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One of the easiest ways that Satan can enter your life is by using your ego. I find this particularly frustrating and taming my ego has become a routine exercise for me. Strife enters your life through little, insignificant incidents. It can be when someone ignores you or is short with you in conversation. Our ego then becomes bruised and decides that this person does not like us. Before long, we are having thoughts that this person is spreading gossip about us and we retaliate. Just as C. S. Lewis's characters Screwtape and Wormwood celebrated with glee, the Devil delights in creating this scenario over and over. He can quickly check us off his "to-do" list for that day and move on to others. We quickly become his servant and accomplish his task for him. Lewis gives us the perfect example of this in his book and as I have said before, if you have not read it, The Screwtape Letters should be on your must read list. Take a closer look at the world around you and see if you can identify the ways in which Satan has insinuated himself. Is there strife in your family or your workplace. One of the main targets for this type of destructive work is the Church. Does your church have problems and dissension? Do you know what is causing it? Can you help to stop it? If Satan can take root in our Church, what is sacred? We must work together as the Body of Christ to rid our Church of strife and sin. And it may just start with taking a look at your ego.

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