Don't Let Him

And lead us not into temptation, but devil us from the evil one. Matthew 6:13

"You're not worthy of love," he said. "You're not special. You're alone. You're not important. And most of all.. you're not enough."

Those are the words I started hearing in my head after life knocked me to my knees. My mind started to ponder into places where I constantly felt something about me needed to be fixed. I would go into rabbit holes of "if only I was this" or "if only I did this". Maybe then, I would be enough. The voices kept coming and I kept listening.

Now before you give me a one-way admittance ticket to the looney bin because I'm "hearing voices", let me clarify. They were all self-doubt fueled by the tempter. Sound crazy? Maybe so if you're not religious, but...the devil sees us when we are weak and takes it as an opportunity to use our vulnerabilities against us.

When you hear the word "temptation", you might automatically think of Eve eating an apple in the garden. You might see a devil and angel on your shoulders. You might picture telling yourself it's okay just to have one more cookie, being pressured to make a wrong choice, or falling into sinful habits.

But we are constantly tempted in ways you might not even notice.

When bad things in life happen, we are tempted to think it's because God is evil and unkind. We think we deserve punishment and the universe is against us. We start questioning God saying "Why are you allowing this to happen to me? I thought you loved me?"

Sometimes self-doubt knocks on our door, people treat us poorly, or relationships break apart and we automatically are tempted to think the worst of ourselves. "I must not be good enough. I must not be loveable. I must not be worthy."

As we watch the world crumble around us in different places, we are tempted to blame others, tempted to run in fear, and tempted to even question God's presence.

Recently, when I became tempted to believe my negative thoughts, I texted a friend and said "I just feel like the devil is winning lately." His reply? "Don't let him. He wants to find every way to weaken God's army."

It seems so easy and realistic to believe some of those temptations are real.. but they are lies.

Tempted to believe you're being punished because something bad is happening? Lie. God is not hateful and does not punish us through His will. He is loving, gracious, and never lets us walk through the tragedies of the world alone.

Self-doubt knocking on your door saying you're not good enough? Lie. You are worthy of God's love. You are special and uniquely made in His imagine. You have a special place set aside for you in His kingdom.

Questioning God's presence in the world and thinking He isn't there? Lie. Look around. He is surrounding you every day during the good times and bad. During war and peace, He is there. During conflict and tragedy, He is there. For me and for you, He is there.

We serve the strongest, most powerful, creative and lovable, creator of the universe. We are an army of people that were called to spread God's word and share His love. Sometimes our weaknesses feel stronger than we do and temptations can follow them... You may be tempted to hear the devil, but don't let him in.