Trust Issues: When Satan Baits Our Kids

Trust issues. Satan’s favorite bait.

We’ve talked about how Satan can use the same deceptions he did with Eve in regard to marriage. (Marriage Tips: Don’t Repeat Eve’s Mistake Feb. 2, 2015)

This week, I want to show you how he can use it with our children.

Last year, I took a class based on John Maxwell’s book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Law #6 was the Law of Solid Ground. Maxwell stated, “Trust is the foundation of leadership.” When you lose trust, you lose the ability to influence.

In that moment I took a two-by-four to the head. We had a child we just couldn’t seem to get through to, and now I knew why.

He didn’t trust us.

And why didn’t he trust us?

I suspected a spiritual stronghold.

Strongholds are based on a lie the enemy pitches in response to a given event. The event is not the issue. The response to it is. The enemy supplies a lie. A false meaning becomes associated with an event, and actions follow that correspond to the falsehood. (For example, say a little girl, age 6, has parents who divorce. Daddy comes to her and says he loves her very much, but he and Mommy won’t be married anymore, and he is moving out. The daughter’s potential takeaway if the enemy whispers in her ear? Men leave. As she grows older, she has trouble in her relationships with men, because she cannot trust. She will not, cannot, commit, even when a godly loving man pursues her. Because men leave. Can you see the evil behind this?)

Satan deceived Eve that God was holding out on her, He wasn’t trustworthy, and, surely, He didn’t mean death.

The enemy had convinced my child that those who loved him most were against him.

My precious son kept us and God at arm’s length. Every lesson had to be learned the hard way because he refused to receive instruction. He knew it all, or so he thought.

Satan threw out the bait and my kid was hooked. When you’re deceived, you’re the last to know.

It broke my heart.

I prayed daily that God would reveal the lie and break the stronghold. In the meantime, I began to build trust.

Practically, this looked like dates, shoulder squeezes, a listening ear, and a quiet mouth on my part.

Check the trust level in your home and ask God to reveal any subtle lies toward you as parents or between siblings. Keep a watch for the enemy as he tries to get his foot in the door. Once he’s in, he’s a difficult guest to get rid of. Pray for discernment.

What’s the trust temperature in your home?

Questions:

How freely do your children share with you? This varies with personality, I know. Others purposefully hide things because they know what they are doing is wrong.

For what kinds of advice do your children ask?

How do they respond when you give advice?

What level of influence do you have with your children?

If they had a choice, would they follow you?

What red flags come to mind?

Tweetables:

Trust issues. Satan's favorite bait. Click To Tweet
John Maxwell states, “Trust is the foundation of leadership.” Click To Tweet
When you lose trust, you lose the ability to influence. Click To Tweet
When you’re deceived, you’re the last to know. Click To Tweet
What's the trust temperature in your home? Click To Tweet

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