Most of the pressure you are experiencing to do wrong, unloving things to the people around you come from the evil one, Satan. Not only that, most of the bad things that happen to you come from him. The bad “luck,” difficult circumstances, and temptations to do wrong things typically come from him. The big issue with how your life will go from now on and your success or failure will all be dependent on WHO you listen to.

Mark 4:9 (NIV) Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In Genesis 3:1-7 we see Eve listening to Satan; she talked to him, reasoned with him, and finally yielded her life to him. When you see or hear something you shouldn’t be looking at or listening to, you have a choice; will you continue to look or listen? When you are thinking something you shouldn’t, you have a choice; will you continue to think about it or focus your thoughts on Jesus and His Word?

When you start thinking about something you get warned by God about, will you keep planning how you can do it without getting caught; or, will you immediately go to The Lord’s Prayer and get the power to resist? Being delivered from the evil one isn’t a matter of keeping him from being able to talk to you in your thoughts and feelings; it is a matter of being empowered to resist and win against him, when he does.

Your way out is to always stay inside Jesus and allow Him to always remain inside you. This is done with your ears, eyes, thoughts, and feelings; those things you look at, those things you listen to, those things you think about, and those things you allow yourself to feel will decide whether you stay inside Jesus and Him remain inside you, and whether you win or lose against Satan.

John 15:5 (NIV) I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. The way to remain in Jesus and Jesus to remain in you is to keep your eyes, ears, thoughts, and feelings focused on the things of Jesus and away from the things of the world. Jesus has given you the power to focus on whatever you want. That means that if Satan says something, you have the “right” to listen; but, it also means that you have the POWER to stop listening and focus in on what Jesus has been saying to you.

John 8:36 (NIV) So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. You have always had a God-given free will; but, Satan didn’t honor it from the moment you committed your first sin. You had it; but, Satan didn’t give you opportunities to exercise it. He drove you, lured you, enticed you, tempted you, addicted you, and created habits in you; you became a SLAVE to sin.

Now that you have been born again, Jesus allows you to think for yourself. Satan is allowed to tempt you, your body is allowed to remind you of your past, and the world is allowed to invite you back; BUT, you now have the power to choose Jesus’ ways of living. Jesus set you free; but, not from being presented with alternate choices. He knows it doesn’t do any good for you to have a free will, if you don’t have choices. You now have the freedom to start your life over again; but, you should start it over with Jesus being your guide and your power.

The way you ended up with the problems, circumstances, relationships, and habits was, they came from you consulting your own self. You analyzed everything; you decided who you would listen to, what you agreed with, what you wanted to learn, what you wanted to be, and how you were going to live your life. BUT, in the process of making all these decisions, Satan, people, circumstances, the world system, and your body DEMANDED certain things of you. If you were going to survive, you had to yield to things you really didn’t want to. Now you are given back your freedom to start thinking for yourself again.

Here is your assignment: James 4:7 (NIV) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Each decision you make, all during your day, is dependent on whether you try to decide what to do with your mind or you try to decide by asking Jesus what HE wants you to do. You can think your way through the day or you can submit yourself to Jesus by praying your way through each day; you are now free to make that choice.

Keep in mind that you making your own decisions by yourself is how you got into your past sins; and, that is also the way you got into this current situation. You are free to just consult yourself; but, you have the freedom and the power to invite Jesus into all your decisions. Moment by moment and issue by issue you decide to pray about it or think it through on your own. Jesus has all knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, and wisdom. If you pray and include Him in your decisions, you get all that information and power made available to you.

You have just asked for and received your heavenly Father’s forgiveness for these current sins you have committed. You have been given 1 John 1:8-10 to help you repent of each sin you committed. You have been given the power to find the way out of the situation you are in. You have been given the power to look for, see, and use the way out of any new temptations that come your way. And, you have God now answering your prayers as you start your day. Be looking for the good things that God will be sending your way, as you continue to pray The Lord’s Prayer DAILY.

Being a Christian doesn’t keep all bad things from happening to you. But, it does allow the miracles of God to come your way as God solves them (Romans 8:28). It also empowers you to stay in peace and trust in God by knowing that somehow, someway God is going to come through with a miracle.

At first it will be harder for you to feel peace and trust. But the more you start noticing the miracles, the more you will be able to believe that He will ALWAYS come through with another miracle. As you experience more and more miracles from God AND begin noticing these miracles, you will start saying: “He always has and He always will come through for me.”

If you will allow these miracles to build your peace and trust in God. It will help you face really scary, challenging, “impossible” things that look like you are going to have to sin in order to handle them. BUT, if you will believe and trust God, He will help you know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). Do it God’s way and it will get the Romans 8:28 results every time.