Satan Snatches the Word

Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
Mark 4:15

When the gospel is taught clearly, believers are confirmed in their faith, and they are able to guard themselves from idolatry. Satan is upset when the truth of the gospel is taught. He uses various methods to distort the Word and keep people from hearing it. In the early church, a number of heresies appeared. One claimed that Christ isn’t the Son of God. Another claimed that he isn’t Mary’s son. In Basil’s time, some denied that the Holy Spirit is God.

We have examples of Satan snatching away God’s Word in our own day. When I and my followers began to preach the pure message of the gospel, many people arose who were against God’s Word and his work in the world. Of course, none of the other temptations lessened. Satan keeps on tempting people to commit sexual sins and other terrible crimes because he doesn’t want people to believe in what God says and does. But the church and God’s people should regard Satan’s attacks on God’s Word and work as especially dangerous.

This is how Satan deceived Adam and Eve. They lost their trust in God and no longer believed what he said. Instead, they believed Satan’s lies. When Satan deprives people of their trust in God, it’s not surprising that they become proud and despise God and other people. Eventually they will turn to adultery, murder, and so on. Letting go of God’s Word is the root of all temptations. It results in the destruction and violation of all God’s commandments. Unbelief is the source of every sin. If Satan is able to tamper with God’s Word or snatch it out of people’s hearts, he will achieve his goal—people will no longer believe in God.

Excerpt From: “Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional” by Martin Luther. 

Spiritual Dryness

Sometimes we experience a terrible dryness in our spiritual life. We feel no desire to pray, don’t experience God’s presence, get bored with worship services, and even think that everything we ever believed about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is little more than a childhood fairy tale.
Then it is important to realise that most of these feelings and thoughts are just feelings and thoughts, and that the Spirit of God dwells beyond our feelings and thoughts. It is a great grace to be able to experience God’s presence in our feelings and thoughts, but when we don’t, it does not mean that God is absent. It often means that God is calling us to a greater faithfulness. It is precisely in times of spiritual dryness that we must hold on to our spiritual discipline so that we can grow into new intimacy with God.

Henri Nouwen