Troublesome Topic: SATAN SENDS NEGATIVE MESSAGES THROUGH ABUSE

Many people did not have the kind of father figure, or mother figure, they should have had. In far too many cases there has been actual abuse of a child by a parent.

As we said at the beginning, Satan will take advantage of any and every possible opportunity to shout his negative messages at us. But he does not just shout negative messages at random times with no connection to life. He uses things in our lives as supposed proof that his messages are true.

Just like Satan uses past failures to communicate that we are inadequate and are big failures, so he uses abuse to communicate that we have no value.

If you have been abused, or are still being abused, realize that Satan is a liar and he never tells the truth, so don’t believe anything he says. When he tells you that the abuse you have suffered is proof that you are a “nobody,” that you are “worthless,” you have “no value,” or “it’s all your fault,” remind yourself, say it out loud, that these are all lies. God showed you how much He values you when He paid for your punishment with His Son’s death.

We are told numerous times in Scripture that Jesus died for us because He loves us. He didn’t have to do it; He chose to do it, for you and for me as individuals, as well as for mankind as a whole. I count 6 times in the Bible where God calls His people His “treasured possession.” You have great value to God, and God proved with by paying an extremely high price for you because He wanted to restore fellowship with you. I Corinthians 6:20 says, “you were redeemed (or purchased) with a price;” that price was the death of Jesus. No words could communicate how much God values you as powerfully as that sacrifice.

We want God to take away all pain and hurt, and when He doesn’t do it we think He doesn’t care about us. But we need to see it from a different angle. At this time in history God may not take away all the pain, violence, sickness and death, which are effects of sin, but He feels the pain with us. Instead of taking it away, He bears it with us; He joins us in it. One day He will take away all those painful things, but He is leaving them for a while in order to give us the freedom to choose Him, or not choose Him. He will not force us to choose Him. But in order to give us a choice He cannot eliminate sin and the consequences of sin at this time; that would be like bribing us. So instead of getting rid of them, He joins us in them. The closer you are to God the more you can sense His closeness in times of trial.

The bottom line is that, despite what Satan shouts in your ear, you do have great value to God, and God proved it by putting His son on a cross!

The next lesson is The Examples of David and the Woman at the Well