Satan is active. We don’t have to look far to see the results of his dirty work. Marriages breaking up, rise in sexual perversions, pornography, ant-Christian bias, racism, riots, greed, injustice, poverty. You must not let down your guard for even a little bit for Satan will take opportunities and eat away at them. Many Christians give in to the temptations and as a result affect their faith and others.
Simple flirting quickly turn into affair, innocent borrowing of a little cash quickly escalates into stealing. A little distortion of the truth so as not to embarrass oneself soon becomes a series of outright lying. A little pick me up with some drug soon captivates our desires for more. Some times to relieve tension can easily guild into focusing more and more of our attentions on hobbies, pleasures, and materialism that sucks away on spiritual discipline and growth.
Satan is full of deceit. He is a liar. He is deadly seeking to devour anyone he can just like a lion in sheep’s clothing. If he can fill you with pride he’ll do it. If he can fill you with low-self esteem to keep you from using your gifts he’ll do it. If he can keep you preoccupied with unimportant things he’ll do it.
There are times when the evil one will smack us in the face with adversity and outright temptation, but more cunningly he attacks while we are asleep spiritually, not dependent, not praying, not seeking God’s will for today. We cannot stand on yesterday’s victories.
What can we do to utilize the power and protection of the Lord? There is strength given by God if we really want it and are ready to do what we can to resist temptation when it comes our way. We cannot always live on an emotional high, but spiritual growth is a walk of faith regardless of our emotional ups and downs. It is obeying God in good times and bad times.
This is why we are instructed to be sober, or self-controlled. We must have our minds under control. How we are thinking makes a difference as to our protection against Satan whose job it is to destroy you and me. We must be vigilant and always on guard. His strategy is to counterfeit whatever God does. According to the Parable of the Tares, wherever God plants a true Christian, Satan seeks to plant a counterfeit. He could deceive us were it not for the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The better we know God’s Word, the keener our spiritual senses will be to detect Satan at work.
The Biblical way to protect ourselves is to resist him. Take our stand on the Word of God and refuse to be moved. Our weapons are the Bible, prayer, and the armor of God. Stand firm believing God, not your emotions. With a steadfast determination trust Him and follow Him and believe Him, for Satan will do everything he can in his power to cause you to fall, fail, and quit. God will give you a way out and strength to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
(PASTOR DALE COPE)