The War is Daily

"The outcome of the great war is not in question. It is certain. Christ will reign victoriously forever. The only question we must answer is this: Will we fight on his side or against him? We answer this question not just once, with our words, but daily, with our choices."

Heaven, Randy Alcorn, page 105

Satan and Heaven

"Satan hates the New Heaven and the New Earth as much as a deposed dictator hates the new nation and new government that replaces his. Satan cannot stop Christ's redemptive work, but he can keep us from seeing the breadth and depth of redemption that extends to the earth and beyond. He cannot keep Christ from defeating him, but he can persuade us that Christ's victory is only partial, that God will abandon his original plan for mankind and the earth."
Heaven, Randy Alcorn, page 11

Satan Vs Holy Leisure

"In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in 'muchness' and 'manyness,' he will rest satisfied."
Celebration Of Discipline, Richard Foster, p19

"The church Fathers often spoke of Otium Sanctum, 'holy leisure.' It refers to a sense of balance in the life, an ability to be at peace through the activities of the day, an ability to rest and take time to enjoy beauty, an ability to pace ourselves ... we must pursue 'holy leisure' with a determination that is ruthless to our diaries."
Celebration Of Discipline, Richard Foster, p31

Clinton E. Arnold On The World, The Flesh & The Devil

"It is crucial to recognize that these three influences do not work separately but in concert. It is extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for us to make sharp distinctions among the three in trying to understand our own personal struggles and those of other people."

Illustration and quote taken from 3 Crucial Questions about Spiritual Warfare, p35

Clinton E. Arnold On Satan

From 3 Crucial Questions about Spiritual Warfare:

"Satan not only works in blatantly evil ways but he also works in ways that appear right and good. He can masquerade as "an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14)."
p54

"One of Satan's key ploys has been deception. If he can't prevent people from turning to Christianity, he can alter the Christianity to which they turn and make it into something that is not Christianity at all."
p60

"Satan continues his work of deceit, attempting to pervert a true and proper understanding of Christ ... Groups such as the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian Scientists all teach a different Jesus than the one revealed in the Bible and confessed by the church throughout the centuries."
p62

"The classic way Satan operates is by enticing believers to sin, which has garnered him the title "the tempter" (1 Thess. 3:5). According to John, this has been one of the devil's primary modes of operation since the beginning (1 John 3:8).""
p97

"As "the Accuser," the Evil One brings indictments to God continuously against believers (Rev. 12:10). He likewise reminds believers of their shortcomings, unworthiness, and sin. By stimulating feelings of guilt, he hopes to keep Christians from feeling well-assured in their relationship to Christ and unworthy to receive his empowering grace."
p99

"Tertullian asked rhetorically, "What man is there to whom an evil spirit does not adhere, even at the very gates of his birth, waiting to ensnare his soul?"
p109

"As Martin Luther said regarding the devil in his famous hymn, "one little word shall fell him". That word is Jesus."
p112

Spurgeon on Salvation, Sin, Satan and the Saved

Quotes from 'Christ's Glorious Achievements'

"For myself, I love to live near a sinner's Saviour. If my standing before the Lord depended upon what I am in myself and what good works and righteousness I could bring, surely I should have to condemn myself a thousand times a day."
p18

"To believe is, to trust, to confide, to depend upon, to rely upon, to rest in."
p18-19

"There is no difference between one believer and another as to justification. So long as there is a connection between you and Christ the righteousness of God is yours. The link may be very like a film, a mere spider's line of trembling faith, but, if it runs all the way from the heart to Christ divine grace can and will flow along the most slender thread"
p20

"Come, look up, ye believers who are burdened with a sense of sin. While you chasten yourselves and mourn your sins, do not doubt your Saviour, nor question His righteousness."
p21.

"... for only by regeneration can we know ourselves to be the true seed."
p34.

"You must not think the devil cares much about you : the battle is against Christ in you."
p41.

""If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." Read, and the reading will be accurate, "He is a new creation." This is a very sweeping statement. A man in Christ is not the old man purified, nor the old man improved, nor the old man in a better humour, nor the old man with additions and subtractions, nor the old man dressed in gorgeous robes. No, he is a new creature altogether."
p70.

When Sex Leaves the Marriage

I read an interesting article by this title on the New York Times website, posted by Mark Driscoll on Facebook. It painted a picture of sex tending to fizzle out after marriage. One statistic stated "it's estimated that about 15 percent of married couples had not had sex with their spouse in the last six months to one year."

I noticed one random comment place on Facebook which I thought was very insightful:

"The devil does everything he can to get you to have sex before marriage, and everything he can to keep you from having sex after you're married."

Pain, Suffering and Sanctification

Nothing exposes your heart like pain and suffering. When you hit it, your heart is totally exposed. All the things you never realised were there are suddenly revealed. It's a very scary and sobering thing. I would guess that one of the reasons God allows pain and suffering is sanctification. It also forces you in one of two directions: anger against God, or throwing yourself into His arms. I would also guess this is one of the ways he sorts the sheep from the goats, how he brings people to salvation or forces them away.

Pain and suffering are necessary. Nobody looks for a saviour if they don't believe they need saving. Nothing reminds you of your need for salvation like pain, suffering and the presence of evil.

In all of this it's good to remind ourselves that God is totally good, and it's Satan that is evil. Like in the book of Job, God permits suffering, but it's Satan that causes it. And he can only go as far as God allows.

The Existence Of God (Part 2)

Sometimes I think that the presence of evil in the world is absolute and undeniable evidence that Satan and demons exist, and therefore God exists. The fact that we even have a concept of evil shows there is a moral law, and a God who wrote that law. We know the world is broken and we demand that it should be better.

As Matt Chandler humorously states, no one gets angry at unicorns, elves or the Tooth Fairy. No one really believes God is fictitious.

Self-Pity

"I want to be free of self-pity. It is a tool of Satan to rot away a life."

Barbara Youderian, Through Gates Of Splendor, p206

Satan's Creed

"Satan, too, has his creed: Doubt God's faithfulness. 'Hath God really said? Are you not mistaken as to His commands? He could not really mean just that. You take an extreme view, give too literal a meaning to the words.' How constantly, and alas, how successfully are such arguments used to prevent whole-hearted trust in God, whole-hearted consecration to God! How many estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt! All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them."

Biography of James Hudson Taylor, 1973 edition, p349

The Pursuit of Holiness (Part 3)

A brilliant quote from the Biography of James Hudson Taylor that further expands this concept:

"Where God is working the devil is sure to be busy; and the nearer one seeks to live to the Lord Himself, the more painful are the consequences of grieving Him"
p265

This perfectly echoes Ephesians 4:27

"do not give the devil a foothold"

Hate can be a good thing

"The man who lived in this constant fellowship with God manifested in his daily life all the fruits of the spirit ... and with them was a hatred of their opposites – a loathing of every form of sin"
'Spurgeon: A New Biography' by Arnold Dallimore

Hate is something I definitely don't have enough of. Do I really hate the sin in my life, or do I half enjoy it? Do I accommodate it because it's easy to? And when I sin, do I go all inward-looking and self-defeatist?
Surely we should stir up an intense hatred of Satan.

I think you could argue that all sin is essentially demonic in nature, because to sin is to rebel against God. And that's what the demons did. Giving in to temptation is to go against the very being that sustains the universe and gives you life. Hatred of sin and Satan could well be another weapon in your pursuit of holiness.