Spiritual Warfare 3

satan’s conquering strategy # 3
he instigates to sin
John 13:2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.

We may never betray Jesus with the Judas kiss of death, but we’ll distrust Him and become prayer-less. We’ll substitute lust for love, greed for gratitude, control for dependence. We’ll worry instead of trust, be bitter instead of forgiving, gossip instead of encouraging. We’ll seek our glory instead of God’s, be prideful instead of humble.

As mentioned previously, satan instigates the sins of cynicism and discouragement. Then come the sins of unbelief and resistance to intimacy with God.
How frequently the counselor hears, “it started out so innocently. We were two couples enjoying fellowship together, in church, with recreation and with our children. I directed the choir. Jack’s wife accompanied on the piano. Our music planning sessions took on an added dimension. Before long it became romantic. It’s now an affair. Neither of us wanted this to occur. How did it happen?”

satan takes a healthy Christian love relationship, instigates to sin and godly love becomes lustful passion.
satan afflicts, deceives, instigates to sin and contends with saints.

satan’s strategy # 4.
he contends with saints
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

It was a beautiful Saturday night at our ranch in Birmingham, Alabama. My wife, Ann, and I were praying and praising God. I was preparing for teaching Sunday school in the morning. The topic was the Ephesians six battle with satan. All of a sudden my wife began to bleed profusely from her nose. We took the typical steps in stopping a nosebleed. Nothing worked.

I rushed her to the hospital’s emergency ward. There the doctor diagnosed a broken blood vessel that, “probably was precipitated by allergy.” (She had never had a nosebleed before.)
He cauterized the vessel. He told us there would be no more problem. The bleeding stopped.

We drove the thirty minutes back to our ranch and no sooner had we gotten home (about midnight) that her nose started to bleed again. This time we suspected the evil one’s contention. We prayed that God would bind the evil one’s touch on Ann’s life and protect her from his harassment. The bleeding stopped and until her death many years later, she never experienced another bloody nose.

satan strategy to "steal, kill and destroy" includes affliction, deception, instigation to sin and contention with the saints - you and me!!!!

Our next post will be the end of next week.