A few weeks ago, a man I work with tried to tell me that I did not know what I did in fact know. It really got under my skin. It’s not the first time I have described a problem to him, only for him to tell me that I’m wrong, it couldn’t be that way. He wasn’t there when the problem occurred, but he was sure that he was right, and I was wrong. I thought about it later because I felt so utterly annoyed and realized that it made me so angry because he was gaslighting me in a very small but still irksome sense of the word.

He made me question myself when he wasn’t even there. He chastised me for what I said and then told me I was wrong. By the way, I wasn’t wrong, the problem really was a problem. I started praying about it, just to let it go and Jesus said to my heart “I was gaslighted too”. Oh Jesus I prayed, by the pharisees when they questioned who you are? “By Satan” was the answer I heard in my head. I had never heard it described that way! Matthew 4:1-11 is titled The Temptation of Jesus and we all know that He was tempted and tried by Satan here, but Satan was also attempting to gaslight Him as well. The first two times Satan tries to tempt Jesus he says “IF you are the Son of God..” If? If? Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God because he knew Him in heaven! In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Jesus was born here on earth, but His existence is infinite. Satan is a created being, his existence has a beginning, and you better believe it has an end. Jesus himself said He saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven (Luke 10:18). Satan being Satan, waited 40 days to come to tempt Jesus, he knew that Jesus had fasted, knew He was hungry, knew He was physically weakened. Then Satan says one of the most ridiculous things in the whole Bible. “If you are the Son of God”. Gaslighting at its finest. The more I thought about it the more I realized that Satan uses that as one of his most powerful tools. A flaming dart if you will. Think all the way back to the Garden of Eden. What was his tactic? He was gaslighting Eve to make her question her own reasoning and memory. He had her in 3 sentences. 3! Genesis 3:1-5 He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” This is the first example of gaslighting at its earliest inception. Mind blowing! It worked so well he has never needed to change up his arsenal. I was so excited with all the thoughts God had given me I called my daughter Makenzie to tell her and she said “Mom, it makes perfect sense because Satan was the first Narcissist”. Wait, WHAT? Oh now it’s all falling into place. Satan tries to manipulate us and make us doubt ourselves every single day and he has done this since the keeping of time began. Oh it is so much more than him trying to make you doubt. He is trying to cast you out of Eden, away from the presence of the Lord. Satan is on constant repeat whispering to our souls, Does God really love you? Oh sinful sinner, how can that be? Did you really hear from God? Does Jesus really forgive you? Are you really chosen, adopted and loved? Thank the Lord you are, we are! It is written in the word and lived out by love from the Word and just like Jesus did at the time of His tempting, so must we fight those attacks with the word of God. Eve had no idea how important she was. No idea that the world would shift and turn on its axis that day. She actually thought it was about fruit. We feel the effects of her actions every day, thousands and thousands of years later. Do you know how important you are to God’s story? I know I can be up one day, praising the Lord and the next day depending on my circumstances or behavior, I can doubt He even loves me. No matter if I believe or sit in my doubt, my purpose in the Lord never changes even if I do not know what that purpose is. How many Edens have I cast myself out of by listening to the lies of the devil? How much the Lord loves me does not diminish because I think it has. We have to fight, to hold our ground because we can. We are important to the story. Do you know every person who was instrumental in Billy Graham’s life and ministry? Me neither, but that’s my point. We have no idea how many matches it took to burn that holy wildfire. We do know that it only took 3 sentences to talk Eve out of her purpose. How many does it take you?

©Bobbi Adams 2023