"Game On!"

"And hide not Thy face from Thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily." (Psalms 69:17) Of course it's not a game, to God, nor should it be to anyone who knows where they have been placed by God; but it is seemingly a game to the devil. The devil loves to manipulate us in our weakness, taunt us by our weakness, and turn that weakness against us and God's plan for our lives. Notice how the devil tempted Eve and not Adam. Genesis 3:1 describes the "serpent" that tempted Eve as "more subtle than any beast of the field that God had made." The word "subtle" is a word that means that he was crafty or shrewd, and the word "most", simply means that he was better than any other beast of the field; which just means that he was good at getting done what he wanted to do. He could have just tried to go after Adam, but why mess up a good strategy; Adam would have most likely warned his wife to stay away from him, and made his game more difficult. No, he needed to go after the weakest link to break the chain. It is really just that simple. Although he might have broken through to Adam, there was a pretty good chance that Adam would have spoken to God first, before accepting something contrary to what God had said. I heard something interesting from Pastor Jon the other day, because it made me think of the way I felt when I was witnessing to people about Jesus; he said something like this: "God gives us more of His Spirit when we use the Spirit." In other words, if you want more of the Holy Spirit to empower your life, then you need to actually use the "Fruits of the Spirit", especially when it comes to witnessing to other people. That is really what it's all about! If we are not witnessing to others, then what are we good for? Witnessing for the Lord does not mean that you need to go from house to house spreading the Gospel; but it does mean that your life needs to show the compassion and love God wants us to show to others. But, like Pastor Jon was saying, the devil loves to make us doubt our ability to make a difference; which is really easy for him to do, that is, if we are looking towards our ability to do anything. We cannot do this on our own, we need the power of God in our lives to be strong. If we try to find any strength within ourselves, we are going to suffer some really harsh battles. There is just no other way to say this, but we need to stand upon the Word of God; making no allowance for anything to be added or taken away from what God has said; and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If we are securely fastened to the Truth, and if we are filled with the Spirit, then guess what we are considered to be by the devil: we are a force to be reckoned with... "If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don't cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness." (James 3:13-18) NLT