A recent sneaky behavior from an acquaintance has left me on a rather sad note. It was a group gathering, and I had left my toddlers under someone’s watch while I turned my back to look for something.
When I returned, I noticed this person suddenly trying to hide their phone from me.
Since I was standing right besides, I noticed it was my children’s picture that was taken behind my back. Thoughts raced through my mind as to why would this person wanted to hide taking my children’s pictures from me.
I am very particular about strangers taking pictures of my children.
I had let my guard down and someone decided to take advantage of the freedom I gave.
As I tossed in my bed all night thinking about the incident, God told me few important things which I will be sharing today:
1. Sneaky behaviors do not come from the Lord, but from the devil
2. My sneaky behaviors have hurt the Lord as well. OUCH!
3. I must teach myself, and my children to guard oneself from the sneaky Devil.
The third point is the one I will be discussing at length today. Satan wants to make sure we get worked up about everything that has offended us, and leave ourselves unguarded while we get extremely angry and upset about the offense.
Last week, we talked about how the Devil had deceived Eve who let her guard down in the garden of Eden.
Four Important P’s we must note down to guard oneself from sneaky Devil
1. Persevere in Prayer:
Circle our heart with prayer every time we find the urge to harbor anger, or avenge the person who hurt us. Use scriptures to guard our hearts against wickedness, and sneaky behaviors.
We must remember that if there is any behavior we cannot do in public, we should not do it privately either.
We may think no one is watching our sneaky behaviors, but God is absolutely watching our uprising, our thoughts, actions, and attitudes.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.Proverbs 4:23,KJV
2. Protect our minds to fall against the plots of the devil:
The sneaky devil will play with our minds by asking us few questions when we are not careful.
– Did the Lord say you should trust Him to avenge for your hurts?
– Did the Lord say that you should not worry about your tomorrows?
– Do you need to read that Bible now? Why don’t you visit your Facebook newsfeed instead?
Our mind can take control about how we view our fellow sister, how we prefer to react to someone who offended us and fill us up with extreme pride, and anger.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;2 Corinthians 10:5
3. Prepare ourselves to be masterpiece of God and not mouthpiece of the Devil:
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10,NLT .
It is so important that we prevent our mouths from gossiping about a third party or even giving a cold shoulder just because our best friend dislikes Mrs. XYZ.
A person who is a masterpiece of God allows herself to be partaker of the Gospel and not part of the gossip.
4. Present our entire body to be pleasing to God:
Our body is a sanctuary where God loves to reside, and anything else that we choose to do otherwise with it is disrespectful to the Maker.
Do we starve our bodies or simply overeat because we are going through a very horrible time or we do not like the number on that scale?
Satan knows that God has called our body to be His temple, and the Spirit of God lives in us. So, what better way to destroy this temple by attempting to break our spirit down and lose our guard.
As women, we love to idealize TV heroes because our spouses don’t match up to those 6 packs or romance. We give into substance abuse, low self-esteem, immodesty, fictional romance novel addiction, and into the low-class business of slandering one another.
