Don't Fall For It

On last evening, I had a serious craving for my favorite dish...spaghetti!!  Well, my husband claims he hates spaghetti. So, I usually only cook it when he's working out of town.  Not this time!  I wanted spaghetti and spaghetti I was determined to have.  So, I devised a little plan.  I'd use all of my same ingredients, except I'd use penne pasta instead of spaghetti noodles.  I cooked my ground chuck and mixed in my garlic, diced tomatoes, oregano and basil.  Once that was all done I stirred in my sauce and mixed it all together.  To make it look not like spaghetti, I put the penne pasta at the bottom of my baking dish, poured my meat sauce on top and covered it with mozarella cheese.  I popped it in the oven for a good 20 minutes and tada, there it was...Keisha's Spaghetti-less Spaghetti! 

I fixed my husband a nice helping and took it to him with a big smile on my face.  "This looks good...what is it?" he says.  I responded, "Oh, it's a Keisha's original."  In a matter of minutes, his plate was completely empty and he was asking for seconds.  He had no idea that he'd just demolished and enjoyed the very dish he hates.  Had he paid any attention to what was in front of him, he woud have realized it was just spaghetti presented a little differently. Instead, he saw how good it looked, dug in and went back for more.

You're probably thinking, how deceitful of you to trick your husband like that. It was all innocently harmless and there's a lesson behind it.

The enemy works the same way in our lives.  He tricks us into falling for things we don't necessarily like.  He presents traps to us, but because we are so enthused by what it looks like, how it feels or how much we want it, we dig right into it and keep going back for more and more.  Before we know it, we find ourselves enjoying the very thing God hates...sin.

The devil is a professional trickster...he is good at what he does and will stop at nothing to trip up God's children.  A scripture comes to mind - "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)  It is imperative that you keep your spiritual eyes open and alert at all times, because the devil is looking for the perfect opportunity to catch you slipping so that he can deceive you into believing something is good for you, when in actuality, it's a setup to get you caught up.  And when you become caught up, it pulls you away from the things of Christ and causes you to become disconnected from Him.  I know, because I've been there.

You see, the enemy presents things to us that are appealing to the three points of life - the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).  That is, what we see, what we feel and what we want.  This is why we must be diligent in our quest to stay close to Christ so that we may be able to decipher what comes from Satan and what comes from God.

Satan is on a rampage and he is determined to destroy the body of Christ.  People are falling prey to his tricks everyday.  Now, this isn't to say that any of us are sinless, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  But, when sin becomes enjoyable and there is no remorse or conviction within you, the enemy has deceived you into becoming caught up.  Hear this, we all struggle with something,  But hopefully, in the midst of your struggle, you are yet crying out to God and seeking Him for total deliverance, so that your life may be pleasing in His sight.

Stay in God's word, stay on your knees and keep your mind stayed on Him.  Ask God to sharpen your discernment so that you will be able to know and see the enemy at work in your life and not give in to his tricks.

Til we meet again...

Live more...worry less...laugh often!

Keisha