Wiles of the devil

In the travels my husband and I have had throughout Africa we have been made keenly aware of the powers of the evil one. We have run into those who are witches or those who were, but have been set free by the gospel of Christ. In our western culture we Christians give lip service to the fact that the devil is real but I don't think we realize how much havoc he can place in the lives of believers.

Ephesians 6: 11,12 says "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Another word for wiles is schemes of the devil. This is what it means - a trick stratagem intended to ensnare or deceive. Peter 5: 8 tells us "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

The devil is not omnipresent. We know he cannot be in all places at one time. He does have demons that are in various places to do his work for him. His work is to keep those who do not know the Living God from knowing Him and to keep those who do in as much turmoil and chaos as he can so that they will be powerless to further the kingdom of heaven, which is our calling as believers in Christ.

Think about it. You can be sure that when you commit to serving the Lord in some capacity there will be trials that come up to threaten your commitment. When you are going through trials, whether they are direct persecution because of our faith in Christ, financial matters, chronic illness of a spouse, Christian relationships that are badly broken, loved ones dying of cancer, marital issues that seem beyond reconciliation etc. how do you respond? Many times when going through these things we think God has left us or has not heard our prayer of deliverance. We began to wonder if all this Christianity "stuff" is real. What we should be doing is realizing that many times we are up against the wiles of the devil to pull us down. We must keep in mind that God is sovereign. I cannot explain God's plans and purposes but I do know that how we handle these things is key to fighting against the wiles of the devil who would want us to give up and give in to despair instead of seeking God's face and direction even in the middle of the worst circumstances.

One of his favorite schemes is to keep us from remembering that he is real and that he is just waiting for the chance to devour us. We need to put on the whole armor of God to stand up against the evil one. We need to resist him and his schemes. We need to talk to him and cast him out in the name of Jesus Christ. Stand firm on the word of God, fight the devil and he will flee from you.

Find comfort from these words in 1 John 4: 4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

P.S. Our daughter-in-law has a family member that is dying of Leukemia. My husband and I will leave in the morning for Richmond, Va. Please pray for the Morgan/Strittmatter family.
I will not be posting for about a week.