Have you ever been in a store and witnessed a two year old on the floor kicking and screaming for his way while a mother looks on, horrified? Often someone older and wiser comes along with a sympathetic been-there-done-that smile and says, “It’s just a stage.”
Life is full of stages. We are all in one stage of life or another, or transitioning from one to another. You may be expecting your first child or sending your baby off to college. Perhaps, like me, you recently found yourself riding with a student driver and you’re fearful of the day when he or she backs down the driveway alone. Maybe you moved into your dream house only to realize that you don’t know anyone around you. Are you in an extended season of singleness? Widowhood? Illness? Are you feeling kind of wobbly? Unstable? Kind of like your first time on roller skates?
Be aware. It’s times like these, when you’re most exposed, that the enemy will catch you off guard. He perches in the eaves, waiting for just the right opportunity to sneak in with his multilevel marketing scheme [John 10:10]. He’ll make you think his lie is truth and leave you empty-handed. It can happen. It’s spiritual identity theft.
Satan will use every method of technology and printed word he can find to tell you who you aren’t, thus defining who you are. And you’ll buy the lie hook, line and sinker. He is that good. He will be everywhere you turn—in the grocery store, the workplace, on the radio and television. Would you ever think of allowing a thief into your home? Of course not. But Satan will coerce you with his sly techniques, and you’ll invite him in without a second thought [2 Corinthians 11:3].
There is a way to beat him at his game; send him packing before he inflicts any damage. The Word of God is our sword [Ephesians 6:17]. When Satan begins spraying his lies like a water hose, stop him in his tracks with the truth [John 8:32]. When you resist him, he must flee [James 4:7]. He’s no match for Jesus. A mind saturated in the Word of God is better protection than any security system when it comes to identity theft.
It’s time to put Satan on notice. His days of identity theft are over.