2 More Things the Devil Doesn’t Want to Hear You Say
Earlier this year I wrote an article titled, “The One Thing the Devil Doesn’t Want to Hear You Say” (read it here).
In the article, I revealed that the ultimate goal of Satan’s attacks is to convince you that God is mad at you. Consider all the calamity Job suffered. As awful as everything was, Satan’s attacks were not the end goal. Rather, they were the means to an end, which was to cause Job to doubt God’s goodness (Job 1:11).
And that’s Satan’s goal for you too. If he can erode your confidence in God’s love and goodness, then he succeeds in driving a wedge between you and God that ultimately results in a distant or severed relationship.
The way to counter Satan’s goal is to consistently stand on the truth of Romans 8:39: “[Nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The simple declaration “God loves me!” is a powerful way to do this. In fact, I believe that declaring, “God loves me!” is one of the greatest forms of spiritual warfare because it alerts the devil that his wiles aren’t working.
Satan also knows that believing that God loves you is foundational for believing the rest of God’s promises. Because God loves you, you can be assured that He wants the best for you. Because God loves you, you can be confident that He desires to heal you. Because God loves you, you have hope that He’ll turn bad situations into something good. So before we move on, why don’t you declare this now: “God loves me!” Say it again: “God … loves … me!”
Building upon the truth of God’s love, there are two more powerful declarations the devil hates to hear.
Declaration No. 2: “God chose me.” As I explore in my book, Silence Satan, second to believing that God is mad at you, the devil wants to convince you that there’s no purpose for you. To help achieve this, he’s infiltrated much of the culture with the idea that we’re all merely products of random chance—accidents of evolution. Add to this the epidemic of fatherlessness, and it’s unsurprising why so many today struggle with depression related to feelings of being unwanted or abandoned. Unfortunately, these feelings are often then related to God. Accordingly, many believe they’re meaningless to God or that He’s forgotten about them too.
If you’ve struggled at all with feeling purposeless, then allow me to inject you with truth. Yes, it may be right that your parents were surprised by your arrival, but you were no surprise to God. God’s words to the prophet Jeremiah reveal that He formed and knew each of us before we were born: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jer. 1:5).
The implications of this are huge. God had you in mind and created you before your parents ever conceived you. Like a potter’s hand to clay, God crafted you with great care—He didn’t overlook a single detail. The color of your eyes and skin, the shape of your nose—it was all meticulously chosen by your heavenly Father.
To add to the magnitude of this, you should know that God knew what He was getting before He formed you. So despite the good, the bad and the ugly, God still chose to bring you into existence in order to adopt you into His family.
“He predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:5).
Hear this: You are not an accident, nor are you unwanted. Regardless of the way you entered this world or what’s happened since you’ve been here, you are God’s desire. So here’s the undebatable, three-word truth that you should stand on and declare: “God chose me!”
Declaration No. 3: “God will use me.” The primarily goal of Satan’s accusations is intended to convince you that you’re too messed up or too dirty to be used by God. To accomplish this, the devil launches reminders of past mistakes and even words that others have spoken against you. “Look at the things you’ve done,” he’ll taunt. “God can’t possibly use you.” When you buy into his whispers, he effectively silences your voice and paralyzes you into inaction.
One of the most humbling metaphors the Bible uses to describe humans is a clay jar. The comparison is spot on. Like you and me, clay jars are brittle and frail. And upon close inspection, they are flawed, chipped, cracked and covered with imperfections.
But in the same verse that likens us to clay jars, the Bible also provides inconceivable hope: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [clay jars], the excellency of the power being from God and not from ourselves” (2 Cor. 4:7).
The fascinating truth this verse uncovers is that despite imperfections and flaws, God decided to fill each of us with His treasure—His glory—in order to reveal His power. Yes, perhaps you’ve messed up big time. But as a repentant vessel, your mistakes don’t spell the end for you. Quite the opposite, actually. In an unfathomable way, God will use what you consider to be your greatest weaknesses in order to demonstrate His greatest glory. There’s no greater purpose than that!
Don’t let the voice of “look what you’ve done,” “you’re too this” or “you’re not enough of that” disqualify you. Know that your wounds, your past and your weaknesses—when surrendered to God—are actually what God uses powerfully in His service. So keep this Satan-silencing truth consistently running through your mind and your mouth: “God will use me!” {eoa}
Kyle Winkler equips people to live in victory. His mobile app, Shut Up, Devil!, is the #1 spiritual warfare app; and his recent book, Silence Satan, has helped thousands shut down the enemy’s attacks, threats, lies and accusations. Kyle holds a Master of Divinity in biblical studies from Regent University. Get daily encouragement from Kyle on Facebook and Twitter.
