When You Slip and Fall

 October 14, 2024

Monday

Satan's not going to steal my joy! He's not going to get to me!

Maybe you have said that too. Then, something happens and it brings anxiety or fear. Then, your hope is challenged by circumstances. Then, you see your joy and peace slipping away. Then, you realize that Satan was just waiting for you to put your guard down. He is rushing in to devour you.

He can't take your salvation but he can take your joy and peace when he tempts you. He has gotten permission to "sift you like wheat" and he is using every moment to ruin your testimony.

Truthfully, he wouldn't have had an opening if you had kept that close, intimate relationship with the Lord. After all, that was just last week; wasn't it? It doesn't take long to get from filled with the Holy Spirit to almost empty. It doesn't take long for the flesh to start demanding attention.

So, do you just grin and bear it? Absolutely not! You go to the Lord in prayer. You admit that you slipped. You cry out for a moment to come home again. Funny thing, you didn't know you had left until the anxiety came on you.

Thankfully, God is the father of all prodigals. Some go far away. Some not so far. Or rather just far away for Satan to get ahold of them.

Satan is after you. He is just looking for the right opportunity.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (ESV) ⁸  Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.