The Accuser

Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,

“It has come at last —

salvation and power

and the Kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Christ.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters

has been thrown down to earth —

the one who accuses them

before our God day and night.

And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb

and by their testimony.” Revelation 12:10-11

A VERY REAL ENEMY lurks in the hallways of our homes seeking to speak into the hearts of everyone living there. Peter tells us, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). How does he devour?

His strategy with those outside of Christ is to keep them in the dark about their sin and to keep them thinking about anything other than their sin. But his strategy is very different for those who are in Christ. He works against believers by reminding them of their sins and failures in an attempt to make them lose heart. He wants them to think more of their sin than of their Savior and his saving, cleansing, forgiving power.

When Satan comes to accuse us, we need to recognize we’re in a spiritual battle and fight back with the truth: “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). We fight back by asking, “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one —for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one . . . not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:33-34, 38).

Lord, help me to recognize and refuse the accuser’s voice when he wants to remind me of and bind me to all my past failures as a parent and as a person. And help me to recognize when the accuser seeks to devour ________ and eat ________ up with false guilt so I can encourage ________ with the truth.