The Apostle Peter reminds us
that Satan is not some cartoon character that has no power of persuasion. The
truth is that the devil actually roams around on the earth looking for ways to
make God's people fall into sin.
Peter also exhorts us to be
alert and to take the devil's threat seriously (2 Corinthians 11:14; 1 Peter
5:8). My son was put into a compromising situation during a time when he was very
vulnerable and disheartened.
He ended up giving in to
Satan's temptation to indulge his flesh. He sinned against God, himself and his
family. As a result he lost his home, family, integrity, moral testimony, and
standing in his church community.
Thankfully, God's grace is
restoring His blessings to my son little by little, but it is a long and
frustrating road to travel as he reaps the consequences of falling into Satan's
trap.
Another trick of the devil is
to dredge up issues from our past - discouraging words spoken to us, negative
experiences we survived, etc. - and Satan throws them up into our face time and
time again to shame and depress us.
Satan whispers lies that run
over and over in our mind until we exorcize them by the power of God's Word and
Spirit. Our time of concentrated prayer allows God to reveal these lies to us,
as well as God's truth that expels them from our memory and diminishes their
effect in our life. (http://www.transformationprayer.org/)
Another ploy that the devil
uses is to put ideas into our head that we think are ours. We often blindly follow
them, and we reap the dire consequences of disobeying God (1 Chronicles 21:1).
God's forgiveness is
immediate when we repent of our wayward ways, but we often end up reaping, for
years to come, the price of what we sowed. God's Word is full of encouraging
truth for us, and we are only secure in the center of God's Will.
- Proverbs
14:26
Prayer:
Father God, if we seek You
for the root cause of our negative emotions, You always give us the wisdom and
discernment to recognize Satan's lies in our life. Help us to walk in the
Spirit (Romans 5:15-25), to keep guard over our soul (Mark 8:35-36; 1 Peter
2:24-25; Proverbs 4:23), and to live in the center
of Your will for us. If we draw near to You and resist the devil, he has to
flee from us (James 4:7).
We believe in You and we
surrender our life to You. You are always available to help us during our times
of unbelief (Mark 9:24). We want to advance Your Kingdom on this earth and to
serve You faithfully, until You return or until You bring us through the portal
of death into Your presence. We look forward to receiving our eternal reward in
Your eternal Kingdom.
Thought for the Day:
We are overcomers - Romans
8:37
We are good enough - 1
Corinthians 6:11
We have wisdom and
intelligence -
1 Corinthians 2:16
We are acceptable - 2
Corinthians 3:5
We are chosen - Ephesians
1:42
We are forgiven and have no
condemnation - Romans 8:1-2; 1 John 1:9
We are children of our Father
and co-heirs with King Jesus - John 1:12; 1 John 3:1;
Romans 8:17
