Christian Living
My daily devotional Bible finally skidded to a stop under the couch. It had found its place there because I had just tossed it across the room in the heat of frustration. In a moment that I’ve thought the same exact thought many times, I screamed to myself: “What’s the use? I’m never gonna get this right!”
The frustration of trying to live right. You try to be a good little Christian. Pray every day. Read the Bible. Sing spiritual songs and then it happens…..
The devil pushes your button!
You lose your temper.
You fall into a pit of depression.
Or you give into your lust.
Then….You feel like a dog. Admit it. You’ve been there too. You’ve tried to do all the right things but then the very thing you didn’t want to do, you did it and you blew it! After our “button” has been pushed, we know the feeling all too well. It’s the same feeling Peter had when heard the rooster crow for the third time. We have nothing to say. In spite of what we should do, we don’t say anything to God. We don’t pray or try to talk to God because we see the horrible reflection of our unworthiness. The funny thing is that even when we are doing good and think we’re scoring points doing all those religious things that we are still just as unworthy.
When it comes to the devil pushing our buttons, we are told in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that -- “we are not ignorant of his devices” -- but if that’s true then why do we always seem to fall for his same old tricks every time? Sometimes you really do wonder if it’s worth it. There are times when it seems we go along fine. We’re praying and feeling good in our relationship with Jesus. But just when we think we have it working out, the devil pushes that button. We then enter yet another season of ignorance.
First, to answer the question if it’s really worth all of the aggravation --- In the heat of the moment of frustration and emotional stress it might not seem like it is but it is absolutely worth every frustration this present life can offer. The Bible tells us that “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”. (2 Corinthians 4:17) We may not think of our issues for the moment as being “light” affliction until we weigh it against eternity. Someone calling you a bad name which results in you losing your temper and saying a bad word is indeed insignificant when you weigh it against eternity.
So if we are not supposed to be ignorant of the devil’s devices, why does he seem to have success in pushing our buttons? How can we be driving in our car listening praise and worship music but in an instant when another driver cuts us off and we make a hand gesture without a thought? The problem is the flesh getting the advantage of our actions. We give the devil power to control those areas in our lives. The devil is a control freak and whatever we allow him to control, he will control it. He will get his universal remote control and figure out what codes to program into it which will control your weaknesses. He’s not going to try to use something that isn’t going to affect you. For example, if your problem is gossip, he isn’t going to waste his time to try to make you rob a bank. He’s going to find the right combination of buttons he can push. You can count on that!
So how can we get it right? What’s the answer?
In the same chapter which spoke about our light affliction, the preceding verse gives us the answer.
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)
We must be renewed by the Holy Spirit. This means we can not give up. When we mess up, don’t give up but keep on redoing it until we get it right! When we recognize an area where the devil is controlling us, we must recognize it and disconnect his power to that button in our lives. We must render his control useless.
It is easy for Christians to deny a problem area. We become prideful and ignore the areas where the devil is controlling us. It may be unforgiveness or lust or anger or some other area that gives us problems. We do little to attack the problem when we just offer up a short prayer and chalk it up to the flesh. Some areas which are controlled by the enemy need more than just a flyby in prayer line at church or a self-help book from the Christian bookstore. Some issues are run deep. If left unresolved the devil will be relentless in teasing you with that area in your life. He might back off for a few months and let you think you’ve gotten “holy” over that area but then just to show you who REALLY has the control. He will press that button again and zap you back to reality.
Stop living a frustrated life! The Bible urges us to “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) This means we need to have those controlled areas rewired to the right power source. Sometimes it is possible for us to do it through reading the Word and prayer but there are times when we should seek Christian counseling. Whatever we need to do to transform our minds for the good, we need to exhaust every resource that is available.
As long as we live in this life, the devil will continue to work at pushing our buttons. He will identify and use our weaknesses and even other people to do it. When he is successful in doing it, we need to recognize it immediately and transform that problem from flesh-controlled area to a spirit-controlled area. The flesh is weak but the spirit gives us life. Surrender all areas to the Holy Spirit today and live a better life today!
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