Steps of Faith!
Have you ever had a time in your life where you believed God was calling you to step out in faith? Maybe it was to place your trust in His grace and salvation. Maybe it was to end a relationship you cherished. Maybe it was to give generously to a church or a project or a person.
Most of us, if not all of us, have had an experience where God was calling us to step out in faith and all of us know that with any step of faith, we are going to experience trials, hardships and persecution.
The enemy of our souls, Satan, is real and he wants to prevent us from living our lives for God’s glory. He wants to do everything he can to keep us from taking steps of faith, ultimately, proclaiming the goodness and greatness of God in our lives. If you are not living your life for God, then the enemy is content with that and will not see you as a threat, but the moment you start taking steps of faith in obedience to God is the moment Satan will begin to attack you.
How does he attack? Let me just give you three ways.
One, he attacks through personal issues. He will go after your home life, your relationship with your spouse, your kids. He will attack your finances, your workplace, even your animals. Last year, when we launched Front Range Christian Church, we had multiple personal attacks. Our house flooded 3 times, our cars broke multiple times, someone broke into our car, my wife’s workplace was a unique challenge and the list can go on and on. It was hard, but it was expected because that’s one way Satan attacks.
A second way Satan attacks is through the words of outsiders. Anytime we take a step of faith in our journey with God, people will have an opinion. They will either agree or disagree with us whether they are a part of or lives or not. When we announced we were launching a second campus, people who aren’t even a part of our church decided to share with us their opinion. Some were positive and others were…well…attacks of the enemy. It can be frustrating having others who are not a part of your life looking in and making conclusions about your decisions, but instead of getting upset at the person, recognize it as an attack of Satan and fight the real enemy.
A third way the enemy attacks is through the words of those “close” to you. Not only do you hear the conclusions of others outside of your life, but there are those who feel they have an inside track to your life. They may be relatives, people at church, co-workers or neighbors. These are people who feel close to you so they feel they have a responsibility to speak into your life, your family, your beliefs about God. These attacks can hurt the most because they come from people you feel should trust you and believe in you more than most. As with the second type of attacks, we must see these attacks for what they are. These are not mean people voicing their opinion, this is Satan using others to discourage and sidetrack us from the mission God has for us. Stay focused. Don’t give in. Don’t allow the attacks of the enemy from prohibiting you to live out God’s call on your life.
So what happens when you experience Satan’s attacks? How are we to respond?
3 Principles I live by.
1. Focus on what you know not what you don’t know
2. Surround yourself with truth tellers not fortune tellers
3. Be an umpire
Over the next week, I will explore these principles in greater detail. Principles that can help us stand on truth, live in freedom and continue to take the steps of faith God is calling us to take.
