WE RISE ABOVE THE ENEMY’S SCHEMES TO STEAL OUR JOY, PEACE & LOVE

________________________________________________________________________________________

“Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” – James 4:4

Our Lord longs for us to be caught up in Him. He wants us to live in the embrace of His love and blossom in the center of His will. He desires to help us rise above all evil. Yet too often we are pulled down by the ways of the world.

The ploys of the enemy seek to get us off track of God’s path for us. Our archenemy desires to steal away the joy, the peace and the love that the Lord is forever pouring out upon us. The schemes of the evil one include distraction, distress, and disharmony.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” — John 10:10

♦  Joy Stealer — Life is rife with distractions that lure us away from the plans of God. The enemy loves to toss rocks in our path to trip us up. We find ourselves upon his rocky way… spinning our wheels… caught up in the busyness of life… wearing ourselves out pursuing our own agenda instead of God’s. Since we’ve been lured off the path our Lord has planned for us, we meet with discouragement, defeat and despair. Our joy of life has been stolen away.

♦  Peace Stealer — This age of non-stop information is a recipe for distress. The world bombards us with every reason to be anxious, bothered, fearful. Our Lord is all about drawing us into His perfect peace. The enemy of our soul is all about filling us with worry, stress and dread. When we fall for his bait, our peace disappears.

♦  Love Stealer — How easy it is to be caught up in disharmony. Life’s frustrations and challenges cause strife. People cast upon us their negative emotions, and too often we are drawn into the same. All this leads to an atmosphere of contention, bitterness and discontent. For where there is envy and strife, there is every evil work (James 3:16). The enemy loves to divide and conquer… since love quickly dissipates in such a climate.

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” — Isaiah 53:4

How blessed we are to have a Savior who died for us so that we might live victoriously. He carried our anxieties, our afflictions upon Himself. His sufferings were the remedy for all the ills we will ever face. We must not allow the evil one to steal away this new life in Christ. How readily we can fall for his traps and get caught up in negative emotions that run counter to the ways of God. The enemy does not deserve to rob us of our joy, our peace and our love.

“We should not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” — 2 Corinthians 2:11

We are to be ever aware and watchful of the tactics of the enemy. Paul talked of the importance of keeping him from outwitting us. We need to recognize the schemes of our archenemy attempting to lure us away from God’s path.

When we discover ourselves being distracted, distressed or in disharmony with one another, we need to take a moment and see if we are falling into a trap of the enemy. We need to check ourselves and yield to the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, guidance and power. The evil one tries to sabotage our walk with God. It’s important upon realizing that we are caught up in his ploys to stop heading down those paths.

“The Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.” — 2 Thessalonians 3:3

Our Lord promises to give us strength to combat evil. Jesus knew His followers would need divine protection, for He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that they be kept from the evil one (John 17:15). He will also keep us from the evil one.

Our victorious Savior has already conquered the enemy. The Lord will protect us when we turn to Him. His power, the mighty power that triumphed over the grave, is within us. When we draw upon His infinite power, we can defeat the attempts of the joy stealer, peace stealer, love stealer. We can rise above the schemes of the enemy in our lives.