Satan's Puppet

What it is with "false guilt"? I've run into it among people I know twice lately, just in the last week. Why do we allow ourselves to be such easy targets for Satan? Why do we warp problematic circumstances and situations and decide to take them on our shoulders as if we created them...when we didn't? It surprises me how easy it is for Satan to bend and twist things and then feed them to us so easily as if we were hungry for them.

Last week I had a friend try to tell me that she was responsible for an ugly situation that she truly had ZERO to do with creating. It was almost bizarre! Why would she take something on and carry it around on her shoulders when she had absolutely nothing to do with it's creation. NOTHING. It is frustrating. Because from the outside looking in, it is blatantly obvious that Satan orchestrated the whole deal. I tried to reason with my friend and help her see clearly, but I am not sure if I did. See, because we find ourselves in a world with humans we can easily find many instances where things are completely messed up. And if we are gluttons for guilt (and MANY of us are for some ridiculous reason) then we can twist the facts to somehow become our fault and our responsibility when they simply aren't. And you know Satan just cackles in triumph when we do this. We are like puppets on his strings.

False guilt, which is what I am writing about, is one of Satan's specialties. It is based on personal feelings rather than facts. True guilt, which can be a good thing, is what we feel when we have sinned. That guilt can lead to Godly sorrow, confession, forgiveness, and repentance. False guilt is not of God, and it cannot be relieved unless and until it is seen for the lie and the deception that it is.

When you are bearing a burden and heavy-laden with guilt--stop and think. Use your brain. Think as rationally as you possibly can. Determine if you feel true guilt because you've sinned or if you are being manipulated by Satan and are feeling false guilt instead. You have to be clear and methodical. Please remember that you can be manipulated by Satan through others. It may be a statement your dad made. It may be something our friend, spouse, boyfriend, or whomever said that seemed innocuous at the time, but with Satan's help of course, we warp it into something it isn't and then drag around guilt and responsibility that does not belong to us. DON'T DO IT. I believe it's wrong. Don't be the puppet on Satan's strings.

God wants us as strong and as unburdened by Satan as we can possibly be. We cannot do that if we are bound up in Satan's strings, dancing for him at his whim. We've got to be stronger and wiser than that. We have to be on the lookout for false guilt. You may be right smack in the middle of an unfortunate situation or circumstance, but that does not necessarily mean that you created it or are responsible for it.

Let true guilt move you to get sin out of your life. But be intentional about recognizing false guilt in your life and cut the strings. Break free from that bondage. It keeps you from being the man or woman God wants you to be. Don't play a martyr for Satan, be the champion for God. Cut the strings; stop being the devil's puppet. Dance for God with no strings attached!