Satan 1 Peter 5:8,9 be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world.
Luke 4:13 “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an a more opportune time.”
We are to be watchful. It is a command. There are times in our lives, the natural rhythms of life that make us safer at times than at other times. When we deployed, there is a certain sense of keeping your guard up. Just floating on the water is dangerous. If someone inadvertently left a valve or hatch opened where seawater could flood in, the ship could be in danger. When we were steaming near our own coast, the threat of an enemy is not as great as if steaming off the coast of N. Korea. When our ship passed near that coast, we were on heightened alert. When you were ‘on watch’ there was a sense of seriousness, or inner tension, knowing that you were near a country that could attack without warning.
These two verses give us clues when to have a heightened sense of alertness or watchfulness. Satan was waiting for a more opportune time to again tempt Jesus. It would be a reoccurring theme Jesus’ whole life. He was constantly on guard. When Peter told him to not go to the cross, Jesus saw Satan clearly at work. Jesus rebuked Satan, using Peter as a mouth peace. Peter was clueless to the demonic at work in his life. At the last supper, Satan was a work, entering into Judas before the great betrayal.
When I have failed and succumbed to temptation, in my ‘post sin’ analysis and mourning, there are distinct patterns that I have become aware of. When I am under STRESS, I am vulnerable to temptation. Stress can come from lots of angles. If I am fighting or disagreeing with my wife, there is stress. If my children are doing stupid things or making unwise life choices, I feel stress. If my bosses come to town, or if I go to a meeting where my supervisors are present, there is stress. When there were tests and inspections, there was the stress to look good and to pass the inspection. When one of my men screwed up and got in trouble, as a leader, I felt stress. When finances were low, stress was present. When things are out of control, I feel stress. When final exams and projects are due, there is stress. If you are in a group project there is stress: will everyone pull his or her weight? Every person has stressors in their life. Each person reacts differently to stress. For many, they turn to booze. “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere…” rings true for many as they find stress relief in bars.
For me, early on in life, my father abandoned our family in pursuit of a younger woman. Even as a 10-year-old boy, I felt stress. There were financial stresses on my mom. There were emotional stresses on her and the whole family. She spent days crying and in depression. There were relational stresses as the foundation of our family was destroyed. At this opportune time, Satan offered pornography to me as a stress relief. I learned how to lust and masturbate as a means of self-medicating stress relief. I could not have described it that way at the time, but looking back on my life, that was exactly what I was doing.
If you struggle with persistent, besetting sins of lust, porn, masturbation and fornication, is there an underlying stress that you are trying to get relief from? Recognition of this truth has gone a long way for me in confronting sexual sin.
I pray that if stress is a trigger point for you, opening the door for Satan’s opportunistic attacks that you would learn to give your stress to Jesus. He is our refuge and strength. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe. The Lord is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
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Another great Devo, Bob. Question though: how can we (unlike Peter) be on the look out for giving demonic advice to those we love? Frequently, if someone is undergoing a trial, our tendency is to also give advice. How can we make sure that the advice we give is wholesome and actually helpful, instead of causing a brother to stumble even more?
Great question RJ. Scriptures command us to “exhort one another every day as long as it is called today lest none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” This verse is balanced by the story of Job’s three friends whom most of us would now call ‘unfriends’, not really helpful at all. It’s always tricking saying or accusing that demons are at work in someone’s life. It would take discretion and sensitivity. It would also require a depth of relationship with a person that would sustain the weight of truth. If you clearly see or think that a demonic force or lie is at work in a brothers’ or sisters’ life, I would phrase it in the terms of a suggestion or question. Prayerfully make the observation or impression that you see, then ask, ‘could this be Satan at work in you?’ or ‘could you be believing a lie’. I would have your ‘ducks in a row’ and know or have the Scriptures lined up so that if challenged, you can explain your position.