Devil V. God

There are days, and they seem to be coming hard and fast right now, that the Devil just wants to take up residence and become my best friend.

In these past two days alone, I've seen my normally calm son melt into a demon child possessed. You see, when the Devil can't get to me, he attacks my kids.

I've watched four police cars descend on a neighbor's house after someone decided he should enter a house he didn't own to take stuff that wasn't his. All while the neighbor and her two sons sat, doing school work, only separated from this felon by a flight of stairs. That's the Devil...always trying to steal our peace of mind.

I've seen depression and hopelessness in the face of a friend dealing with extreme grief. And I've personally vaciliated between sorrow and a feeling of peace that I don't understand and can only claim as God's. It sure isn't something I could have conjured up. These extremes? The Devil's sandbox, around the perimeter of which he is prowling, like a lion, just waiting to pounce and attack when we get stuck in the sadness.

I conciously know that God is protecting me, my family, my friends; and I'm conciously praying for that protection.

But the Devil takes great pleasure in targeting a house just as the residents get their life on track; when everything seems to be cooking along nicely and life is in order. And several families in our neighborhood have really gotten into a groove lately, so we've all become bullseyes.

We've ticked the Devil off by committing to a co-ed Bible Study, planning a party as a mission's project, and praying over each other's hurt, needs, and wishes.

I could look at these situations and become discouraged, sad, and angry. But, yet, I keep being reminded that things could be so much worse if God wasn't in the equation.

My son could be unresponsive to correction. Yet, he isn't.

My neighbor and her sons could be hurt. They aren't.

My friend could choose to bottle up her emotions and suffer in silence. But she didn't.

Those are all GOOD signs of the work God is doing around here, so I'm choosing to rebuke the Devil and praise God, even when it's scary and sad and unexplainable. Because HE has our backs.

And the Devil? He's a loser again. Because this morning, I'm telling him, for the umpteenth time: "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matthew 16:23) and I'm lifting up my neighborhood and city and state and country and world to Him.

And, if I learned anything all those years ago in Sunday School, I know that "He's got the whole world in His hands."

So, move aside Devil. As much as you want to be my bosom buddy, it ain't gonna happen.

Because my BFF is Jesus. And that's the way I like it.*



*Uh huh uh huh--KC and the Sunshine Band, in case you are too young to know.