Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:10-18
Isn’t it great when you draw those around you in like a magnet…when you’re searched out and clung to…when you’re found to be sooo attractive that you aren’t left alone? That’s me! That is my relationship with bugs. What can I say? They love me! I’m in the midst of a love/hate relationship with them at the moment. They love me, I hate them. My disgruntled state with the little creatures started when I was dealing with Lyme disease from a nasty, tiny tick. I didn’t realize how sick I really was until I began getting better. In the last few days I started to get my energy back and become my old, obnoxious self again. The hubby was excited and relieved I was feeling better, even though it brought with it my exasperating ways. I love teasing him and giving him a hard time! When I started to do that again, he let out a deep breath.
Just as I’m getting back on track, I get attacked again. We think it was ants this time. They were apparently annoyed with where I was stepping because my legs are covered with over twenty bites from my knees down. I was tired last night and thought I would get a good night sleep. Nope…I was dealing with those miserable little dots that were itching like mad. The peaceful slumber that was going so well was interrupted by some bug bites. Boy, do they know how to distract me from whatever I’m doing, including sleeping!
That got me thinking that the devil is just like those bugs. Irritating! When we are weak, he is definitely there. That’s the easy tactic and he doesn’t have to do much but cheer us on. It throws us for a loop the most when he slips in without us expecting him. Things will be going smoothly, we’ll be moving forward in God’s will, we’ll be following the path He has for us, and working hard in making relationships stronger when the devil will pull out the big guns. This is when he’ll do anything to get us to turn away from the right path. This isn’t when we should be asking, “Why do I bother to even try?” This is when we need to give the devil our best scowl and tell him to take a hike because we’ve been warned of his tactics. We need to make it clear that we aren’t going to let him determine our feelings! We won’t let him stop us! This is a war between good and evil, and we don’t want the darkness to win over the light. That is exactly what we do when we give up after facing his irritating ways. That is what he wants us to do.
We need to be aware of his nasty tricks and not get complacent. The tricks are like the bug bites I was dealing with. They work to interrupt the good that is going on in our lives. We need to remember to put bug spray on before we get bit (the armor of God) and know how to combat the irritation with antihistamine (God). This time, instead of getting frustrated, get excited that you are on the right path. If you were going the wrong way, there would be no need for the devil to get involved. He’d be sitting back clapping as he was watching the parade!
Today, when you feel the devil messing with you, tell him to take a hike! Let him get stung by God instead of you getting bit by him.
