Follow The Leader!

“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’” John 14:6

How many of us ask the question daily that Thomas asked Jesus? I know for me that question can be heard in all of my prayers. It can be challenging to know the direction in which God wants us to move. I am constantly going back to Him for clarification and confirmation. Sometimes I am caught up in analyzing whether the direction is from Satan or is indeed the activity of God. Our example was given in the wilderness when Jesus did not focus on Satan and his ways, but rather focused strictly on what lined up with Scripture. His focus was on the written Word instead of the disorienting distractions.

‘When Canadian Mounties train officers in anti-counterfeiting work, they don’t let a trainee see a counterfeit bill. Instead trainees thoroughly study the genuine bill so they can readily identify anything that doesn’t measure up to that standard.’ Experiencing God, p. 194. I love this fact about recognizing genuine from counterfeit.

Satan is the counterfeit of God. Everything God does Satan will deceitfully and effectively emulate. We must keep our focus and examination upon God’s truth and His way to receive life. Through our intense study of His word there is nothing He has left out in living a life victoriously through Him. Satan holds no power over God but certainly holds power over God’s children if we do not arm ourselves against him. Satan is as real as God and works full time at destroying our faith and testimony. He cannot touch our salvation so he goes after the next best thing – our ability to witness through tough times. He holds up all types of counterfeit bills for us to pass off to others.

At certain times in my life, my spiritual wallet contained counterfeit bills of bitterness, unbelief and feelings that God wasn’t near. It wasn’t until I began intense time with Him every morning that I could recognize the counterfeit bills for which I was carrying. God faithfully replaced old thinking with new and reminded me of past faithfulness and future deliverance.

Whatever we focus on will power our thinking. Satan does not know the mind of God so our focus should be on the One who knows the way.