DEVIL’S FOOD

1 Petert 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

Is. 59:15 “…he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey…”

Quietly, with the stealth of a common house-cat, he stalks his prey. The meal never sees him coming. His methods are too well rehearsed, his moves too subtle. For six thousand years he has hunted, maimed, devoured one unwary human victim after another. The thrill of the kill is only outdistanced by his determination to utterly destroy God’s highest creation. And so it is that Satan, the soul-hunter, pursues, attacks and consumes the life of another unsuspecting man.

Man never intended to become the hunted. He was designed to have dominion over all things created. God’s plan for man’s dominance was thwarted when the Serpent slithered into Eden looking for his first human meal. Before they knew what hit them, the serpent struck, filling their hearts with the venom of sin, making them and all their children after them, nothing more than a meal on the Devil’s menu.

Time would reveal the hunter taking on another form. He would transmogrify from Serpent to Lion. His method and his meal, however, would remain the same. Satan is still sneaking up on men. He is still ravaging the unsuspecting.

Have you recently felt that you are being followed? Have you sensed the disconcerting need to look over your shoulder from time to time? You may very well have good reason to be concerned. The Devil is always on the prowl, sniffing the breeze for anyone who has turned their back on the world, and turned their eyes toward Jesus. The secret to overcoming this predator is simple:

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

A man whose life is totally submitted to God, who stands and says “NO” to Satan’s offerings of worldly indulgence, is tantamount to a mighty Samson who grabs lions by the jaw and rips their strength to shreds. When a submitted man resists the Devil, the Roaring Lion becomes a whimpering house-cat.

Are you “Submitted & Resisting” Satan? Don’t allow your epitaph to become: “Victimized by his own dalliance with sin…here lies the Devil’s Food.”

Pastor H.L. Sheppard