Our Enemy

"Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."  I Peter 5:8

My back yard joins my daughter Weety's back yard.  I have two dogs.  One of my dogs, a Pomeranian named Missy, is a very social animal.  When Weety and her husband Mike have company, Missy trots over to join the crowd.

Weety and Mike have two new puppies, and Missy wants to make friends with them and satisfy her curiosity about these newcomers on the hill.  The puppies stay in a fenced off portion of the yard that is accessible by a screened porch, so Missy goes onto the porch to visit the puppies.  But, there is a problem. The screen door on that side of the porch only opens one way--inward.  Once Missy is on the porch, she can't get out.  She is trapped.  Someone has to let her out.

The puppies are like bait to lure Missy to the porch where she becomes trapped.  We have an enemy who uses bait to trap us into disobeying our Heavenly Father.  Unfortunately, like Missy, we don't seem to understand, or maybe we don't care, what the results of our actions will be.  We join the crowd or try to satisfy our curiosity, and all of a sudden we have taken Satan's bait again.

To what kind of bait do you most readily respond?  Do you find that you fall for the same enticements time after time?  Do you often need someone to help you out of the enemy's trap?  Fortunately there is Someone who will come to our rescue.  1 John 1:9 tells us,  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Is there anything we can do to avoid taking the enemy's bait and falling into his traps?  Indeed, there is.  James 4:7 instructs us to "Submit yourselves, then to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  God is always stronger than the devil, and if we call God into our temptation situations, we will be victorious.

Thank you, Father, for making it possible for us to obey You in every situation.  You know that we don't always do that, but thank You for making a way to cleanse us and give us a new start whenever we ask.  Amen.