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Get Behind Me Satan!

Murray Wade
01/19/25 - Sunday

Get Behind Me Satan! (January 19, 2025) Have you ever noticed that when you head toward the Sun, everything things looks washed out and not very appealing? You cannot see things or see colors the way they really are. You can get a bit discouraged and have a negative outlook on where you are heading. But when you turn around and get the Sun at your back and you look forward away from it; you can see a completely different outlook. A positive outlook; where things look beautiful, colorful, and inviting. Full of positive potential for what things you might see. We might say the popular saying that we are “seeing things in the best possible light”. Here are some pictures to illustrate this point. We can have an outlook that is full of anxiety, stress, disappointments, feelings that we are treated unfairly, and lots of negativity. It seems that when our outlook is bleakest is when Satan has a hand in what we see. But when we get Satan behind us, we can take those same situations and see them in the positive light that God wants us to have. Satan tried to get Jesus to see things his way in Luke 4:1-13. Now let us consider some common situations when we need to “Get Satan Behind Us”! When folks do not want to study: Satan wants us to get depressed and feel like it is not worth trying anymore. But the Lord wants us to be thankful we have brethren who want to study God’s Word and grow in that knowledge (Hebrews 10:24-25, 2 Peter 3:17-18). The early disciples experienced the same trials and found comfort in assembling with one another (Acts 2:41-42, 11:18-26, 17:10-12, 19:8-10). When our jobs are not going well: Satan wants us to fret, grumble, complain, and focus on being discontented or unappreciated. But the Lord would have us take a different approach. First we can be thankful we have a job (Psalm 128:2, Proverbs 13:11, 14:23, Matthew 6:33). Secondly, if we focus on being thankful we have a job, instead of spending time fretting, we can use that time to find opportunities to shine the light of Jesus more. Remember Joseph in prison (Genesis 39:21-23) and Paul and Silas singing while in chains (Acts 16:25)? Notice what Paul says in Philippians 2:14-16, Colossians 3:22-25. From a man who spent much time in trials! When we are having trouble finding that special man or woman in our life: We can be thankful we have time to visit our needy, time to make ourselves more useful to the Lord and others, time to visit other congregations in Bible study and gospel meetings, and we can focus on making our hearts more beautiful to the Lord (1 Timothy 1:5, 4:12, 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22, James 1:27). When we have loved ones far away and we are lonely: I believe that every one of the Christians present here this morning has loved ones who are far away. It does not matter if they are 100 miles away or 3,000 miles away, many times we miss our loved ones. It may be family members or close friends in the Lord. Sometimes we get lonely and would like to be with them. Those are natural feelings. Satan would love us to focus on being lonely and becoming depressed. In these times we can rejoice that we have a Father in Heaven to pray to (Philippians 4:6-7); rejoice we have a Lord who will always stand by us (2 Timothy 4:16-18); rejoice we have a Savior who will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5-6); and we can rejoice we have our dear Christian family that can help us. Many times we can enjoy even closer relations with our Christian family than with our physical family (Mark 10:28-30). If we can get Satan behind us, our lives will be filled with the potential for good that the Lord wants us to see rather than the discouragement Satan wants us to see. God has given Christians many things to look forward to and a wonderful outlook for our lives. Let us be determined, like Jesus, to put Satan behind us! Then we will see things in the best possible light; in the way the Lord wants us to see. This positive outlook will help us be much more productive for Him in our lives. If you are not a child of God today, your outlook for the future is very grim. Without Jesus you will struggle on your own. You will have trials with no assurance that the Lord is watching out for you. And your life will only for the moment, without the hope of eternal life in Heaven. Why not get Satan behind you today? He wants you to be content in your sins. Why not come to Jesus and repent and be baptized to wash away those sins that hinder you? And get Satan behind you for good! If we can help you now, please let us know while we stand and while we sing!