Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.” Genesis 3:1-4
Insight: I was thinking today of how much the enemy of our souls uses doubt and deception to hinder our faith walk. He is “more crafty” and he is also ruthless, and his sole aim is to destroy us and our testimony and he will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. He often uses deception and trickery to get us to fall through doubting God’s word and His goodness, the same way he convinced Eve above in Genesis 3 to disobey God’s commands and eat the forbidden fruit. He treats people like we are fish, and He will often show us the worm, but not the hook. He is relentless, and will circle back if we are not strong in the protection of the body armor of God as told to us in Ephesians 6:13-18. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” He is the Father of all lies as John 8:44 says..
We must understand the battle we are up against or we have no chance for victory. The enemy even tried to get Jesus to doubt who He was during the temptations he brought forth in the wilderness as recorded in Matthew 4:1-10 . But notice in those verses how Jesus refuted the devil with the truth of scripture. That is the key for claiming victory over the enemy; to speak truth from God’s word back at him. He has no defense for that! This is truly one of the most remarkable exchanges ever recorded in the Bible and it shows the intensity of the battle we are in. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’
Jesus quoted Old Testament scripture from the Book of Deuteronomy to refute the devil’s plans. Astonishingly, we can do the same thing! God gives us His Word to stand strong when we are tempted and feel weak. I don’t know about you, but this happens a lot to me in my life. There are temptations all around us from the minute we wake up, until we lay our head on the pillow at night. Luckily, God is always there for us and 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises us a safe harbor “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Praise be to God! We have no chance against the crafty serpent except to rely on the power of God and His Word!
Prayer: Father God, we admit we are too weak to stand up against the devil’s plans and we need your protection and wisdom in order to have a chance to gain victory over the enemy’s cunning deceptions. Please protect us with the full body armor of God every day. Amen!
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