Then Peter
said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you
have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you
received for the land? Acts 5:3
As we move farther on in the Christian life
we may expect to encounter increased hostility from the enemy of our souls.
Although this is seldom presented to Christians as a fact of life it is a very
solid fact indeed as every experienced Christian knows, and one we shall learn
how to handle or stumble over to our own undoing.
If Satan opposes the new convert he opposes
still more bitterly the Christian who is pressing on toward a higher life in
Christ. The Spirit-filled life is not, as many suppose, a life of peace and
quiet pleasure. It is likely to be something quite the opposite.
Satan hates the true Christian for several
reasons. One is that God loves him, and whatever is loved by God is sure to be
hated by the devil. Another is that the Christian, being a child of God, bears
a family resemblance to the Father and to the household of faith.
A third reason is that a true Christian is
a former slave who has escaped from the galley, and Satan cannot forgive him
for this affront. A fourth reason is that a praying Christian is a constant
threat to the stability of Satan’s government. The Christian is a holy rebel
loose in the world with access to the throne of God.
Satan never knows from what direction his
danger will come. Who knows when another Elijah will arise, or another Daniel?
or a Luther, a Finney or a Booth?
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