One of my favorite things to do when I get the chance is to go for a brisk walk and breathe in fresh air. These mental and physical breaks help me clear my head and focus on something other than the minutiae of my job or my own emotional clutter. On Sundays, my walks take me down a route that overlooks a wetlands area. Stretching imposingly above the marshy grasses are massive towers that support huge electricity transmission lines. These cables crackle with powerful energy. As I passed underneath these behemoths one morning, I noticed a curious thing. The young tree planted directly below the track of cables looked different from all its neighbors. It was forlornly stunted with only a few puny leaves while the other trees were bursting with the abundant green that accompanies the return of spring, but this one little tree though sitting under such a tremendous force of energy seemed stunted of the right type of energy and of the right type of nutrients needed to develop and flourish with vitality.  The same stunted effect can be seen in our own lives if we let Satan’s influences, also a powerful energy force as the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), drain us of any of our spiritual vitality.

The world pumps out message after false message. “If you only had more money, you would be happier.” “Live for today.” “Trust your own intuition.” “You deserve it.” “If you don’t look like a movie star, no one will love you.” “You messed up—what a complete idiot.” Satan also subtly insinuates himself into negative thought patterns in our lives (1 John 2:15-16). God is not the one in our heads that speaks with contemptuous distaste at our weaknesses and failures. Instead, His is the gentle voice that encourages each of us to give Him our burdens and mistakes and to ask Him for the strength, truth and wisdom to guide us toward trying again tomorrow. Satan’s desire is to cripple each of us with fear and negativity and doubt so that we do not have the energy and focus to turn to God and ask Him for help to grow and overcome.

Satan has had countless millennia to hone his skills and is a powerful being. But he has also had that much time to weave the deception about the extent of his power into many minds. As C.S. Lewis writes, “Devil is the opposite of angel only as Bad Man is the opposite of Good Man. Satan, the leader or dictator of devils, is the opposite, not of God, but of Michael” (Preface to The Screwtape Letters). Satan is in no way close to as powerful as God’s or Jesus Christ’s pinky fingers. But, despite his limitations, he is still more powerful than we are by ourselves. And he tries his hardest to exploit our weaknesses while our infinitely more powerful God is there to help nurture our strengths.

None of us is immune to Satan’s influences. He saturates our lives with lies from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep (John 8:44). All too often I have a tendency to tune into his messages, and then it is easy to become discouraged, selfish or rebellious. But God, through His Spirit, is always there to cut through the fog of Satan’s insidious messages and encourage me to turn to Him for clarity and truth. Each of us needs to tune into the voice of truth, found in God’s word (John 18:37; John 17:17) and through prayer and meditation.

When I’m striving to communicate with God, my focus completely shifts and Satan’s endless transmission is cut off. The amount of clarity and wisdom that God grants simply by talking to Him never ceases to amaze me. Some of the best ideas I’ve had and solutions to problems I’ve been struggling with come to me while I’m on my knees or walking and talking with my Father. It’s as if God sticks in an IV of wisdom directly into my own puny intellect and gives me a healthy dose of perspective regarding what is true and what is pure nonsense.

While that tree on my walking route does not have the option to hike up its roots and head for a healthier environment, each of us has the choice about whose voice we tune into the most. To be “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither,” we need to “delight…in the law of the Lord” and meditate on His truth constantly (Psalm 1:2-3). If we stay tuned into God, we shall each “be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8). Seek the voice of truth, and drown out the voice of lies. Do not be a stunted tree, but rather a tree growing and bearing fruit as God has designed you to do.

For more helpful information on growing in God's way request the free Bible study aid, Transforming Your Life - The Process of Conversion.