Choose Eternity Over Temporary.

 Jesus speaks of Satan as a very real being. So why do we live our lives as if he doesn't exist? Satan wants anyone that dares to belong to Jesus. Do you remember reading these verses- 

Luk 22:31,32  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Jesus told Simon outright that Satan desire to have him, and Jesus even goes a step further and tells Simon why Satan wants him.  Satan wants to SIFT Simon as wheat.

(Wheat Sifting- 

The first step in the process of sifting wheat is to loosen the chaff from the edible grain, which is called threshing. The old-fashioned way to do this is to spread the wheat onto a floor made from stone, concrete or tamped earth and to beat it with a flail. **Internet Source**)

Threshing- beating with a flail. They have to tear apart the wheat stalk to get to the kernel within which is what is ground into flour. To sift a person as you sift wheat would be to beat them apart until there is only a tiny bit of them left. Satan desired Simon in order to destroy him.

Why do you imagine our Savior would tell Simon this? Did Simon believe Satan was real? Jesus believed Satan was real, Simon did, they all did. No one doubted Satan's existence because they knew the reality of this adversary in their lives. This evil being who first conceived of sin and in that sin - that rebellion against God, he introduced all the evil we know

In our own lives we have witnessed firsthand evil's existence. And in recognizing the evil we know there is an opposite to that evil. We know deep down inside of us there exists a tiny kernel of hope, and each of us has a chance to do something with that knowledge. Our adversary will do all he can to make us crush the tiny hope so that it doesn't grow. The lies he tells us are too numerous to count. He tailor makes hope crushing lies for each of us. These lies fit us perfectly. He knows where to place doubt, where to sow despair, how to twist our thoughts so we infuse ourselves with anger, hatred, selfishness, pride but only so that we justify it all by any means necessary so we can live with the evil growing within us. 

Jesus takes that tiny seed of hope and offers to help it grow. Love grows the hope in us and if we let it, if we let Jesus, He will take the self out of us and with that self gone we are no longer able to nurture the evil Satan wants us to serve. 

It's a lifelong process, daily choosing to allow Jesus to bring to life the hope He planted inside of us. We choose. People don't always get that part. We have to choose daily. Because it is a choice in so many ways- people get lost comprehending. We are to 'take up our cross daily'. We are to 'die daily'. We are to ask for our 'daily bread'. A daily cross means a daily recognition of our Savior and the selflessness that He would have us emulate. Dying daily to self and all the evil that stems from our self-serving- mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, we are to look outward for our hope not inwards. That seed grows outward ever expanding not remaining cuddled deep inside us, hidden under Satan's evil where no light of Christ can touch it-if that's what we choose.

We really are the one who does the choosing though. We choose. Sure, go ahead and choose to let Satan sift you as what- just remember he will just as soon kill you with sweet kindness, as flail you to death with heartaches, pain, agonies of living- depriving you of all hope. You see, everyone has tragedies to mar their lives, anxieties to flood their soul, unfair happenstances every single day, but those who live with that seed of growing hope comprehend those things are not how they were originally meant to be- and there is a way for them to one day live that life free of all evil. 

Can those who choose not to allow Jesus to nurture the seed of hope live happy lives? Yes. It will be a happy life with a hopeless end. 

Choose wisely, choose eternity over temporary, please. Choose hope. Don't be deceived by your pride. 

Choose Christ as you find Him in the Word of God. You don't have to join a church, you can worship Him all by yourself if you need to. Choose Jesus, ask Jesus to come into your heart to forgive you any intentional sin or sins of ignorance. Choose to allow love to grow in you, a love that is eternal. 

Jer_17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

Tit_2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ 

Satan would have us be his- and remember he can sift you as wheat pulverizing every part of you to keep you from love's eternity, and he can do it any way he chooses- blatantly with a torturous existence, or stealthily with an almost fairy tale life. 

Please, Lord, please, bless any who read this with a very special blessing. Jesus prayed for Peter - that his faith fail not, and Jesus prayed for us to be kept from evil and in being kept from evil -our faith will fail not. Please, Father, keep us from evil! Please bless and keep us always in You! Let the hope you put inside us grow in Your love, now and always! Amen!