What the Devil is Really After

There is a popular refrain repeated, especially in the Black church, that the devil wants to rob us of our praise. While that maybe true in some instances, that is not what the devil is really after. Jesus said it best when he quoted Isaiah the prophet and said "These people honor Me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me" (Mark 7:6).  You can praise all Sunday and still leave church as full of hell as you did when you came in.   It's not really about your praise.  God is definitely praiseworthy and we all praise Him in our own way, but praise can be fabricated.  Praise can be faked, what looks like praise might just be an emotional release that is not led by the Spirit of God.  Praise can be duplicated as many of us have undoubtedly seen a baby imitating a grown up in church at some point in time. 

What Satan is really after, is our faith.  Hebrews 11:6 is about as plain as it can get, without faith it is impossible to please God.  There is a reason Jesus said what he said to Peter in Luke 22:31. He told Peter that the devil demanded permission to sift him (and the other disciples as well) as wheat. He also said to Peter in verse 32, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.   Sentence structure in Luke 22:32 indicates that Jesus was saying, because I have pray for you, your faith will not fail.  Jesus understood that once Peter got onto the sifter, Satan would be ruthless and relentless.  He knew this because the devil was just as relentless towards Him in the wilderness.  We only catch a short glimpse of Christ's temptation in the gospels, but He was there for 40 days listening to the prince of the air lie to Him and tempt Him.  Jesus understood the severity of Satan's attacks because he withstood them. 

Fast forward to Peter's epistle and we see the older, wiser Peter giving sage advice to the Christians that he was writing to.  1 Peter 1:6,7 "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  Peter knew full well about faith being tested.  This is the same man that denied Christ three times and then presided over the greatest evangelistic moment in the history of Christianity at Pentecost.   If gold, as precious as it is, must be tested and found to be true...and we were redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus, which is much more expensive than gold, then it stands to reason that our faith must also be tested and found to be genuine.

Genuine faith is a faith that endures until the end. It is not a Hebrews 6 faith  (see Hebrews 6:1-5) which crucifies Christ all over again and rejects the blessings of God and His eternal grace.   Genuine faith is not a 1 John chapter 2 faith in which John said they were never apart of us because they went out from us (1 John 2:19).   Genuine faith is a Matthew 24:13, 1 Corinthians 15:2 type of faith where are the one who endures to the end shall be saved. 

Faith is the basis of our relationship with God and it the only way that we are saved.  The devil is smart enough to know what to go after.  He wants to take away the very thing that God requires if we are to reconcile with Him, faith in His Son.  If you are in a situation where your faith is being tested, speak out loud and remind yourself of why you came to believe in the first place.  Remind yourself of how good God has been to you, how far you have progressed in the Lord and what Jesus did for you at Calvary.  Pray this prayer, "Jesus, intercede for me at God's right hand...seal my faith so that it will not fail.  Give me genuine faith so that I am able to see you in glory when you return.  In Jesus' name, Amen."  Grace and Peace.