Those Pesky Flies!

I’m not sure how it happened but there were two critters flying around in my room. I hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet and I could tell that they were starting to annoy me! I wanted to wake up refreshed and excited about a new day that the Lord had made, but those flies put a severe damper on my serene, and PeaceFUL MORNING! I was amazed at their sheer stupidity!! I mean they kept flying around my face, circling like Apache fighter helos. They’d come and go, and come and go again! Around and ar…you get the picture. I was swatting at them as if it was really going to make a difference. But all it did was get under my skin even more. Eventually, I smacked ‘em with the Word. I really did. It took a few tries, but it worked! Unfortunately my grip on my Bible wasn’t so great and it slipped out of my hand and beat my bedroom wall into submission like an old school pastor would beat the Word on the pulpit! Have you noticed that when things seem peaceful the enemy comes around and starts buzzing his annoying way into your life? Satan would love to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you. However, even if he can get just barely under the surface of your skin, he’ll consider that as a victory too! Jesus could really relate to this frustration that you and I struggle with on occasion, but the great news is that He has always had, and will always have the victory and so can we!! Let’s take a peek at Luke 4:1-13. This is an awesome testimony of Jesus’ knowledge and skill with the Word. “Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.” The enemy then, just like today will come around and try to cause havoc and when he realizes that his efforts are failing, he’ll leave for a bit and then return with another approach just like those pesky flies! Here is the great news! A fly swatter is to a fly, as the truth of the Word is to Satan. See Satan can’t argue with the truth of the Word. He can try to manipulate it, but he is required to submit to the authority that comes from Word of God because it comes directly from God. He can’t change the integrity of the Word. He can’t change the outcome of what the Bible says. Nor can he change the fact that God’s Word is alive! Now if you read on for yourselves, you’ll see that Jesus was tempted by Satan 3 times in the areas of food, the obsession of power and worship, and protection. But with each challenge, Jesus used the Word as his defense! When I was reading Luke chapter 4, I NEVER read a reply from Jesus like this, “You know Satan, I heard what you said. Just give me a minute while I unravel the scroll to find my rebuttal.” Certainly Not! He already knew the Word so his answer was swift and sure! We all know that it doesn’t take a bazooka to kill a misquito, just like we should all know that it takes knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of the Bible to make Satan buzz off. The Bible says in Luke 4:13 “When the Devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came”. Satan won’t just give us a hard time once a year. He will be repetitive in his attacks and that’s why it is imperative to memorize scripture. Why is it that we pour scripture into our little ones but as we get older, we tend to rely on what we memorized when we were 10? That standard has come and gone and we need to be equipped to use the Sword of the Spirit. We need to learn it as well as Jesus knew it and meditate on what it says day and night! That is how we will be successful against the enemy’s campaign! So let’s pick up our Sword and start slaying that pesky fly! P.s. This week I will be memorizing Proverbs 16:1-3 “ We can gather our thoughts, but the Lord gives the right answer. People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. Commit your work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed”. Love you all, Dede