THE WILES OF SATAN

Kathy Bernard - Publisher
 
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 6:12

 

JAMES 4:7 tells us, "Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  We, as Christians, try hard to abstain from Satan's evil temptations that follows us.  He knows our dreams and desires and joyfully acts on them.  Satan is everywhere, cloaked in beautiful clothing, with friendly smiles that make

WE, as Christians, try hard to abstain from Satan's evil temptations that follows us.  He knows our dreams and desires  and joyfully acts on them.  Satan is everywhere, cloaked in beautiful clothing, with friendly smiles that make us forget  that he surrounds us all, trying to steal souls.  How does he do this?  How does he know what we want as human beings?  How can he know our "so called' personal needs"?

SATAN knows all about us.  If we let him, he will place our greatest passions in our paths so we can begin to crave the things we know are wrong and sinful.  If we are not strong, he will break through our faith and tell us that God does not want us to enjoy the gifts Satan wants us to have.  And sadly, some of us will surrender to his so called enticements.

MANY follow Satan's offerings without realizing that they are falling into his trap.  He appears to be friendly but he attacks through deception.  We fall for this because he has offered us exactly what we were hoping for.  This allure comes in many forms and we become tempted because we are human.  Even though we think we are strong and believe we can resist, Satan is wily and crafty, cunning and deceitful, and he will use every ploy to steal our souls since he knows all the secrets of our hearts, knows our weakness as well as our strengths, and he will put temptation squarely in our path and make it irresistible for he makes his offerings very enticing, and our desires come alive and before long we will be stretching out our hand to Satan, finding his offer too inviting to let go.  "Just this once" we say as we start our bargain with the devil…on his terms.  He is shrewd and cunning, wise and deceptive.

IT is only later that Satan will whisper, "Why stop now?  You have already become a sinner and are lost to the Lord so you might as well enjoy yourself  while you can!"  But the bible tells us …. "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on  the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and  blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."  -   Ephesians 6:10-17

SOMETIMES we allow Satan to draw us into sin without realizing it is a trap he has set for us as Christians.  We may refuse the bait at the onset, then ‘need’ settles in full force and we give in because what he offers is unbelievable and we think we must have it.  Surely we are entitled.  We want it!  We reason we can follow God’s decrees later.  No hurry on that. In our weakness, we reach for Satan’s hand as we fall into our sins.  

PAUL tells us in Eph.6:11: "Christians are to stand firm against “the devil’s schemes."  We know Satan cannot harm us physically.  He has no control over us as believing Christians.  Satan fell from grace because of his insatiable desire for prominence.  He wanted the power God has but he will never get it.   And he cannot steal God's love nor ours if we live our lives as Christians and avoid earthy temptations.  He spreads sin to those who are weak so they can fall prey to his wiles, attacking and filling minds with beautiful offers.   Yes, he wants to win our souls and though we cannot always see his tricks, and he will take us with him to Hell forever.  But he will never win as long as we stay close to Jesus Who paid the price of eternal life for all who follow Him to eternal life.