Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
The power of learning is really what sets us off on this adventure called ‘life.’ Imagine if you went through your whole life without learning. We would all be extremely dangerous. It would be safer for society if we stayed at home in secure playpens.
Sometimes we live and experience the same situations over and over and never learn from them. This is not how God wants us to live. Living implies growing. As we move closer to Him and enter new spiritual levels, we are also expected to become better at recognizing and defeating the Enemy’s attacks.
For example, have you ever noticed that when the Enemy attacks, he often attacks in combinations? “Combination” means like a boxer throwing a combination of punches that are more effective when done together. In the same way, he attacks us in combinations. First, he will often go after something in our hearts. Either a comment or thought that makes us feel proud, fearful, angry, greedy or condemned. Those are often the top five. Once this thought has been introduced into our hearts, he then tries to get us to make a decision based out of that wrong spirit in our hearts.
This, thankfully, can become easier to recognize. All it requires is that we learn to self-monitor our hearts. If we feel any of these things, if there is something blocking our seeing God’s face smiling at us and our smiling back, then it might not be a good time to make an important decision. Most, if not all, decisions made out of pride, fear, anger, greed or condemnation, are mistakes. We can avoid mistakes when we start to recognize the Enemy's tactics.
*Dear God, please make us wise to not just the Enemy’s tricks. Make us wise to Your loving ways. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What we think is the Enemy attacking is not just that. It is really God doing something through the situation. Ultimately, that is what to look for.
