Category Archives: Satan

Box

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box.jpgI KNEW A woman one time whose husband had left his wife and children to marry her years ago…
After learning that such is adultery (Matthew 19:9), she said in all seriousness, “I don’t know what to do. I guess we’ll go to torment.” She was in what I call the Devil’s box. That is, she had succumbed to his temptation, fallen into sin, and now was so tied to it that she simply saw no way out.
David was in the devil’s box after he committed sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). When she announced to him that she was carrying his child, David heard the top slam shut. He was locked in the box. He had to think of his sin day and night, and found himself desperately crafting a way to get out without exposing his sin.
THOUGHT: Satan enjoys putting people in the box of sin because when we are there, we can’t see our way out except to live in fear of being discovered and paying the consequences of our actions. (Glenn Colley)
KneEmail: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
Bible reading for 01.18.10: Matthew 12:24-50; Genesis 43-45
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Snare

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afoodplot.jpgI AM NOT a hunter…
In fact, no one could be more removed from that world than I. However, a couple of years ago a friend took me to his hunting club to check on the “food plots.” Of course, I had no idea what these were, but I quickly realized that they existed to lure unsuspecting deer to the shooting area by using their need for food. Wow! Who knew that eating could get you killed? (Unless, of course, you have watched any of the Godfather trilogy…)
When you think about it, the idea is brilliant: use the animal’s basic needs and instincts to entrap it.
The idea is not original. Anyone ever read Genesis 3? The serpent introduces Eve and Adam to the concept of self-will and, through it, the failure of humanity.
The adversary is still at it today, and he uses the same strategy. Why would he need something new when the original works so well? Most of our disappointments, failures and shortcomings are the result of this same trap. I have never met a person who gets up one morning and says, “Today, I will make a mess of my life!” Life destruction should never be a conscious choice. That said, why do we so often find ourselves caught and entangled in the web of sin? Scripture tells us that the adversary “prowls the earth looking and watching…” To makes matters worse, he understands our weaknesses and knows how to exploit them.
Jesus prayed in Matthew 6, “lead us not into temptation” (v. 13). This has always been a curious verse to me. Would God purposefully do that to God’s children? No, but through our basic needs and desires, we often do it to ourselves. And the adversary is glad to give us a little shove. When we walk with the Lord, He can through Scripture show us the traps (i.e., food plots), even when they look appetizing and inviting… (Shane Standford, Ronnie Kent)
KneEmail: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” James 1:13-14
Bible reading for 01.12.10: Matthew 9:1-17; Genesis 29, 30
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Snake!

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mamba.jpgMY SWEET, BEAUTIFUL wife (some 8,000 miles away from me), posted that the very house in which she was typing on the computer had been an unwitting host to a black mamba just three days ago…
Just reading her note sent a shiver down my spine. The black mamba is my biggest stumbling block on mission trips. (Lord willing, I will return for a sixth time to Tanzania this fall). In those times, I have seen two of these vile creatures. Both “sightings” were in 2005, on a Safari for Souls campaign in Moshi, and, thankfully (!!), both were smashed flatter than a pancake.
Why am I so afraid? Consider what National Geographic says: “Traveling at 20 kilometers per hour, they are one of the fastest snakes in the world. They can reach lengths of 14.2 feet, taller than two NBA players combined.” Oh, and the fact that their fangs are filled with neuro- and cardiotoxins and that they are very willing to repeatedly strike, my mind is made up about these cuddly creatures. They are also described as a “nervous” snake, and when they threatened, they get downright aggressive.
Discussing this “snakophobia” of mine with a good friend, he made the remark that this world and the church would be a far different place if we reviled and hated the one called “that serpent of old” (Rev. 12:9) as much as Indiana Jones (and I) hate snakes. What a great point! If we understood the poison of his lies (cf. John 8:44), his appetite for us (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8), and his slick ways of deceiving and lying (cf. 1 John 5:19; John 8:44), we would “flee” from him like he was a highly upset mamba. His potential threat is eternally greater than even the world’s deadliest snake.
Yet, the Bible tells us repeatedly that, with God’s aid and strength, we can stand up to him and make him flee from us (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:9). But, when we are lulled into complacency or guided by worldly thinking, we are allowing that serpent of old to do deadly damage to us! How do we know whether or not this has occurred in our lives? Check your morality, ethics, activities, interests, desires, and goals. Are they leading you toward the Lord or away from Him? If the answer is the latter, it should make you shudder like any trembling a slithering serpent can induce. (Neal Pollard
KneEmail: “Let Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Allegiance

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MICHAEL HODGEN TELLS a rather humorous story about a man dressed in a devil outfit who was on his way to a costume party when suddenly he got caught in a rain storm. Searching for cover from the downpour, the man rushed headlong into the first building he came to. As it happened, he had unwittingly turned into the auditorium of a church building during the worship assembly.
When the church members saw who they thought was the devil they all panicked. And all scrambled out of the room, except for one unfortunate lady who found herself pinned under the feet of this confused fellow. Fearing for her welfare, she looked up into this devilish face and pleaded, “You know…I’ve been on your side all along!”
While I enjoy a good laugh, may I suggest that there is a more serious side to this story. You see, it is possible for me to claim allegiance to the Lord, when in reality I am a covert disciple of the devil. (Mike Benson)
Dear reader, whose side are you on (Exod. 32:26; Josh. 24:15; 1 Sam. 12:10; Matt. 12:3)?
KneEmail: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other…” (Matt. 6:24a).

Satan

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HE PROMISES PLEASURE and delivers pain…
He promises success and delivers sadness. His lies are powerful and piercing. He touches men in their most vulnerable spot and during their weakest moments.
Satan offered Eve the incomparable promise to “be like God” if she would eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1-5). Instead, she found tears, shame, banishment, pain, and death. Recorded for mankind is Satan’s first great lie. Yet, men have consistently ignored this warning ever since.
Satan offers sexual freedom and the ultimate pleasure and instead delivers disease, death, and dashed dreams. He flashes financial prosperity and delivers poverty and suicide. His bag of tricks contains bright colors and shiny objects that tarnish with the using. His path is littered with the carcasses of individual lives, dreams, and families. Yet, Satan is lauded as the man with the plan by millions. No greater con man ever existed (Richard Mansel).
THOUGHT: Satan, though, is not all powerful (Job 1:6-12; Revelation 6:8).
KneEmail: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7).

Control

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LUKE TELLS US that this man appeared to be seriously deranged…
He wore no clothes, lived in a cemetery, and frequently broke the ropes and chains that were used to subdue him. His was a hopeless case, it appeared. But then Jesus entered his life. Jesus immediately saw the problem and commanded the demons that possessed this man to depart. Shortly after the encounter, the townspeople “found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35). When Satan was forced from this man’s control center, order and sanity returned.
We’re not subject to spiritual hijacking by demons, as the people of Jesus’ day were. Jesus has placed greater limits on the powers of the dark world. But it’s still possible for us to willingly relinquish control of our lives to Satan. That was the danger against which Solomon warned. When we fail to keep our hearts with all diligence, bad results inevitably follow.
Just how serious is this matter of keeping our hearts under God’s control? On another occasion, Jesus spoke about the directions a heart-out-of-control may take: “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:18,19). When a person’s mind isn’t ruled by God, expect things to take a downward turn. This all explains why God doesn’t only seek behavior modification. For us, that’s about all we can achieve with one another. We can force a person to serve us, but we can’t make them love us. God, however, goes for the heart. He doesn’t stop with getting us to obey, but He seeks our total allegiance.
KneEmail: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23).
The New International Version says that the heart “is the wellspring of life”. The point is clear: What we ultimately do and become begins with decisions that are made in the heart (Tim Hall).