, see Joshua 24:15, your freedom comes with a warning attached.
The warning is found in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters.” Jesus says, “For you will hate one and love the other, you will be devoted to one and despise the other. you cannot serve both God and money.”
While you know that God must come first in all areas of your life, living it out proves to be arduous, often times it feels unreachable. Why is this? It is because Satan has mastered the art of deception. While Jesus is always with you, and you have His help at your disposal, see 1 Corinthians 10:13, Satan is not too far away from distracting you. He has gotten pretty good at staying in step with Jesus walking with you.
What tool does he use frequently to detract you away from God’s presence? It is the very deadly golden carrot. He dangles it in front of your face so you see it up close and personal. It grows in size when God is working in your heart to trusting Him more. Whenever your faith needs fine-tuning, Satan is quick to pull out the carrot to stop any maturity from happening in your faith.
His carrot comes in whatever you hope for, dream of, and desire. The lure of money is an easy ploy. I have seen it firsthand with my husband. In his career, there were times he would wrestle with staying at his current employer. Maybe he would change careers, what would that look like? Maybe moving and starting something new would rejuvenate the staleness he felt, and every single time he would ponder and pray, the golden carrot would show up. Now, his employer did not know his desire to maybe make a change, but suddenly more stock options were on the table or a promotion with a pay raise.
For Rob, staying put was the choice(s) he made. While they proved worthwhile in providing for his family, maybe God intended something else for him. Each day, we all make choices that affect our faith journey. As we make the choices we do, are we making the best choices where God is receiving all the glory and praise or are we serving ourselves?
What lures you away from God’s presence?
The list is endless and Satan will capitalize on every single one of them if you let him. How does His children combat such deception? Get into the Bible everyday. Study it for your life depends on it. Talk to God all day long, everyday. Let Jesus walk with you and show you the way in every situation you find yourself in. As you do these simple practices, they become a part of who you are. As time goes by, you will become more and more comfortable walking with Jesus. You will come to understand that He truly does love you and He is your biggest fan! You will wake up in the morning looking for Him.
May today be the day you say no to Satan and his evil ways. Walk in the newness of life as told in Romans 6:4 ESV, “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” In Christ, you have the authority to wither the carrots from the enemy; read the book of Jude (it’s only 1 chapter) and pay attention to how one of God’s angels deals with Satan in verse 9. Do the same thing!
Carol J German 