The sly serpent

  That ole serpent is a crafty one indeed. The Bible speaks of him as being a lion, seeking whom he may devour. He has millions of tricks for tripping people up. And he has no compassion for anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

  He is our adversary. His schemes often go unnoticed by us until it is too late. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

  Why does he take such an interest in us? What value does he achieve by making us fail? Are we able to defeat him or at least thwart his plans? Can we just "bind him up"?

  I don't subscribe to the "bind him up" kind of prayers. I see nobody in the entire cannon of scripture once bind up Satan and his plans. God certainly does, we however don't have that ability. (The section that talks about things being bound on earth by us should closely be studied, its not talking about Satan)

  And why would we think we did have the power to "bind him up"? Satan has been given power and authority, but only as much as God will allow. So then our battle is not with Satan. He may buffet us, throw flaming arrows at us, tempt us, but God always provides a way out.

  The battle is: Will we choose to give in to our desires or will we choose the escape God has provided?

  That is tougher to answer than it might seem. Some avenues that are provided for escape are no fun at all. They often seem more difficult than staying. If we are given over to failures in the past, escape may seem impossible.

  Insert a bible story here....

  Let's consider Joe. Joe was a good man, honorable in all his ways. The bosses wife "liked" Joe. One day she grabs him and starts pulling him towards the bed. What's a man to do?  What would you do? An opportunity to have casual sex, with no commitment, doesn't come along every day! Did Joe ever think about this before?

  Joe remains true to God. He runs for the door. she is insulted. He gets thrown in prison on false rape charges, but he is still honorable.   

  You likely are familiar with the story. Joe ends up being rescued from prison, by God, and ends up saving his entire family.

  What if you didn't know the end of the story? What if all you knew was he ran, then went to prison? Would you think him smart to choose prison over sex? He didn't know prison was going to happen, he just saw the door and ran, leaving the Devil eating dust.

  God's way out sent Joe to prison.

  Compare our own lives to that! We worry more about what people will think than what God will think! We often worry about our appearance more than offending God! Oh my! Forget prison, what about my pride?!!

  "What if I offend this woman by not 'being nice and polite' back?"

  Forget that! She is NEVER worth it. Nothing about her is! No matter how sweet and innocent she may be, if you get "that feeling" about her, run dear friend! Don't look back. Her ways go down into the pit. Destruction is her end. Nothing good will ever come by staying.

  She is being used by Satan to overthrow God's purpose in your life.

  Is she satanic? Most likely, no! She may be the most sweet, church going, God fearing, woman around. Let her get in your head, POW!, a satan sucker punch.

  What do you do when you see her? Freak out and run away? Nope. Let's be real here. We have to function in a real society.
 
  So, just be distant. No engaging conversations. No lingering looks. No compliments on her attire. Act like a dweeb. Make her want to walk away, not because you were rude, but because you are a dull dweeb. If she likes dull dweebs, run man run! 

  "But Joshua, we are only friends, nothing more. I think it's ok if we ___________. " Fill in the blank. Has she caught your "attention"? If yes, nothing you put in the blank is safe. Deal with it dude. 

  Let's stop pretending we are playing a game with the Devil. He only wants us destroyed. He only stops if God makes him. God has given us the strength to get thru any attack. Don't give an inch to the Devil. You are fighting for God's holy home. Defend it well.