No More Accusations!

But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed.
You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you.
These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord;
their vindication will come from me.
I, the Lord, have spoken! ~ Isaiah 54:17 NLT

Many of us are tortured with accusing thoughts. When we make one mistake, maybe believe we should have done better, or loved more, we slide into the old recording, “I am bad.” “I’m stupid!” “I will always fail.” “God couldn’t love me.” Sound familiar?

So, from time to time we have to stop and remember that we are in a spiritual war. It is also helpful to recall who our real enemy is, and how Satan is out to defeat us. Even though he knows Jesus has already won the war for us, he operates in such a way to cause us to forget the war, and to ignore that the battle is in our minds to control our thoughts.

The weapons the devil attacks with are familiar: fear, deception, distraction, disruption. But the silent killer of hope, faith and peace in believers is accusation. It beats us down, discourages us, destroys our power and the belief in our authority over the devil. In fact, one of Satan’s names is the Accuser. (Zech. 3:1) What we may tend to forget is that he is able to make those accusations in our own minds, disguising them as our own thoughts.

But God, knowing how toxic accusation is, has given us a promise, a powerful weapon, written nearly 3,000 years ago by the prophet Isaiah. God promised that “in that coming day”, the time after Jesus’ resurrection, we believers, empowered with the Holy Spirit, would silence every voice that accuses us.

So, let’s destroy them. First, by remembering who we are in Christ. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. (Matt.28:18) We are in Christ and he is in us. (Jn.14:20) We share in his spiritual authority on earth.

Then we remember where we are in Christ. Ephesians 2:6 tells us we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, far above all powers, rulers and spiritual authorities in this dark world. When we tell harassing, accusing demons to leave us, they must go, just as if Jesus were speaking to them. So why put up with the misery of accusation?

The lying devil wants us to believe that the accusing voice is God’s. Our Lord may rebuke us, but in a manner that draws us closer to him, never in a way that discourages us or causes us to feel defeated. Romans 8:1 tells us clearly that we who are in Christ are free forever from condemnation. That critical, negative, cursing voice is never God’s. He is a kind, gentle, compassionate Father.

We will all make mistakes and have a long way to go. But we have a loving Father cheering us on! We belong to a good and merciful God who desires for us to keep growing, to keep reaching out to him, and who loves to see us succeed. Let’s capture those accusing thoughts. Let’s fix our minds on Jesus and the good and beautiful things in our life and keep moving forward in confident hope.

Dear friends, praise God who centuries ago knew we would need the promise of Isaiah 54:17. Be blessed to cause fear to flee as you grow in your trust in God and his Word. Be strong and courageous as the Holy Spirit trains you in the weapons and strategies of spiritual warfare. Be blessed with joyful thanksgiving as you live without the voices of accusation. Amen.

Mary Sumner ~ February 10, 2021