Satan - The Great Divider


What is Satan? Well firstly; separation from God. Plain and simple, being apart from God in some way shape or form. Later on I’ll talk about how we become separate from God, but for now let us concentrate on just what that means. What is it to be separate from God? Is it not having Him in our lives? It not having His blessings? Is it not going to heaven and spending eternity with Him? Indeed it is all of those and more. Reflect on that a moment. Understand what that means, Jesus experienced it on the cross when he said "My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46) But we will not experience that until the day of judgment and those that do not follow him will find out what that is like.

Who is Satan? He was once know as Lucifer, Lightbringer, the great morning star (Isaiah 14:12). Satan is also portrayed as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).  He led the choir of angels in worship to God. That's right, God created the angels to worship Him, and He chose one of them to lead them in doing this. But Satan rebelled and instead led some of them in worship to himself rather than God. Did God create him wrong? I don't think so. God says He is the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End, it states in the Bible that He knows what's going to happen before we do. So if He is all-seeing, all-knowing and everywhere at once surely he knew that Lucifer was going to rebel and get thrown out of heaven. Indeed He did, because He already had in mind to create us and give us free will to choose to worship Him, but what is the point of having the ability to choose if there is nothing to choose between? It needed more than with God or without, the without needed a figurehead someone who was opposed to God. So we have the ability to fight Satan because God can give us the power over him if we let God do that, because sometimes we forget that God created Lucifer and as the Bible says "No servant is greater than his master" John 13:16 (slightly out of context, but valid).

As I pointed out earlier Satan represents separation from God and how do we let Satan into our lives and affect our walk with God? In a number of different ways, there are many things that can separate us from God and some of them are very simple things to sort out. I'm going to look into five ways that we become separate from God. Because they each come together to spell Satan, nifty eh? Selfishness, Arrogance, Temptation, Addiction and Naivety.

S.A.T.A.N

Selfishness, (concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being) - putting yourself first. What's wrong with that? I can hear some of you ask it, and that's the point. God asks us to put him first - Deuteronomy 6:5 & Matthew 22:37, above all else. Even in the ten commandments the first two are about the fact that He doesn't want us to put anything else first - Exodus 20:3-6. Nothing in heaven, on earth or the waters below, there's a lot of things that we could put before God but #1 is usually ourselves. We have a tendency to be selfish and even Lucifer himself was so, he didn't want to worship God. He wanted all for himself and that's the first thing to recognize about ourselves we have a habit of putting ourselves first, then everything else, then God. And he asks us to do it the other way around, and put Him first. It's an area we all need to work on.

Arrogance, (a feeling or an impression of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or presumptuous claims) - thinking you are better than someone else. Acts 10:34 says that God doesn't show favoritism. It doesn't matter how great or good you are, to God you are the same as the person sitting next to you on the bus in the morning. He sees you the same as the person you worked with yesterday, he judges us all the same. No exceptions, Romans 3:23 states that we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory, each and every one of us. Let us not forget that we are only human and as such no better than the next person in our walk with God. The only thing that keeps us close to God is ourselves and his divine grace and mercy. We all struggle, we all fall but if we reach out God will pick us back up and restore us to him. We have to be humble enough to accept it which is another point of arrogance, not accepting God's love, forgiveness and all that he has to offer us. No matter what reason we tell ourselves, whether it's we don't deserve it or he couldn't possibly forgive that. None of us deserve it, but God forgives everyone regardless, it doesn't matter to Him. It's the act of repentance, not just saying you will but doing it and continuing to that matters to God. he'll forgive you if you fall but it doesn't mean you should go out of your way to do so.

Temptation, (the state of being tempted especially to evil : enticement : something tempting : a cause or occasion of enticement) - well it had to be after ending the last point that way didn't it? We all face it at some point in our life, whether or not we walk with God. That cake in the window of the bakers that talks to us on the way to work in the morning. That pretty young thing that smiled at you as you walked into work, we all face some sort of temptation. Some of us more than others, it's not that we are weak. Or even that we are less Christian than others, not even that we are more human than some. Temptation is just that, something that comes along and says "why not?" but it's only a temptation until you say "why not indeed". Then it becomes a sin or more precisely an interruption between you and God. Up until that point you can say "No thanks", and God can give you that strength if you turn to Him and accept it. Without Christ we have only our willpower to see us through - and that's not enough.

Addiction, (compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful) - sort of similar to selfishness except it's something you feel you almost can't live without. Sometimes it gets to the point where you feel you can't. It's something you put before God, I was going to cover apathy and after this short piece I might. But with my recent struggle to overcome addiction i feel it's important to express how damaging it can be. Almost anything can become addictive, but the question is how and when does it become addictive? Through excessive or continued use something can become addictive. It's recognizable as an addiction when you can't survive a period of time without it and not feel like you miss it or the feeling it gives you. When it starts to control you, your habits and other various things. You may become a totally different person with or without it, then you know it's an addiction. Can you put it down and never go back? A tough prospect for most of us, but I’d like you to challenge you to spend one day without an item (can be food) you spend a good part of your usual day with (or enjoy a great deal) and see how much you miss it. I was surprised how much I rely on my watch and phone just to tell the time. OK onto apathy.. Lack of emotion or feeling; impassiveness Revelation 3:15-16 talks about this. God has taken us into his arms, forgiven us of our sin and we feel nothing? If we hated him, he could cope with that but feeling nothing? God wants us to choose, to get off the fence, one side or the other. Being apathetic is like saying what he did meant nothing, it didn't put fire in your heart or turn you against him. Along with procrastination it's one of the worst things you can do. God wants you to be alive with him in your heart, sometimes that means doing things. Even things we don't always want to do, for ourselves as well as for God. We can put it off but the quicker we get on with it the quicker we see the rewards and God's blessings.

Naivety (marked by unaffected simplicity: deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment) - lack of sophistication or worldliness. God wants us to be innocent not naive. He wants us to be in the world not a part of it (Romans 16:17-18).Romans 12:2 says we are not to be like the world we should endeavor to separate ourselves from it. We sometimes allow people to take advantage of us due to our naivety, others can see this and if we allowed ourselves to we would. I know in my desperation to be accepted by people i often sought friends in dubious circles, people that may not have been considered by most a good candidate for a friend. Sometimes the judgment was deserved and i was treated badly by them, manipulated and lead astray. I allowed people like this to lead me from God, because of my own faults and weakness i was naive. There are a lot of charlatans who would like to lead you astray from the things you know to be true, before you make any decision ask God about it. Trust in him and the rest will take of itself. You have to be willing to do what God wants you to though and sometimes that's the hardest thing to do.

These are just some of the ways that satan or separation from God comes a part of our lives. We have to recognize this and other ways that we allow it to happen and make that conscious effort to change. Only through him, his power, and his strength can we be the people he wants us to be. Those that walk in him, filled with his power, joy and love.