When It's Done ONLY Before God

Today God really put it on my heart to talk about the things that are done only before Him. I know in my personal life the times when I was really struggling with sin it seems like the enemy used to use that whole "who would know if you did this" thing the most with me. It wasn't that I didn't realize God would know, but my justifications were in the fact that I wasn't hurting anyone else in my "secret sin". Which is completely a lie. There will never be a time in this world where our sins won't have some kind of ripple affect on others. Even if you feel like nobody knows, therefore nobody is being affected by your sin..THAT IS A LIE! And I had to get that statement out of the way before I could go into what God really put on my heart today. Because today God wasn't talking to be about our secret sins, He was talking to me about our secret obedience. If we are being defeated by our secret sin because the enemy is convincing us to do things through lies...then how much more are we defeating satan with our secret obedience?

You may ask, what does he mean by our "secret obedience".....so let me explain. Have you ever had something happen that could get a reaction out of you that nobody but you and God would really know about? Have you ever been tempted to do something (not even horrible, but definitely wrong), and you knew that that only you and God would know about it? Well what happens when we react in a way that honors God in those secret moments? I believe it is when we defeat satan the most! If satan can't get you to fall to temptation when nobody would even know, then how much more are you beat temptations in your public life? And by public life I mean when other eyes that you may not even know about are watching you to see IF you really do represent God or not. Whether we like it or not, there are always eyes on us when we claim to follow Jesus. And most of the time it is people who may not know Jesus on a personal level, wanting to see if He really has changed us. And when they see that He has, the glory He gets from that is amazing. It is testimony without words! But, let me go back to what is done before only the eyes of God. The first place the enemy tries to attack us is in our thoughts. I've made the statement several times...that no action has ever been committed that didn't start as a thought first. So one of the first things the enemy whispers to us when we think there are no eyes on us is, "It's ok, do it". "It" could be anything from yelling out to someone in your car because they cut you off in traffic. Or saying something hurtful under your breath to someone in another room because they made you mad. Or clicking on something on that phone or computer screen because no one is around. However, we can stop in those moments and literally say out loud "no, I know this is exactly what you would want me to do satan, and I choose to bring God glory and honor right now even if He is the only one that will ever know I did", then you immediately thank God and give Him the glory for helping you in that exact moment. When we tap into God's strength and beat satan, then we immediately give God glory, we are defeating satan twice. 

Going against our fleshly desires is going against satan. Like my pastor has said on many occasions, there are not 3 ways..God's way, satan's way and you're way. It is either God's way or you're way. You're way is acting in the flesh and that is exactly what the enemy wants you to do. So when you beat that, you beat him. And when you do it in secret, you do it with so much more of an impact. These are the times when you are allowing God to build up your spirit man. 

Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who give me strength"....and when we use that strength to make the right choices in secret, not only are we defeating satan and bringing God glory, but I firmly believe we are putting a huge smile on God's face.

God, thank You that we are able to tap into and draw from Your strength! Help us to remember to do this when the enemy is trying so hard to speak lies into us. Holy Spirit, God's says you were sent to be our helper (John 14:26), so please help us in the times that we are alone to make choices that are pleasing before the Lord, and defeat satan...then use those choices to build up our spirit man. In Jesus name, Amen