Published by admin on 20 Sep 2013 at 08:25 am
ESCAPING THE SNARES OF THE DEVIL
It is written in 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
We need to be aware that the devil is continually laying snares for us to do us hurt. Now I’m not saying we should walk around in fear, that there’s a devil behind every bush, but I am saying what Peter said, we should be aware of our surroundings and the times we are in and not just bumble along blindly. It would be like crossing a busy street without looking, expecting God to stop the cars for us, so we don’t even need to look. Do that, and you’ll have that “run down” feeling real quick. There are things God will do for us, and there are things we need to do for ourselves.
Well, you know me by now, I’m about healing, so here goes. If the devil can’t nail you one way, he will try another. If he can, he will try to convince you that it is not always God’s will to heal, and unfortunately, that’s taught in a lot of churches, despite the fact that the Lord Jesus not only healed all the sick who came out to Him, but He sent His disciples out to heal the sick as well. You know, if it was not God’s will to “heal them all”, then Jesus would have been in a lot of trouble by doing so, for He might have healed someone God didn’t want healed, then what? That would have been rebellion against His heavenly Father, and in the Bible doing something contrary to the Father’s will is sin, period, no matter WHO does it, even His own Son. And if Jesus had sinned, well, it’s no resurrection from the dead for Him, no return to heaven, or as they say in the Monopoly game, “Go straight to jail, do not pass “Go”, do not collect $200”. I think you get the picture.
It is written in John 5:19; Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Later in John 10:30, He said, I and my Father are one. What does that mean for YOU? That means it IS our heavenly Father’s will that you be whole. But the devil is looking for a way to make sure you never receive healing if you need it. So he will start spouting his lies by telling you that healing is not for today, or that God only heals certain ones. And of course, those certain ones God DOES heal doesn’t include YOU. He is a LIAR, always has been, always will be.
Is everyone healed? Truthfully no, but it isn’t because God has not made provision for everyone to be healed. But we spend so much time listening to the devil instead of the Word of God, that we let the devil talk us right out of what God wants us to have, and the devil doesn’t have to work too hard to get it done, either. No, we help him along quite a bit because we are NOT vigilant and watching out for the devil’s schemes. He will say “So and so wasn’t healed, and lots of people prayed for THEM, and they died, so that shows it isn’t always God’s will to heal.” Very conveniently the devil will omit the part about US using our faith to believe, and using OUR words to speak God’s Word concerning our healing.
Now, to be objective here, I will say there is NOT a scripture that tells us to continually speak healing over our body, even though I teach to do so, but the Lord Jesus CLEARLY gave us examples of why I do so. Take the Centurion for example who said in Matthew chapter 8;
Mat 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
Mat 8:6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
Mat 8:7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
Mat 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Jesus spoke the Word and the servant was healed. How about these? In Mark chapter five we have a couple more examples of speaking the Word for healing.
Mar 5:22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
Mar 5:23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. Jesus not only went and laid hands on her, he SPOKE the Word to her.
Mar 5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
Mar 5:40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.
Mar 5:41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Mar 5:42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
In the middle of that same chapter we see there was a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years, and what happened?
Mar 5:28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
Mar 5:29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
The point here is, the devil will tell you that you don’t have to speak healing over your body, that if God’s going to do it, He will just do it. Wrong… God had to SPEAK the creation into being. Jesus SPOKE healing to those he healed, and He did nothing without speaking the Word. The woman with the issue of blood SPOKE healing before she received it. I could go on and on. But if you’re not speaking your healing, you won’t be receiving it either or keeping it once you do receive it, so don’t let the devil deceive you. If GOD had to speak the Word, you will too.
And of course, there are many other ways the devil lays traps for us, one really bad one is he uses our words against us. When we spout off saying stupid stuff like, “Everytime someone around me has the flu, I always catch it”. Well OF COURSE you do, silly! You spoke it, you got it. The devil wants you to be careless with your words so he can trap you with them. The Jews tried catching Jesus with His words so they could destroy Him, but He didn’t say anything out of line with God’s Word. How about YOU? Are you speaking every word in line with the Bible? Or are you speaking things that give the devil and advantage over you? And when that happens, guess what? You’re probably saying, “I guess it isn’t God’s will to heal me after all.” Hello?? Anyone home?? I’m helping you here….
We need to be very aware of our spoken words, for they have power to help us or destroy us. After Jairus spoke his “faith confession” in Mark 5:23, “My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.”, after hearing the news from home that his daughter was already dead, it is written in Mark 5:36, As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.
Go ahead, read the whole chapter of Mark 5 and see the results of speaking the Word, and you’ll see why the devil tries so hard to keep you from speaking the Word of God. If the devil can keep the Word of God out of your mouth, he can set up snare after snare and ruin your life, not only concerning healing, but every area of your life. If you carefully listen to most people, they speak a lot of waste, ruin, and destruction, then they have the nerve to blame God for all their troubles, when in reality, it is only the devil using their own words to destroy them. Observe and make sure YOU aren’t doing the same. Sadly, I know a lot of people who love the LORD, whose words continually bring them trouble, and it should not be so. One friend of mine always says “Everything I have breaks down”. And it does, too. You’d think he would stop saying that, wouldn’t you? But he doesn’t because “that’s just the way it is”. Let me tell you something, if we were to supposed to operate like that, then look at Genesis 1:-2 where it is written:
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
If God just “said it like it was”, surely then He would have said in verse 3, “Boy, it’s dark out there, I can’t see a thing.” But no, He said, Let there be light. And there was light, just like He said. Now, if GOD has to speak the things that be not as though they already are, then what makes you think His children will not have to do the same? Again, the devil says You can’t do that, your words won’t work like that. And if you believe that way, that’s how you’ll have it.
So, as I warned you in the beginning, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: The devil is hungry and he’s on the prowl, and if you’re not paying attention, you’ll be lunch every day. What should you do? Read on:
1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
Why does it say after that ye have suffered a while? You will suffer until you learn to apply God’s will to your life, and you will often fall into the devil’s snares, and you’ll get beat up a lot, and if you don’t wise up, he will destroy you. But if you apply yourself diligently to His Word, once you get it down, God will make you mature, established, strong and settled. And you’ll be able to escape the snares of the devil every time.
1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Erin on 28 Apr 2015 at 6:49 am #
Thank you for this message! The Lord is turning my family around for great things! We have a new “rule” in our home now….that we are only to speak positive things. My children and my husband and I are so much more aware of the things we speak now. I never realized how easy it was to say something negative until I started paying attention to what I normally say. The atmosphere is so much more peaceful and hopeful….not to mention, I’m excited about all of the things we are speaking into existence for our family-such wonderful blessings in the works! I like to think everytime I thank God for the gifts that I haven’t received in the physical realm yet, that it gives my angels more power to break through the enemy that is trying to hold back my blessings. We have such a loving Father who longs to give us good things.
Gilles on 17 Aug 2017 at 9:29 pm #
I felt bad with something I always wanted to be freed from (healed). I finally believed that I was caught in the snares of the devil. I searched in Google, bumped into this article and got enlightened by this excerpt:
“Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
If God just “said it like it was”, surely then He would have said in verse 3, “Boy, it’s dark out there, I can’t see a thing.” But no, He said, Let there be light. And there was light, just like He said. Now, if GOD has to speak the things that be not as though they already are, then what makes you think His children will not have to do the same? Again, the devil says You can’t do that, your words won’t work like that.”
Thanks!