1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober [well balanced and
self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the
devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to
devour.” (AMP)
I
by no means have a green thumb, I never have and never will; but I love plants
and I have my own plant room where I love to go and read and meditate on God’s
Word. I’ve managed to keep most of the plants alive…briefly…however, I do have
a friend name Michelle who was born with two green thumbs. She has one of the
most beautiful fruit and vegetable gardens I think I've ever seen in my life.
And more than once I've literally asked her to take me on a tour of her garden.
And I must say this little city girl always learns a lot in that garden. One of
the last times, I think, we toured her gardens she showed me a garden spider at
work. Actually, it wasn't at work, it was really at dinner! It was just
finishing “filet of grasshopper”; which just so happened to be the
latest insect to be caught in his web.
Now,
while I was watching, another grasshopper flew into the bottom of
that web a few inches below the spider. And since the web is sticky, he stayed
there. Well, Mr. Spider left his dinner, slid down this silk thread like a
fireman would slide down his fire pole, and in a maneuver that you would have
missed if you looked away for even a second, this spider spewed out a
bombardment of silken thread that totally encased and imprisoned that
grasshopper - kind of mummified him. It was over in seconds. From
that time that he touched the web that grasshopper never stood a chance! Guess
he didn’t read Isaiah 52:11, “Depart, depart, go out from there (the lands of
exile), Touch no unclean thing; Go out of the midst of her (Babylon), purify
yourselves, You who carry the articles of the Lord [on your journey from
there].” (AMP). Amazing how much trouble just one touch can cause!
Now
it's not a spider you and I need to be concerned about. Well, maybe you are,
but he won't hurt you much. You're a lot bigger than he is. But what we need to
be concerned about is a lion with a deadly approach, not unlike that of the
spider. Thus God's sober warning in 1 Peter 5:8-9, "Be
self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him!..."
Now,
there is this very day a powerful, shrewd, spiritual destroyer who's looking
for a way to entrap you, to invade your soul, to take you where you never
thought you'd go; to devour you. And in a very real sense, the Devil's trying
to get you just to touch his sticky web. Like that grasshopper, you don't
intend to stay. You don't intend to become a prisoner. You certainly don't
intend to lose everything. In fact, Satan never tells you he's going to do all
that. He just says, "Just touch this beautiful web." And when you
touch the Devil's web, you're his. And what does he have planned for you? Let’s
look at 1 Peter 5:8 in a translation shall we? “…looking for some
victim to tear apart.” (TLB);
That’s
exactly what the spider, lion and Devil all do alike! They quickly look for a
victim who has made a mistake or shown a sign of weakness and then they swiftly
take full advantage of it and devour or eat them greedily, consume them
destructively and swallow them whole! And you my friend are the next target in
the enemies radar! So what’s one of the first things you need to do? 1
Peter 5:8, “Keep awake! Watch at all times. The devil is working against you.
He is walking around like a hungry lion with his mouth open. He is looking for
someone to eat.” (NLV). The key is “…WATCH AT ALL TIMES…” Because
truth is, it’s always when we let our guard down that our enemy gains entry and
victory! Which is why we need to follow the admonishment of Ephesians
4:27, “And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin…”
(AMP). And the devil is always looking to gain an opportunity, which
is why we have to be watchful AT ALL TIMES!
Amazing
how much trouble one little conversation with the devil can get you into! They
went from everything to nothing, by messing with the serpent! And it didn't
just impact their lives alone, but the lives of every succeeding generation! Don’t
let the same thing happen to you!
Don't
fall for those lies. They've destroyed so many people already!
Remember,
once you touch the web, he can do what he wants with you. That’s the danger of
allowing the wrong people access into your life! Remember Ephesians,
“…don’t even give the devil the opportunity…” which means in our simple
day-to-day vocabulary: Don’t wait until the second phone call; the third text;
the fourth picture; the fifth wink; the sixth let’s just grab some coffee; the
seventh Facebook inbox; the eighth Instagram like under your 45 week old
picture; the ninth I was just checking on you; or the tenth that color looks
good on you! NO! At the FIRST sign nip it in the bud and shut it down, before
it bites you in the behind and shuts you down permanently!
What
people fail to realize is that you don’t always recover from a mistake or a
willful decision to sin! Some lose their marriages, children, jobs, friends,
careers, and ministries and never get them back! Forgiven does not mean you get
to press restart with absolutely no consequences. Which is why you should
always pay attention to what you’ll lose forever by what you gained for a
moment.
Interesting
enough, while I was in that garden I actually saw another spider and a
grasshopper that landed just below his web. The spider didn't even move. He
couldn't touch that grasshopper if the grasshopper didn't touch the web. You
render Satan powerless against you in the same way. That's why God said, "Be
self-controlled." "Be alert." "Resist him."
Or in the words of James 4:7, “So submit to [the authority
of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.”
(AMP). In a nutshell, Submit to God and Resist the Devil! That word “resist”
is defined as “to withstand the action or effect of; to refrain from.”
Its Latin Origin “resistere”, from “sistere” literally means “to
stop.” Which means no blame game, no excuses, no reasoning’s, no
justification. Simply, when the devil presents you an opportunity, stop him
dead in his tracks through submission to God and resistance to him! Remember: “Don’t
let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.”
God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. THE TEMPTATION TO
GIVE IN TO EVIL COMES FROM US AND ONLY US. WE HAVE NO ONE TO BLAME BUT THE
LEERING, SEDUCING FLARE-UP OF OUR OWN LUST. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby:
sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.” (James 1:13-15
MSG). Which is why we ought to also remember: “Don’t become partners with those
who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s
not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go
strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of
setting up pagan idols in God’s holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are,
each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: “I’ll live
in them, move into them; I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people. So
leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God. “Don’t link
up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself. I’ll be a Father
to you; you’ll be sons and daughters to me.” The Word of the Master,
God.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 MSG).
If you don't play around the sticky threads of sin
and temptation, the one who wants to devour you cannot even touch you. You have
done what the Bible says. You have resisted the one who would devour you.
God and the Kingdom have need of you…Alive! You have gifts, ministry,
calling and anointing to fulfill. You Can’t Hang Out With The Destroyer And
Meet Divine Destiny At The Same Time. So today is your day to choose Whom you
will serve? Tomorrow is not promised, and someone who thought they had another
day realized that last night was their LAST night.
Don’t
straddle the fence any longer. No more compromise, only conviction to stay on
the right side of God’s Law. Spiders will continue to make webs, but
grasshoppers don’t have to keep entering them. Likewise, the devil will always
make you demonic offers that look like angelic opportunities. However, you don’t
have to be fooled, nor do you have to accept. Remember the Word of
God: “…we don’t want to unwittingly give Satan an opening for yet more
mischief – we’re not oblivious to his sly ways.” (2 Corinthians 2:11 MSG). Don’t
Let The Devils Sly Ways Trap You In His Sticky Web!
Many
Mice Have Died Because They Were So Focused On The Cheese That They Under-Estimated
The Trap! Don’t Let It Happen To You!
Don't
Get Caught In The Web!
Blessings
J.P. Olson
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