Satan’s primary attacks upon us are to speak out lies about us, about God, about God’s Word, and about God’s will. Once we start entertaining doubts about God, we become “sitting ducks” to Satan’s temptations. We see these three kinds of temptations in Genesis 3:6. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” The enemy’s temptations are powerful and specifically chosen for us based on what he knows our weaknesses are. It begins by him distorting God’s truth in our minds. It is critical that we take every thought captive and turn to God to seek His wisdom and discernment.
When you are not sure what to do, when a troubling thought or emotion comes upon you, when you are tempted to think or do something that is not Christ-like, immediately lift it up to God in prayer. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Sometimes we can’t step away to have a long prayer time, but we can ALWAYS call out to God (even in the presence of our offender) and ask for His help and wisdom.
Oddly, we often want to believe the lies, thus we don’t turn away from them. We want to release our anger and punish and control the person afflicting us. We want to not forgive someone so that we can retaliate in some way. We want to dwell on an impure thought because it temporarily comforts, relieves stress, or gives us a sense of control or power. Eve wanted the pleasure of tasting the fruit and the power of gaining the wisdom of God, so she gave into the devil’s temptations. What she needed to do was to call out to the perfect Lover and Shepherd of her soul and ask Him what was the right thing to do. Had she taken a moment to do this, surely the outcome would have been different.
Is there something in your life right now that you need to seek God’s wisdom and perspective so you don’t fall into Satan’s trap?
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