I Peter 5:8
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour.
The devil never had an original thought in his head.
He is not creative.
He isn't a god among gods....
He is a wanna-be.
He wants to be like God.
He wants to usurp God's authority and place. The Devil just doesn't want to be near God....to have a throne next to the real deal God. No! He wants to take God's place. If God were 6 feet tall, then the Devil would have to be 6 feet 1 inch.
It is this feeling of incompleteness...of being kicked out of heaven because of his rebellion that fuels the devil in his drive to destroy creation.
Knowing that he has corrupted the human nature by enticing them to sin, the devil gains control by keeping that sin nature stirred up. The sin nature exists for one reason only.....to be satisfied. That is truly weird because if you really think about it.........the sin nature can never be satisfied. It will always demand more....
James 4:1-3 kind of gives us a detailed description of the war that rages in a heart not given to God.
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole motive is wrong. You want only what will give you pleasure.
James goes on to say: You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God. This is the great struggle of addiction. Our addiction puts us in the place of "friends of this world." We seek to find our fulfillment in the addiction. As terrible as it is........as much pain as it causes.......as much destruction that comes from it..............we love it. Deep inside we do have a love relationship with our addiction. It is this sick, kind of twisted and misplaced love that keeps us under the control of our enemy, the devil.
Our addiction creates a new way of thinking and viewing life around us. It causes us to focus on what others are and have. We are consumed with what others are thinking about us. We know that their thoughts are not good, and it is this mindset that drives us to use again and again. With each time we use, we give ourselves over to being controlled more and more by the devil. This is why the heart of recovery through our Higher Power, Jesus Christ, frees us from the destructive strongholds in our mind. Christ has the power to "transform" our minds through our being renewed by God's Holy Spirit.
If you read on through James 4, you'll come to the answer given by God for our lives.
So humble yourselves before God. (humble means to simply agree with God who God says you are. In your heart of hearts you know the answer to who you are......."I am a sinner and everything I've done, I have done against you, O God.")
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ( The biggest lie the devil gives us is that he is all powerful and we are the weakest of the weak. No way we can resist him. Truth is, when you begin to turn to God, he will aid you and give you power to resist. That is the Power we have been looking for. Power comes in the simplest of ways......sometimes God's greatest power that dwells within us, rises up and we say a very simple word......"NO!" No I'm not going to do that".)
Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Move your thoughts, your mind, your heart and your very being toward God. When we do this, God's moves to us, to cover us and protect us. He understands that this new move to do the right thing puts us in a vulnerable position. He will protect and defend us as the devil up the ante to destroy us. You go, God!!!"
Don't let the devil steal your joy this morning.
Keep your mind and focus upon Christ today.
Find a verse that you can memorize and let it dwell in your heart and mind today. Say it over and over...
You could use....Psalm 23:1----The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Every time the devil attacks your mind trying to draw you away from God....then say this verse...let the truth of it weave it's way through out your mind. Find joy in this verse that you are under the Shepherds care and in being such a place, you shall not want.
That's good stuff....
God on you....
mb
No comments:
Post a Comment