What I have forgiven …has been for your sakes …to keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.- 2 Corinthians 2:10-11

Suppose we receive a package from an overnight carrier.

After we open it, we stare at a beautiful, oversized envelope, with our name written on it in exquisite calligraphy. Inside, the invitation starts with these words: You are invited to enjoy a life filled with misery, worry, and confusion.

Which one of us would say yes to such an outrageous invitation? Don’t we seek the kind of life that keeps us free from such pain and distractions? Yet many of us choose such a life. Not that we blatantly make that choice, but we sometimes surrender even temporarily to Satan’s invitation. His attack is ongoing and relentless-the devil is persistent! Our enemy bombards our minds with every weapon at his disposal every day of our lives.

We are engaged in a warfare, a warfare that rages and never stops. We can put on the whole armor of God, halt the evil one’s advances, and stand fast on the Word of God, but we won’t put a complete end to the war. As long as we are alive, our minds remain Satan’s battlefield. Most of our problems are rooted in thinking patterns that produce the problems we experience. This is where Satan triumphs. He offers wrong thinking to all of us. This isn’t a new trick devised for our generation; he began his deceptive ways in the Garden of Eden. The serpent asked the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? (Genesis 3:1a). That was the first attack on the human mind. Eve could have rebuked the tempter; instead, she told him God would let them eat from the trees, but not from one particular tree. They couldn’t even touch that tree, because if they did, they would die.

But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference ‘between good and evil and blessing and calamity (vv. 4-5). This was the first attack, and it resulted in Satan’s first victory. What we often miss about temptation and the battle our enemy levels against us is that it comes to us deceptively.

Suppose he had said to the woman, “Eat of the fruit. You’ll bring misery, anger, hatred, bloodshed, poverty, and justice into the world.” Eve would have recoiled and run away. He tricked her because he lied and told her what would appeal to her. Satan promised, “You will be like God. You’ll know good and evil.” What a marvelous appeal to the woman. He wasn’t tempting Eve to do something bad, or at least he phrased it in such a way that what she heard sounded good.

That’s always the appeal of sin or satanic enticement. The temptation is not to do evil or to cause harm or bring injustice. The lure is that we will gain something. Satan’s temptation worked on Eve. And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate (v.6).

Eve lost the first battle for the mind, and we have continued to fight for it since that time. But because we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can win and we can keep on winning.

Victorious God, help me resist the onslaughts of Satan, who attacks my mind and makes evil seem good. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose].- 1 Corinthians 15:58

Life without purpose is vanity. Webster’s definition of purpose is “something set up as an object or end to be attained.” Christians ought to be people with purpose. We are all purposed to seek the kingdom of God, which is His righ¬teousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (see Ro¬mans 14:17).

Today is an opportunity to willfully and deliberately seek God with the intent to know Him better than we knew Him yesterday. Today we can deliberately move forward with the intent to accomplish good things for the Kingdom.

Freely you have received, freely give. – Mattew10:8 NKJV

I have not always loved myself, but with God’s help over the years, I did learn to receive His love, which helped me love myself in a balanced way, share His love with others, and love Him in return. This process didn’t happen overnight and it wasn’t easy, but it did happen for me and it can happen for you, too.

For a long, long time, I was desperately attempting to display loving behavior but had failed to receive God’s love for myself. Therefore, I could not give love away to others. I didn’t have any love to give. I had not received proper love during my life, so I didn’t have the ability to love myself in the right way.

Maybe you can relate to my story; maybe you struggle in relation¬ships because you have never been loved properly. This can begin to change only as you begin to believe His Word, which says over and over again that God loves you. Develop the mind-set that says, I can love myself because God loves me. I can love what God can love. I don’t love everything I do, but I love and accept myself because God loves and accepts me. As these thoughts take root in your mind, you’ll find that you love yourself more and more—and then you’ll have love to give away to others.

Love Yourself Today: “Lord, I declare that I love myself because You love me. The more I love myself, the more I can love others.”

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].- Philippians 4:13

One thought that has the power to transform your life is simple: I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ. In other words, I can handle whatever life hands me. I wonder—do you believe you can do whatever you need to do in life? Or are there certain things that trigger dread, fear, or cause you to say, “I could never do that!” when you think about them?

Whether it’s suddenly losing a loved one, facing a serious unexpected illness, having your adult child with two toddlers move into your clean and quiet house after you’ve had an “empty nest” for years, going on a strict diet because your life depends on it, putting yourself on a budget to avoid foreclosure on your home, or suddenly having to care for a disabled elderly parent—most people have some kind of circumstance that truly seems impossible to them, something they aren’t sure they can or could handle.

The fact of the matter is, while some situations may be intensely undesirable or difficult for you, you can do whatever you need to do in life. I know this because God tells us in His Word that we have the strength to do all things because Christ empowers us to do so. He doesn’t say everything will be easy for us, He doesn’t promise we will enjoy every little thing we do, but we can enjoy life in the midst of doing them.

We must understand that Philippians 4:13 does not say we can do anything we want to do because we are strong enough, smart enough, or hardworking enough. No, in fact, it leaves no room at all for human effort or striving of any kind. The secret to being able to do what we need to do is realizing that we cannot do it alone; we can only do it in Christ.

Trust in Him What in your life do you need to begin to believe you can do? Remember, you can do all things in Christ. You can trust Him to empower you to do anything He asks you to do.

For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes. – Hebrews 12:6

When we need correction—and there are times when we all need it—I believe it is the Lord’s first desire to correct us Himself. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens. God’s correction or chastisement is not a bad thing; it is always and ultimately only for our good.

The fact that it works toward our good does not mean it always feels good or that it is something we enjoy immediately: For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness—in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God]. (Hebrews 12:11)

Correction is probably one of the most difficult things for most of us to receive, especially when it comes through another person. Even if we have problems, we don’t want others to know we have them. I believe God prefers to correct us privately; but if we won’t accept His correction or if we don’t know how to allow Him to correct us privately, He will correct us publicly, using whatever source He needs to use. We may not always like the source God chooses to use, but it is wisdom to accept correction in order to avoid “going around the mountain one more time” (see Deuteronomy 2:3).