Imagine that you want to catch a bird because you love birds. Every day, you see the bird flying around your house, perching on trees, whistling and singing, jumping from one tree to the other or walking majestically on the grass, in the yard. The first thing you’re likely to do is map out a strategy or a number of strategies you will use in order to carry out the assignment.
Your first attempt may be to use food as a bait and if the bird is stupid enough to fly towards the food and try to eat it, it may get caught. If that does not work, because some birds may really be smart and not succumb to your bait, I guess you will want to use another strategy to try and get it. It may require you using three, four, five different strategies before you accomplish your goal, but if you’re patient enough to follow through, you may succeed in the end.
That exactly is the way the enemy of your souls is. He knows he and his cohorts have been condemned to hell and he is determined not to go there alone. He knows he cannot get you easily to turn from your narrow way to heaven, to his broad way to hell, so he sets traps and uses different strategies to get you to lose focus and shift direction. He knows his time is short and he is working day and night to ensure that he catches his prey before his time is up.
The bible says in Revelation 12:12 that: “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
He has used the strategy of strange women to capture so many giants in the faith in time past and he is still using that same bait today. The other baits and strategies he has used and he is still using are, love of money, lust, covetousness, and all the vices in Colossians 3:5-9, Galatians 5:19-21 and all others in the word of God, to capture careless Christians. Are you going to fall for his baits? I believe your answer would be NO.
May God help you to stand till the end in Jesus name…amen. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9 (ESV)