Your Problem Isn’t The Person You Think It Is.

I often thought, “My life would have been wonderful if it weren’t for so and so.” I could trace most of the problems I faced to particular individuals who either ill-treated me or who weren’t there for me when I needed them the most.

I shifted blame to almost everybody around me for my misfortunes, but I was wrong. I wasn’t seeing the bigger picture. I was focusing on the rotten fruit not on the root cause. Behind the scenes of the conflicts and challenges we face, is someone else who is lurking there with a conniving scheme to disarm, divide and defeat us.

That someone is Satan—busy pulling the strings and pushing the buttons in this invisible war raging all around us.

Your Problem Isn’t The Person You Think It Is.

One of the main truths you need to embrace with regard to Satan is understanding that people are not your problem. Satan is your problem. And Satan is their problem, too.

We are all in war, and we all have the same enemy. His primary strategy is to use people to engineer our spiritual downfall by driving wedges between us that shatter our unity and draw our focus away from God.

The first man, Adam, blamed his wife, Eve, for his downfall yet, in reality, it was Satan who slithered in the garden as a snake to deceive and ruin them.

Your problem isn’t the person you think it is. Your problem is that a demon is influencing them toward disruption.

Until you realize that your struggle is not with people but with the “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”—you will never live out the victory Christ Jesus has secured for you.

The next time you face a challenge or enter into a conflict with someone, go to the Lord in prayer. On your knees, fight—and win—this battle, for the victory is the Lord’s. Pray for peace, protection, and wisdom for all parties involved and then watch what the Lord will do.

Pray that the Lord will open your eyes to see what Satan is trying to do. Pray also for the love that is necessary to treat others with respect and honor.

May the Lord show you the right way to overcome conflict and to live victoriously under Him.

Scripture: “Do not pay others back evil for evil or insult for insult. Instead, keep blessing them, because you were called to inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9).