EXPOSING THE TRAPS OF THE ENEMY

EXPOSING THE TRAPS OF THE ENEMY

The enemy( Satan ) uses lies to create doubt, to lure us into his trap.

In the book of Genesis the Devil in the form of a serpent created doubt in Eve by saying, “Did God really say? (Genesis 3:1)

His opening move pull mankind into into sin and rebellion against God is to create doubt through lies and distortions of the truth that he is trying to get Eve to believe.

In Matthew chapter four Jesus is being tempted in the same way. “If you are the son of God?'

First the Devil raises doubt, then he sends the temptation to try to lead us astray, and his tactics have not changed.

The enemy tries to make us believe that being a follower of Jesus is to restrictive.

Who lavishly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.( 1 Timothy 6:17 NAS )

He seeks to get us to ignores the great blessing that comes from a relationship with God,
or the riches of Christian marriage and family, the security of a Christian home, the level of friendship that we can enjoy as Christians, and countless other things that God offers to those who know and love the Lord.

He seeks to entrap us into thinking and concentrating on a tiny unimaginable list of prohibitions of what Christians are not allowed to do.

There are very few things that God does not allow us to do, and there are very good reasons why He prohibits them.

In the case of Eve, the Devil said to her that God was keeping them from something that was very desirable. In this case it was being like God knowing good and evil. ( Genesis 3:5 )

Satan tries makes God out to be a spoiled sport and that he does not want what's best for our lives. He tries to make us think we are really missing out on life by obeying God.

The Devil tries to tell us there will not be a penalty for disobedience

He tries to entrap us is to get us to believe that there will not be a penalty for our disobedience.

Like Eve in Genesis 3:4 he says to us, “You will not surely die,”
He says in affect that it won't hurt you, or do you any harm if you disobey God, but the truth is disobedience causes us to miss out on so much that God intends for us.

The Devil's favorite entrapment

It was just brought to my attention that God gave Adam and Eve a chance to repent. God said to them in Genesis 3:11, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?"

Instead of repenting they blamed;

Did you eat fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?" The man answered, "That woman, the one you gave me, gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."Then the LORD God asked the woman, "What have you done?""The snake deceived me, and I ate," the woman answered. ( Genesis 3:11-13 )

We can't blame each other, or even the devil when we sin.

James 1:13-15
13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

In conclusion
The Devil uses lies to lead us to doubt, then he tells us we are missing out because Gods boundaries of conduct are to restrictive and that we are missing out. Then the Devil cons us into believing that there will be no consequences for our disobedience, then he tries to get us to blame others for our sin.

1John 1:9 says that if we just admit that we have sinned, then God will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God want us to know that even if we fall into one of the traps of the enemy that he will always be a very present help in our time of need. He also does not want us to be ignorant of the Devil's devices that he uses to seek to entrap us.

1John 4:4 says; “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

1John 2:1 says; “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;”


Prayer
Father God thank you for delivering us from the entrapments of the evil one. Father help us to deal with doubt first and foremost so that we do not spiral into temptation, and fall into sin. Father help us to take responsibility for our lives, by not blaming, but repenting when we fall. Father God help us to never believe the lie that you are not a good God, and that you only give us prohibitions because you to restrictive. Help us to always see that you care about our wellbeing. We also thank you for giving to us all we need to live victorious over the enemy, so we don't have to fall into one of his traps. In Jesus name , amen.