Pride

Remember when Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked to sift him as wheat. Jesus had just told them that one of them would betray him, and they had gone from asking who that might be to arguing among themselves about which one of them is the greatest.
Even as believers, pride can be the darkness that connects us to Satan’s underworld. We are no better than Peter or the rest of the disciples; we are capable of the same pride. But we should recognize that the areas where we hide our darkness contain our future defeat. We must be discerning of our own hearts. We must walk humbly with God and others.
There is nothing in the Bible that says that Satan can’t still get permission to sift us like wheat. Wheat is sifted so the chaff can be thrown away. The chaff on wheat is a hard, husk-like covering that has no nutritional value and once it is separated from the wheat it is thrown away.
But it is good to know we have wheat in us. Sometimes God allows a satanic attack to clean us up: to get rid of our chaff; to cleanse our souls of darkness; to cleanse us of pride and greed and things that are opposed to His will. He wants to produce greater meekness and transparency in our lives. Our husk-like outer nature must die to facilitate the breaking forth of the wheat-like nature of Christ in us.
The greatest defense we can have against the devil is an honest, pliable heart before God. When the Holy Spirit puts his finger on an area of sin in our life, we must not run to defend ourselves. Submit to God; humble yourself, resist the devil and he will flee.
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