When Charles Shultz started his comic strip Peanuts it was originally called The Peanut Gallery. A Peanut Gallery is a theatrical term for people you don't take seriously. That's exactly what Satan wants to make out of us - A Peanut Gallery that the world just laughs at. He wants to rob us of our credibility because he knows that God wants to make us the light of the world. One of the ways he puts us in the funny papers is by continuing to maintain strongholds in our lives even after we've been born again. By keeping us as pessimistic as Charlie Brown or a control freak like Lucy Van Pelt, Satan succeeds in making us look like a comic strip character in the minds of those we're supposed to be influencing in the world around us.
The truth is, the desire to control people and the practice of being habitually pessimistic isn't funny. It may be cute when Charlie Brown or Lucy acts this way in the comic strip, but if you struggle with these issues or love someone who does, you know there's nothing cute or funny about it!
These things can't be written off as merely a personality trait or even a character flaw - They are strongholds our enemy has placed upon us and that's not the will of God for our lives! God wants us free! Jesus said that if the Son sets us free, we are free indeed! God can liberate us from the Peanut Gallery by dealing with the Charlie Brown in us all.
