As believers, we must give due diligence to every step we take in this world. To do less is to guarantee that we will fall into the trap of the enemy. I would remind you that we have an enemy that is set on our destruction, 1 Pet. 5:8. He sets traps for us and lies in wait to attack us and to destroy our walk with the Lord. Ill. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed,” James 1:14. The phrase “drawn away,” means “to lure prey from it hiding place.” Like a hunter sets a trap to catch an animal, Satan does all he can to lure us away from the place of safety and closeness to the Lord. He seeks to lure us into sin. The word “enticed,” means, “to catch by bait.” If you are going to bait deer, you don’t use dead fish. You have to use corn or apples, or something else that is attractive to the animal. Satan knows makes us tick. He knows what is attractive to us. Like a hunter who studies his prey, Satan studies us to see what we like, and he baits his traps accordingly. Satan is a treacherous and very dangerous enemy. Yet, the only reason he has any power at all to deceive and destroy us is due to the sin that dwells within each of our hearts. As James says, we are “drawn away of” our “own lusts.” Satan is only able to tempt us to sin eternally, because the will and ability to sin already exist within our hearts. Every time we fall into sin, it is only because we take the bait and fall into the devil’s snare. Have you ever done something you know is wrong and immediately felt stupid because of it? We all have, and we should! The only reason we did it was because we fell for the deception. We got snookered. We didn’t watch our step and we fell into the trap. So, knowing the deceitfulness of the enemy, and the wickedness of our own hearts, Paul warns us to watch every step we take, because each step is filled with danger, especially in this world. We are counseled to “walk…not as fools, but as wise.” We are not to walk like the world around us. They stumble around in the darkness of their depraved condition, and they take no heed to where the next foot will fall. We are not so blind. We have been redeemed. We have been made alive. We have been given the Spirit of God. We have been given the light of the Word of God. We do not stumble about like a blind man, but we have been equipped to walk accurately, placing each step precisely where it pleases the Lord and leads us closer to Him. What a blessing it is to know that we do not have to fall for the deceptions of Satan. We do not have to be ensnared in his traps. Through the help of the Holy Spirit, every subtle maneuver of the enemy is painted with the light of Heaven. We do not have to yield to his devices. We do not have to walk his way. We do not have to find ourselves overcome by his schemes. Our Lord has made us wiser than that. He has given us all we need to be able to walk in His will for His glory. • “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth,” 1 John 2:20–21. • “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him,” 1 John 2:27.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 11:21:47 +0000
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