In yesterday's post I omitted some key facts about the devil that you need to know. Before I get to those facts, here is some information about people and their attitudes toward satan. People seem to go one of two ways. On the one hand they grossly over estimate the devil and are terrified of him. This is ridiculous for one really significant reason- God already defeated the devil for good when Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected from the grave. The devil can NOT beat a real Christian unless you DECIDE not to fight him. And really that is like you defeating yourself. On the other hand, there is a large population of people who totally underestimate the devil. These people either don't believe the devil exist or don't really think he is out to destroy them. I would say that the majority of people fall into this category and this is one of the devil's major accomplishments. If you recall the devil's only weapon is deception and to deceive people into believing he does not exist is brilliant. You don't fight something that is not real, you don't guard against fantasy or have much respect for fairy tales. So the people who don't believe in or understand Satan make the easiest targets.
Ok so that is some background information on people, now back to the devil. Pay attention, this is really important. In the bible the devil is described as a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8). What you need to know is that the devil is ALWAYS on his job. And just like a lion, he is strategic in who he targets. He looks at us as a whole and then observes our behavior to see which ones of us can be most easily picked off. The easiest targets are the babies (the spiritually immature), the weak and wounded (people suffering from hurt feelings) and the loners (people who have allowed themselves to be separated from everyone else for a number of reasons). Once the devil finds a target, his goal is not to wound you but to kill you so when he attacks he goes straight for your jugular trying to literally rip your throat out. If you don't believe watch the discovery channel when the big cat specials are on and see how lions hunt. They use these tactics because they are effective.
All of the targets I just described are the easy targets but the real purpose of this post is to talk about where many of us reading this might be. We are trying. We are going to church, trying to pray, read our bibles and we are doing pretty good but the devil is smart and always on his job so how does he get to us? Usually by using the people who are the closest to us. Some of us are surgical with the word of God and the devil would have a tough time deceiving us if he attacked head on. So what he does is trick the people around us into doing crazy stuff that will effect us. It goes a little something like this: You are cruising along, living righteous and enjoying Jesus and then BAMN your Mom gets a new boyfriend who you absolutely cannot stand and she starts acting like a complete idiot. Not ringing any bells? Try this one on parents, your kids decide to experiment with drugs and alcohol or same sex relationships or crime, etc. For all the teenagers, you show up at school and a rumor is going around that you slept with your best friends boyfriend or girlfriend and now not only do your friends hate you but everybody thinks you're kind of cheap.
See how it works? You are doing ok until the people around you start losing their minds and then what? Most people who are doing well are prepared for the devil to attack them, where we fall apart is by failing to realize just how ruthless the devil is. If he can't get you, best believe he is going after everybody and everything that you love. So what do you do? Well a better question is what should you NOT do. You should not jump out and start reacting to the situation. The situation is not the issue, the plan is to get you to become one of the targets so Satan can rip your jugular out. So he is waiting to see if you have an emotional reactions, will you separate yourself from other people who can help you or will you forget everything you have learned and become like a baby again? If the devil can get you into one of those categories, you are as good as beaten. The bible says that we should be calm and alert and watch at all times for what our enemy is up to. If you want to stop yourself from getting sucked into the devils trap one of the first things that you need to do is realize that it is a trap. The second thing is to realize that at the end of the day God is in control and the devil can't do anything without God's permission and your cooperation. No matter what happens when the story ends, we win. You must keep this at the forefront of your mind at all times!
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