Don’t Let Your Foe Set the Trap and Spring it Too!

The other day I asked one of my girlfriends how she was doing. This friend knew I was asking about her desire to walk with God. Her response broke my heart.

“Not good,” she said. “I mean, I want to pray and I’ll try to pray… but then I’ll go days without praying or reading my Bible and…”

When her voice trailed off, I pressed gently, “And?”

A torrent of words rushed out honestly and painfully. “And then something happens and I really need to pray but I don’t feel like I have the right to ask God for anything because I haven’t been praying!”

I wanted to holler like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulled his football away, “AAAUUUGH!” You remember that, right? Lucy was always telling Charlie Brown that she would hold his football while he kicked it. The girl would promise that she wouldn’t pull it away again, at the last second, just as he wound up for a big monster kick. No, she wouldn’t do it this time, only she did. These scenes always ended the same sad way, with Charlie defeated and flat on his back moaning. Time after time he allowed Lucy to set the trap and spring it, too. Why, Charlie, why?

My friend’s admission led to a hearty discussion about the devil’s tactics. We talked about how he does everything he can to steal our time so we can’t enjoy God’s company, only to shame us for our absence when we’re weak and missing God! Satan never stops slithering around trying to keep us away from our Father but he can’t block the door to heaven that is Christ Jesus our Access unless we allow it. Romans 5:5, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Don’t let the enemy trick you into making a bad situation worse. Go home.

Hugs,
Shellie