Get behind me Satan!

Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. (Mt 16:23)

How often does Jesus say these words to me (or to you)? If we're honest, it is more often than we care to admit.

Let me be clear. I am not talking about demon possession nor I am I talking about occult or similar practices. I am not even thinking about demonology or a study of Satan and his minions as described in the Bible. What I am asking is this: how often to we think thoughts, offer prayers, speak truths that are in opposition to the plans of God and think we are doing the right thing?

Isn't that where Peter was at? Since he didn't grasp Isa 53, since he didn't understant the Passover's significance and since he didn't realize the depth of his own sin, the concept of a dying Messiah was foreign to him. So, when Jesus announces this reality, Peter understandably responds with a "No way!"

Yet Jesus' rebuke is swift a firm. Peter, by standing in the way of Jesus' path to the cross was expressing a satanic thought. He was, as Paul would say later, an enemy to the cross of Christ. Jesus' mission was clear. His vision was singular. His heart was steadfast. Yet even in that moment, he taught Peter (and us) a significant lesson. We must see things through God's eyes, not man's eyes.

So, I'm back to my original question. How often does God thwart your prayers or divert your plans or confuse your thoughts and in essence say "Get behind me Satan!" Here's a better question? How often does He say it and we are too busy, distracted or just plain apathetic to hear or care?

It is becoming clearer to me that too many of my thoughts and plans are the thoughts of man and not of God. When those thoughts and plans get superimposed on my expectations of God, His response to me will continue to be "Get behind me Satan!"

My prayer then is this. "Father, replace my thoughts with your thoughts. Transform my mind from the perspectives of man to the perspectives of Christ. Give me a heart that aches and breaks not for what seems right and fair and just in this world, but for what is right and fair and just in your kingdom. And let my affections always be growing in anticipation of what you have planned both for this age and for the age to come."

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory