“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9.

Having seen that all are susceptible through the three doorways of temptation in Satan’s Devices, Part 1 posted on 10-8-24, let us understand temptation.

First, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, the Scripture has this to say.

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:14-15.

The reason Jesus is described here as having been tempted, yet without sin, is that temptation is not sin.

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:14-15.

We see or conceive of something, we dwell on it, we then do it. Money, drugs, alcohol, short skirts or hunky men, are continually before us as temptation, but we do not have to dwell on them.

Notice that in the temptation of Christ in Satan’s Devices, Part 1 His answer was immediate, not, “Let Me think about that”, see Mathew 4:1-11.

Some commentators rightly state that, Jesus was so holy and sinless that He was grieved by these temptations; whereas we enjoy them.

Finally, a good rule is this, “You can’t stop a bird from landing in your hair; but you can stop him from making a nest.”

Have you ever heard a boxing trainer saying to his boxer, “Okay, your opponent has a glass jaw and a cast iron stomach. I want you to pound on that stomach until he falls down.”

Probably not! Good sense tells us to know and to work on our opponent’s weaknesses, not his strengths and our ultimate opponent, Satan, knows this.

I like what Dirty Harry says in one of his movies, and you have to hear this through those gritted teeth, “A man’s gotta know his limitations.”

This is good advice, we need to know our limitations, that is to say, our weaknesses, both to work to correct them and to keep from falling into the devil’s trap.

Caution though, it is easy to get a little arrogant here, Scripture says this.

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12.

1 Corinthians 10:13 which follows this is the cure.

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13.

The ability to really stand; “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” as in 1 Corinthians 10:12 comes through a constant walk in the light that Jesus provides us.

“…I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12.

This walk in the light comes from abiding in Christ.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.

The “He who abides in Me, and I in him” phrase above means that Jesus is talking to those who have received Him as their Savior and thus have His Spirit within them.

This salvation is open to all, and I mean to all who will have it. If you think that you are too awful a sinner to be saved from hell, you have underestimated the power of the shed blood of Christ; another of the devil’s lies.

Returning to walking in the light, try this, wherever you are, whatever you do today, ask the Lord to help you to be kind, loving and wise.

Wise because I still want you to be careful who you let into your car or into your home; especially you ladies. Jesus tells us:

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16.

Today of course, we would say, “wise as an owl and harmless as a dove”.

Take this further, “Lord help me drive through traffic safely”, or “Help me pick out the best grapes at the store, or get the best buys”, “help me deal with this difficult customer”, even “Dear God, help me make it through the minefield of life!”

God loves you and listens to you whether you are frustrated or want help in the most trivial things; do not allow yourselves to be cut off from this wonderful person.

Even Job in all his pain, after telling of God’s majesty, concluded with this.

“Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” Job 26:14.

God wants us to always abide under His wing, not just to show His love for us, but also because the warfare with the devil is continual and unrelenting and when we get separated from our Father we become vulnerable to attack.

If we neglect to study the Bible the devil can begin to confuse us with a constant barrage of disinformation from the media, or various philosophies or religions.

Soon moral lines become blurred and we become lax in both our actions and beliefs, spiraling ever downward into the muck of despair.

This is the error of modern Christianity; we have gone from listening to God and sought out the opinions of godless men who pervert the word of truth.

Dividing Christians is another of Satan’s methods, he constantly divides us one from another; he does this because it works.

He divided man from God, man from woman, man from nature, and man from eternal life, see Genesis Chapter three.

And with the killing of Abel, man became separated from man, Genesis chapter 4.

Men were separated from animals in Genesis 9:2.

And with the tower of Babel in Genesis Chapter 11, language is separated from language and nation from nation.

God pronounced some of these divisions but it would not have happened at all if it were not for the direct meddling of Satan in man’s affairs.

And the litany goes on, the church is divided, marriage is in a shambles, children are estranged from families.

There have been more wars in the 20th and 21st centuries than in all the centuries before them.

Satan controls the hate, bigotry, murders, rapes, thefts, ungodly, atheistic, communistic, Islamic rivers of the blood of innocent women children and peaceful men.

There are warehouses full of food in the midst of starving people, this horrific hell on earth is caused by men but they are led and divided by Satan.

Finally, if you decide to live a life for the Lord you are going to find something out.

There are times when you are going to fall flat on your face.

When you fail the Lord the correct thing to do is confess your sin and get up and move forward in Christ.

You may fail again, what to do? Well, you confess your sin get up and move forward in Christ. Yet, again and again you fail; the strong Christian may fail many times, what to do? Well, you confess your sin get up and move forward in Christ.

Eventually something will happen, Satan will come over, kick you in the side, and say, “That is it, you have bagged your limit, God is tired of your failure, just stay down.”

Exhausted and beaten the Christian gives up and just lies where he has fallen. Always remember this; the humble and contrite heart cannot exhaust the grace of God.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

Satan’s Devices, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com, posted on 8-3-15, updated on 10-11-24 ck.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.