The WILES of the devil ( The DISCIPLINE of a DISCIPLE part-8)

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the WILES of the devil” (Eph 6:10-17)

What are those “wiles” of the devil? If you are born again, the attacks of the devil against you are probably going to come in one of 3 ways.

• He is going to try to make it impossible for you to be a militant
• Or else he is going to try to get you to come back to your old life.
• Or he is going to try to make you feel good and righteous about what you’re doing, to rob your dependence on the Lord.

Today, we’ll go over the first line of attacks.

His most frequent attack is through FEAR. It can be “fear of man” whereby we won’t speak up when we know something is wrong. Suppose you are at the checkout line, and someone tells you to make sure you “take your flu shot”. And if you don’t stand up and say “I don’t take flu shots because I don’t believe in getting sick”, then the devil has won, and he took note that your muscles are flabby, and that you most likely will not stand up next opportunity either.

Fear of failure is also a big one. The devil tells you “why even bother, it won’t work, the person won’t want it”, etc. Anything to get you to NOT DO God’s command.

He can also come through a physical attack first, such as a headache, which will cause you to lose focus, and then you fear going out or speaking up. So the devil has found your weak spot, and will keep giving you headaches so you don’t go out and lay hands on people.

One more distraction of the devil is being “entangled” in the affairs of this life.  Every time you could have an opportunity to shine, he reminds you of something “important” you’ve got to do. There can always be distractions, but obedience sets priorities.

One other trick of the devil is CONDEMNATION over the past. The Salvation Army used to have a practice of sending people that got saved and delivered, back into their old life, right where they came from, as a testimony to the people that they usually hung around with. So we should not be afraid nor condemned about our past. It’s past, and we don’t want to go back to it except to tell our former friends how to be Free too.

One of the greatest signs of our freedom is the fact that we hate the shackles of your previous life. Being saved has little to do with a little prayer. In fact, nowhere in the gospels does it talk about a prayer of Salvation, but it does talk about getting set free and total deliverance, to where people couldn’t recognize the formerly demon possessed person. That’s what the Water Baptism is supposed to represent. You go down as a sinner, and you rise as a born again, changed and delivered militant for Christ.

Jesus said you cannot be my disciple unless you hate your life (Jn 12:25). So if you don’t hate your previous life, you may need to revisit your salvation.

We can call ourselves anything we want, the devil doesn’t care. But it is when you’re changed that the devil fears, when you DO the Lord’s commandments. Jesus says “why do you call me Lord, Lord, and DO NOT DO the things that I ask”. Christianity is not just a name tag and a quick prayer. It’s total freedom from the shackles of the past and a militant decision to walk into your new life.