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The Devil’s Devices
Corinthians 2:11
Pastors are like firefighters...always putting out little blazes here and
there, sometimes big ones. And they are lit by the devil with his
'fiery darts.'
Satan is the great enemy of the Saint. In fact
"Satan" means "adversary". The
Bible refers to the devil by a number of names: "the anointed cherub" (Ezek.
28:14), "the ruler of demons" (Luke 11:15), "the ruler of this world" (John
16:11), "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4), and "the prince of the power
of the air" (Eph 2:2). He is identified as a great dragon, a roaring lion,
the vile one, the tempter, and the accuser. He is formidable, cunning, and
powerful.
Paul, writing to the Corinthian church,
realized that Satan was working overtime in the church and emphasized that
we are to be vigilant and alert to his subtlety.
Satan’s advantage is based upon one being
ignorant of his devices or his
methods.
What are some of
the devil’s devices: by which he seeks
to deceive God’s children, defeat God’s church, destroy God’s work, and
denigrate God’s Word?
…I’m glad you asked!
I. Distraction
A. 1 John 2:15-16 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
B. Satan seeks to distract us by getting us to focus our attention on the
material instead of the spiritual
C. 2 Tim. 2:4
No man that warreth entangleth himself
with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to
be a soldier.
D. If Satan
can he will try to get us to major
on the minors and to minimize the things that are major.
E. It was a 99-degree September day in San Antonio, when a woman
accidentally locked her 10 month-old baby niece inside a parked car.
Frantically the mother and aunt ran around the auto in near hysteria, while
a neighbor attempted to unlock the car with a clothes hanger. Soon the
infant was turning purple and had foam on her mouth. It had become a
life-or-death situation when Fred Arriola, a wrecker driver, arrived on the
scene. He grabbed a hammer and smashed the back window of the car to set her
free. Was he heralded a hero? He said, "The lady was mad at me because I
broke the window. I just thought, what’s more important--the baby or the
window?"
Sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s how silly
we look to God when we let such little things of this life take over our
thinking when the big picture for us is golden!
G. Colossians 3:2 "Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth."
Distraction…
II. Discouragement
A. One of Satan’s most potent weapons is trying to get you into a feeling of
discouragement, so maybe you’ll give up.
The Devil wants you to believe that things
are worse than what they are and that you are the only one who cares.
B. Sometimes it is
people that discourage us -
Deut. 1:28
Whither shall we go up? our brethren
have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than
we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen
the sons of the Anakims there.
C. A man who faces much criticism
often becomes good for nothing; the effect of criticism knocks all the
gumption and power out of him.
D. Sometimes it’s
circumstances that discourage us -
Numbers 21:4 "And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea,
to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged
because of the way."
F. Galatians 6:9
And let us not be weary in well doing:
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
G. If he can get your soul "under the
weather," he wins. It is not really what we go through that matters, it is
what we go under that breaks us. We can bear anything if only we are kept
inwardly victorious. ...
“If God can make His birds to whistle in
drenched and stormy darkness, if He can make His butterflies able to bear up
under rain, what can He not do for the heart that trusts Him?” - Amy
Carmichael in Learning of God.
Distraction, discouragement…
III. Disappointment
A. Disappointment is the state of being disenchanted or disillusioned by
unfulfilled expectations.
B. Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire
cometh, it is a tree of life."
C. Have some of your carefully created castles been washed away? Mine have.
Several times along my life’s journey I had nowhere to turn except into my
heavenly Father’s arms. There I remained quiet, soaking up his love for as
long as I needed. Then I saw his hand begin a new creation for my life, a
new direction, a new service for him and his kingdom. Waves need not always
destroy. We must allow our heavenly Father to use them to redirect our
lives.
D. If you expect perfection from people, your whole life is a series of
disappointments. But if you pitch your expectations low, you are frequently
surprised at what happens and disappointed in yourself!
F. There are
no disappointments if your will is buried in the will of God.
[surrender]
Distraction, discouragement, disappointment…
IV. Discontentment
A. Numbers 21:5-6 "And the people spoke against God, and against Moses,
Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For
there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes this
light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people; and much people of Israel died."
B. The children of Israel did not find in the manna all the sweetness and
strength they might have found in it; not because the manna did not sustain
them, but because they longed for other meat.
C. 1 Corinthians 10:10 "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured,
and were destroyed of the destroyer."
[Paul: in whatsoever state I am, to be
content…even IL!]
D. Half
the world is unhappy because it can’t have the things that are making
the other half unhappy. We spend money we don’t have to buy
things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like!
F. If Christians spent as much time praying as they do grumbling, they would
have nothing to grumble about.
G. Philippians 2:14 "Do all things without murmurings and disputings"
H. Christians are like cars--when they begin to knock, there is something
wrong inside.
I. James 5:8-9 "Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of
the Lord is drawing nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye
be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door."
Distraction, discouragement, disappointment, discontentment…
V. Discord
(division)
A. 1 Corinthians 1:10-11 "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no
divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same
mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my
brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are
contentions among you."
[How’s the state of your union?]
B. There are four ways the devil brings it:
[division] in the church. He uses
Selfishness, Favoritism,
Narrow-mindedness, and
Lack
of Fellowship
C. Selfishness says do it my way or no way. Favoritism says our way is
better than your way. Narrow-mindedness says we’ve never done it that way.
Lack of Fellowship says you go your way and I’ll go my way.
D. Romans 12:3-5 "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man
that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the
measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members
have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and
every one members one of another."
God’s servants are not to be competitors,
but co-workers. –
H. Philippians 1:27 "Only let your
conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and
see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast
in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;"
Distraction, discouragement, disappointment, discontentment, discord…
VI. Disassociation
A. Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye
see the day approaching."
B. The devil loves when believers do not fellowship: he loves it when we
distance ourselves from each other.
[Some have attitude of Hatfield’s /
McCoy’s…don’t think it won’t affect eternity!]
C. 1 Corinthians 12:18-21 "But now hath God set the members every one of
them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And
the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head
to the feet, I have no need of you."
1 Corinthians 12:25 "That there should be no
schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for
another."
There’s strength in numbers. Alone, the gazelle is an easy target for the
stalking lion.
The devil would like to isolate believers
just like predators separate their prey from the herd thereby weakening it
and easily killing and devouring it.
E. 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as
a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:"
Churchgoers are like coals in a fire. When they cling together, they keep
the flame aglow; when they separate, they die out. - Billy Graham
H. A German philosopher compared the human
race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s night. He
said, "The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth;
but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our
sharp quills. And in the lonely night of earth’s winter eventually we begin
to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our
loneliness."
Christ has given us an alternative: to
forbear / forgive each other for the pokes we receive. That allows us to
stay together and stay warm.
Has Satan been working overtime in your life? Has he been able to distract
you? Has he gotten you majoring on minors with priorities out of alignment
with God’s? Has he gotten you discouraged, feeling like you are in the
battle alone? Have you become disillusioned? Have others disappointed you?
Have your dreams and plans failed to come to fruition? Have you allowed a
spirit of discontentment to slip into your life? Do you find yourself
grumbling and complaining? Has Satan brought discord into your life? Is
Satan working on you to have you disassociate and isolate yourself? We’re
not ignorant of his devices…Ephesians 4:27 tells us, “Neither give place to
the devil."
Let God give you the victory over the devil’s devices!
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