4 Things I’ve learned about Satan

Current mood: Tell the devil not today.

4 things I’ve learned about Satan through my grief—

1. He is relentless & he doesn’t fight fair. He will waits patiently until you are down to pounce.

After Kalea died, there was a small sacred moment when the world stepped back to let our family grieve. Church, work, and even family obligations were released. There were no expectations, no timeframes, just love. For some reason, I expected Satan would give us a break too.

He didn’t.

He ramped up the opposition.

Feels weird to say, but I’ve never felt Satan’s presence so fully in my life. He was (and still is most days) constantly at my side, whispering in my ear, tangled in my thoughts.

When I hit my lowest, he showed up the strongest.

2. Satan speaks to you in first person.

This one is mind blowing. The biggest mistake is thinking all our thoughts are ours. There’s a great BYU devotional about this called “You Are Receiving Inspiration” by Loren Dalton about this! Worth the listen if you want more Christ and less Satan in your life.

3. Satan leads you gradually, never pushing past where you are comfortable.

No one wakes up in the morning with the burning temptation to rob a bank. Satan knows you wouldnt do it even if he tempted you. Satan leads by degrees, never enticing beyond your comfort level. He quietly & gradually works to widen the comfort level, never calling beyond where you’ll willingly go. Satan makes sense, God doesn’t.

God will call you from beyond your comfort level. God will ask it when there seems to be no possible way of doing it— when your back is against the Red Sea and between the army of Pharoh. He’ll ask it when you have the least amount time, strength, or qualifications. He’ll call you to build a ship, cross the ocean, climb the mountain, build an altar, enter the wilderness, leave Egypt, stand amid lions, and walk through the furnace.

Which brings me to...

4. If it makes sense, it might be from Satan.

When it makes sense for me to be angry, resentful, give up, and stop trying— it’s not from God. The biggest blessings in my life have been from following impressions that stretched past my capacity & didn’t make sense at the time.

I’m curious. What have you learned about Satan through your hard times?