Satan Capitalizes on Trauma
If we don't know any better, satan definitely does. his little agents know just how to carry out their plans and keep you distracted. They've been in their business for centuries.
I just listened to an episode from one of my favorite podcasts, “The Deep End With Lecrae”, about a former witch revealing her 27 years of service to satan. I know that sounds intense, but honestly, it was SO helpful to understand how the enemy “slow walks us to hell.” She said:
Everything in the kingdom of dark is a counterfeit to the kingdom of light. Jesus needs agreement from us to receive from Him as we are saved by grace through our faith. The demonic also requires our agreement, but this is how they rope us in. They tell us 90% truth so they have access to us with the 10% lie, but of course we know that 90% truth is still 100% lie. satan does not come to us dressed in darkness. he imitates Christ looking humble and with an agenda to help or to heal. I want everyone to know that there is a godly-authentic to all these counterfeit-demonic aspects of spirituality. We are created to be spiritual beings, and in Christ, they will not cost your life because He paid that for you. When you know better, you can do better. Read your bibles. Read Isaiah 47: 12 - 15. Arm yourselves with truth.
Having never touched a Bible in my life, I hoped these coping mechanisms would bring me relief. While they temporarily distracted me from reality, did they really keep me safe and secure when despair hit? The truth is, they did the opposite. They left me feeling hopeless, alone, and empty—just like I felt after receiving that phone call at the bus stop.
This is all a sick joke, right? How could I have been so deceived? What an idiot., I thought. I grew bitter and angry that these means for relieving pain even existed and how easily I fell into them. I have such empathy for younger Jess now looking back and remembering where in Psalm 18:14, it says, “…but a crushed spirit who can bear?” Without God and the truths and promises found in His word, how can we expect non-believers to cope with pain? We need divine comfort, presence, and safety to endure pain, especially when our instinct is often, “How do I escape this?” We're quick to assume, “God won’t comfort me here, so I need to find it elsewhere.” I fell for many worldly escapes, and with the endless distractions social media offers today, Satan isn’t done. He builds on our trauma, using the world to distract us. Will you take the bait?
I wish I could warn everyone that these fleeting pleasures aren’t worth the deeper despair and isolation they bring, but maybe sharing this here is a good start. The security I once found in temporary comforts—like being spiritual, relying on myself, and coping with my mom’s death in my own way—completely crumbled the day I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life: getting that abortion. After that, I was done. I needed a whole new direction. How did I get here?!
I said in my previous post:
No crystal, yoga, inner peace, or amount of money can change death’s mind when it decides to have its way. Death does not negotiate. It shattered any momentary joy the aforementioned ever brought me. Its sobering reality was also the first to greet me when I came down from my highs.”
Well, Isaiah 47:12-15, was a perfect way to arm myself with God’s truth about astrology, tarot cards, palm readings, worshipping false gods, and any other kind of sorcery. It reads:
“Keep on, then, with your magic spells
and with your many sorceries,
which you have labored at since childhood.
Perhaps you will succeed,
perhaps you will cause terror.
13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! (THISSSS!)
Let your astrologers come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
let them save you from what is coming upon you.
14 Surely they are like stubble;
the fire will burn them up.
They cannot even save themselves
from the power of the flame.
These are not coals for warmth;
this is not a fire to sit by.
15 That is all they are to you—
these you have dealt with
and labored with since childhood.
All of them go on in their error;
there is not one that can save you.
Not ONE can save you. I was worn out. I was over there saying, “Not today, satan.” But he’s saying, “Oh yes, today. You stupid, stupid little girl. You will fall for every trap I set because you’re biblically illiterate; weaponless against me.” If we don't know any better, satan definitely does. his little agents know just how to carry out their plans and keep you distracted. They've been in their business for centuries. They’re intelligent, they observe your behavior, and they're about leading you on that slow walk to hell.
Questions:
1. What makes you run away from God? Where might He be calling you back to Him?
2. What or who do you turn to for comfort and safety when you don’t feel like God is on your side? Have they helped?
3. Why do you think we often put God as our last resort rather than our first response?
4. What is a truth about you from scripture that you need to be reminded of today amid your temptations?
For me, I wish someone told me Jeremiah 15:19 then, but I sure do know it now. I love that last verse that reiterates how, in the Lord, temptation will absolutely keep coming at you but “you shall not turn to them.”
