Hello again to all my friends!
For those of you who don’t know, I am currently on day 7 of my 21 day spiritual cleansing fast. I was initially set to not eat anything for one month but the Lord changed my plans and gave me a confidant to fast with! We aren’t eating anything for the first 7 days and we begin a vegan Daniel fast at 9 pm tonight for 14 days. Each day brings along new temptations and challenges but I know we will make it through these 3 weeks of uphill battle with the Lord.
As I do my best to function on limited energy reserves, fruit juice and water, I have begun to really take note of how accessible things are to Americans. With such a variety of temptations available at our every whim, it is easy to lose track of what we consume. The American media constantly confuses us with images of beautiful people eating extremely fattening foods and being perfectly happy and fit! We lose the ability to say no to the allure of the quick and easy instead of the food that God provides us naturally.
Not to say that food is sinful, but fasting has really opened my eyes to how easy it is to fall into sin. God has created such a perfect plan for all of us, but it is easy to get sidetracked when satan provides quick and easy temptations at every corner. God fills us with the fruit of the Spirit, while satan seems to throw really tasty trans fats in our faces! The devil finds our weakest spots and slowly chips away through our hidden desires. He does his best to overpower the Lord, discovering new and sleezy ways to push our hot buttons!
Now I will try to show you how I really picture satan in my life:
If you have never heard of Hayao Mayazaki, he is essentially the Japanese Walt Disney. I am a big fan of his films and I would personally recommend them to any fan of animation. Any who, in almost all of his work there are very obvious representations of good and evil. In Princess Mononoke (one of my favorites), there is a giant boar who is overtaken by an evil demon. The demon is created from an iron bullet from a mining town populated by man (in the middle of a forest of gods). The bullet starts as a lump of inconvenient metal and ends up consuming the boar’s entire being. The demon destroys everything in its path and even spreads its evil to others. The heinous demon eventually kills the boar while leaving a permanent impact on the ones it touched…
This image is exactly how I see satan in my own life. This demon is made of these nasty and squiggly worm-like parts that are constantly moving. Satan can find you at your weakest, begin to grow, start to move around and eventually take you over completely. He can tempt you with so much because he knows how to sneak in. He uses his power to confuse you into thinking he is more powerful than Christ. If you let him take you over he will destroy you to your very core.
The only way to prevent the devil from knocking you down is by letting the Lord be the one to hold you up. God provides you with the will to choose your eternal security in His love. Through God all can become strong against the temptations of the devil. Do not allow yourself to become weak in the path of sin. Allow God to empower your entire being and fall on Him when satan tries to make you weak. Lucifer will not prevail if Jesus lives within you.
I love you all so much! Please continue to pray for my fast! Coming next week: where to be when you’re lonely.
