The devil has this big aim: to separate us of God. It won’t be easy for him to do it directly, because many Christians who felt the power of faith in their hearts were rewarded in this way, knowing that the man is created by God and only for God and they cannot be separated of him.
Satan, who has no moment of peace thinks indirectly that he could separate the man of his Creator. He struggles by all means to make the man fall into all kinds of sins and if he succeeds it doesn’t mean that he reached his aim, but he gives him a great sadness which makes him feel lost as if there were no forgiveness left for him, losing his own courage and separating himself of God and thus the enemy reaches his purpose.
You must not bend your head and give up regardless of the sin you made or how that would be. Continue to confess your merciful Lord since no misfortune means a thing if you have an unshaken faith. Do not be discouraged by any means. Satan and maybe your weakness deluded you but you didn’t give your heart to him and you didn’t erase the name of God from it. No matter how sinful you would be God is indeed most loving and because you confess Him He is merciful and forgiving.
He will seek for you, He will find you, He will embrace you, He will take you on His shoulders, He will carry you to the sheepfold and will love you more than He loves other sheep because you in fact did not leave him. This is a great spiritual position and the great falls from your life remain simple accidents.
I recommend you to have an endless spiritual joy in your heart since this shows that you have Christ in your heart and your breath. Your heart will always vibrate a wordless prayer. So have self control and peaceful joy even if you soiled yourself, not paying any attention to any discouraging sadness, which comes only from the devil.
The grace of God does not come where is sadness because you don’t know what to do with such riches and waste them. And due to prudence, this grace doesn’t reign over you, it comes only where is spiritual peace, where our being turns this great reaction device , this grace of God with your decisions to move, to fulfill yourself to reach the measure of the perfect man, for not saying to become a god through grace.
If it creates this state of mind of unrest, of sadness, the devil makes there his nest and hatches his eggs. You cannot love anymore, you cannot see clearly the future with the intelligence given to you by God, you are not able of that anymore, because you are sad, meaning that you are not capable of anything anymore, this being a demonic state of mind. When you are sad, think of that: Here must be a demon. And do not accept that.
Especially do not be discourage. Here lies the subtle fight of our holy Patericons and a great mystery of our spiritual life of raising up, of not staying under the heavy stone of the fall. I tell you a big word, in the spiritual order there is no fall anymore only raising.
No misfortune matters and nothing is lost as long as your faith remains alive as long as the head raises again and the soul does not renounce.
Father Arsenie Papacioc – About the demonic sadness
