God out, devil in…

When you take God out of schools, your work, or your life, you let the devil in.

It’s sad but true that we are living in a time where, to be politically correct you cannot seem to believe in God.

If we say that we believe in the Christian God of the Bible we are, in certain circles, held to be someone who hates, who’s judgmental and who is far too self-righteous to be trusted. This didn’t use to be so.

When I was growing up, to be called a Christian meant something positive. When someone ran for office and was a church goer it was a good thing. Not so today.

We are told to keep our religion to ourselves. We are not allowed to pray in public, at least not in public meetings. We cannot pray in schools, and even the military we depend on to protect us, is being hampered in the way they treat Christians in their ranks.

We cannot say, “Merry Christmas” anymore in most stores and businesses because by doing so, we might offend some non-Christian.

What happens when we take God out of our lives?

We let the devil fill the void.

It has been said that inside everyone is a God size hole that can only be filled by God. Well, if you take God out of the picture, Satan will move right into that hole and work to fill it.

Make no mistake; there is a devil, just as there is a God.

No one wants to talk about Satan these days, it’s even more politically incorrect to talk about him then it is to talk about God. We can’t talk about the devil and hell, that’s not right, that’s not good. And by doing so, we play right into Satan’s hand.

If he can get us to not believe in him, it makes his job that much easier.

There is true evil in this world and it doesn’t take much time to find it. It’s in those who fly planes into buildings, who behead those who don’t believe as they do. There is pure evil in those who shoot and kill in the name of a god who promises them glory for committing such acts of terror.

There is evil in the killing of people to get the drugs addicts need to survive. There is evil in acts of torcher perpetrated on women and children by sexual predators.

There is evil in the acts carried out by people just to get their way with no concern for who they hurt or what they have to do.

There is evil in this world carried out by companies who knowingly do things that will hurt or kill people, all in the name of profit or gain. Who don’t care what they do as long as the money keeps rolling in. Companies do these things and so do the people who control them. Not all companies are like this, but there are many who are.

Jesus said, “For what does in profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his soul.”

Many of us do have a passing belief in God and many believe in angels. We like to think of someone watching over us, a guardian angel. There is nothing wrong in believing in angels. But why don’t we want to believe in the devil and his demons?

If we believe in angels, why can’t we believe in demons and the devil?

The Bible tells us that Satan is an angel, in fact he was one of the highest of the angels, but he rebelled against God. He wanted to be like God, to be worshipped as god. And in his rebellion, he took a third of the angels of heaven with him.

So, if we believe in the good angels, sent by God to watch over us, we should also believe in the evil angels, demons, sent by Satan to mess with us.

Look what has happened to our schools and our children since we booted God out of the classroom. Children grow up with no sense of right and wrong. Everything is relative.

What is right for you is not necessarily right for me.

The teaching of evolution as they only way to explain who we are and how we got here has only taught our children that we are nothing more than animals. So why are we surprised when they act that way.

When we take God out, the devil moves in.

I can’t make you believe in the devil, just as I can’t make you believe in God and in Jesus. But what I can do is try to open your eyes so you can see for yourself what Satan is doing in this world when it rejects God and His Christ.

Satan will tell you that there is no absolute right and wrong, he will tell you that there is no God. He will tell you that It’s okay to do something if it feels good, because you aren’t really hurting anyone by doing it. He will tell you to put money and power over everything else that matters, because this life is all there is. He will tell you that there is no heaven or hell, that when we die, that’s it, over and out, so live for today.

Satan will tell you that it’s okay to kill a baby in the womb, just because it is inconvenient for you to have a child at this time, even though there are hundreds of parents who would gladly take the child if we’d let it be born.

Satan hates life, and if he loves anything, he loves death, especially the death of our souls, so we can never come to the God that he truly hates.

When we kick God out of our schools, the devil moves in and goes to work.
When we kick God out of our businesses, the devil moves in and goes to work.
When we kick God out of our government, the devil moves in and goes to work.
Whatever part of our lives that we kick God out of; Satan moves into the hole that’s left and starts to work.

The Bible tells us that if we “Resist the devil, he will flee from us,” but for us to really resist him we must first know that he exists.

The one weapon that works against the devil is the “Sword of the Spirit,” which is the word of God, the Bible. How did Jesus resist Satan when he was temped in the wilderness, He used the word of God. How can we resist Satan when he tempts us, we can use the same weapon Jesus used, the word of God, through our belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

We, by ourselves, are not strong enough to fight with Satan, but with Christ on our side; it is not even a contest. Read the end of the book of Revelation and particularly the chapter on the battle of Armageddon, it isn’t even close. Satan and his entire host come up against Jesus and His army and it’s over in a flash.

Revelation 19:19-21.

19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

When you read that account, it’s really not much of a battle is it? Between verse 19 and 20, it’s all over.

Without Jesus and His word, we cannot hope to win the battle. This is a spiritual war that we are fighting right now, and it’s not against flesh and blood.

Ephesians 6:12-17.

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Jesus loves you and He proved that love when He went to the Cross in your place. He has given you His word so that you can know Him and understand what He has done, is doing now and what He will be doing in the future. He has given you power through His name so that you can stand against Satan and his forces, if you will only use that power.

Do not kick God out of your life, because if you do, the devil will fill the void that is left.

It is rightly said that “Nature abhors a vacuum” and if we vacuum God out of our life, the devil will attempt to fill that vacuum and we won’t have the weapons to stop him.

If we keep God as the center of our lives, the devil will not be able to get a foot hold. We will be able to stand, with God and with Christ.