“… by His death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil— Heb 2:14

These are the days when we must resist the devil for he and his angels are very active. I believe that we need to put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Eph 6:11-12 How does the devil work?

The Devil Hinders the Gospel

According to 2 Cor 4:4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…” Satan stopped Paul in his missionary journey. (I Thess 2:18) Many times the devil comes and takes away the Word from our hearts (Luke 8:12) He also snatches away what was sown in our hearts. (Matt 13 :19) We have to be extremely careful not to give the devil a chance.

The Devil Hinders Holy Living

It was the devil who had sown the seed of doubt in the mind of eve in the garden of Eden. The devil asked a cunning question to Eve saying, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Gen 3:1-2)  It was the devil who entered into the heart of Judas and tempted him to become greedy for money and thus Judas gave himself even to betray his Master. (Luk 8:12)  The devil is capable of putting a lying spirit in the mouths of His prophets. ( I Kings 22:21,22)  Satan filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Spirit ( Acts 5:3)  We have to be extremely careful not to give the devil a chance.

The Devil Hinders Faith

We read in Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.” Satan wants to destroy our faith in Christ Jesus. He causes wavering in our faith. Job was tempted by the devil by numerous ways. He gave him terrible loss of servants and property. He had taken away his ten children by something like a tornado. He had afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He brought a permanent separation from his wife. With all these mental, physical, spiritual troubles Job said in 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” We got to be extremely careful not to give the devil a chance.

Therefore let us resist the devil (I Pet 5:9) and put on the whole armor of God. (Eph 6:14-18) Let us stand firm in truth, righteousness, readiness for peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God and prayer.

Prayer

Lord, help me to be victorious over the schemes of the devil. Amen

Praises and Prayer Needs

• God blessed the retreat we had for our pastors and evangelists in Chennai. 170 people were blessed.
• Please pray for the spiritual upliftment meeting for the Bible college students on 22nd and pastors conference on 23rd and 24th.
• Lift up the 14 persons who will be graduated with B. Th. Degree on the 25th morning at Mount Zion.
• Pray for the ministry of Cecil, Julie and Dale in our midst.
• We look forward to the great event of VBS in the first week of May when we expect 3500 children from 100 villages to be blessed. We need lots of resources and kindly pray that God will honor our faith.