NO NO NO! TO THE DEVIL
EPHESIANS 4
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
The devil is the Christian's enemy, he hates God Ezekiel 14, but he can never hurt God Genesis 3:15. So who does he go after, that's right, he goes after the Christian and the Church.
Every weapon he can muster is targeted on us, we are in the firing line so to speak. He truly, has it in for us, he is like a roaring lion:
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
He wants to devour us, he is seeking those he can devour, how does he do this:
In this passage, we have some of the weapons that the devil uses to trap the Christian, do you notice that he uses our emotions, he gets us to be angry, that's an emotion, it isn't a wrong emotion, if it's focused on the right thing, Jesus was angry at what was happening in the temple, but he did not sin.
Every trap that the devil lays in this passage, is answered by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, God wants you to give no place to the devil, here's how you do it.
In verses 24-25, we have to put something on and take something off, it is like morning and evening, in the morning, you put on new clothes, you take off the old clothes, this is the same with the Christian.
COLOSSIANS 3
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
The putting on and taking off is a continuous thing, just like the filling of the spirit Ch 5:18, every day and indeed every moment, we have to be taking off our old clothes and putting on new clothes, how can we do this:
Romans 12 tells us:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We are to be moulded by God's word. How much time do you spend in God's word each day? Now compare how much time you spend playing on your cell phone and watching rubbish on TV?
We need to have our minds cleansed, by God's spirit using God's word, this is the only formula.
We need to:
Colossians 3
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
We need to let the word of God dwell in our hearts and lives, to dwell, means to take up residence, we are to welcome it, it must be the primary guest in our hearts.
SAY THIS AS YOUR READ YOUR BIBLE
Word of God I welcome you, speak to me as I meditate on your truth.
As we meditate on God's word, it will bring overflowing joy, we will sing aloud of our God and it will touch our fellow believers.
Remember, the devil hates to hear Christians praising God, why? Well it reminds him of his previous job!
So let's examine, all the weapons the devil uses and God's answer.
Lying, everyone tells lies or untruths, so how can we stop this, by speaking truth Ch 4:15 Zechariah 8:16. The more we grow in grace, the more love we have for God, we will grow to be like him
2 Peter 3:18
We are now in a unique fellowship of like minded believers, people who love the truth, being with them will rub off on you.
Anger, how can you be angry and sin not? Surely this is impossible? Jesus was angry at the things, his Father was. So must we be, are we angry at our sin and are we angry at injustice, this is righteous anger and not sin.
Many people let anger fester, they let it hang around for years, and it destroys their lives Psalm 37:8, it means that we have to let it go, don't let it fester. If you have an argument with your wife/husband, do you let it last for days?
Be angry at the things God is angry about.. sin and wickedness.
Laziness, God created work, it is not his will, that people do not work, You work for your own benefit, but also you work so that you can share with others Acts 20:35 Luke 3:11
Corrupt speech. we are not to use our mouths to curse but to comfort Colossians 3:8, our mouths are to be used to edify and not to break down.
Bitterness, Anger, Clamour etc, James 3:16-18 James 4：11
These things left unchecked will give the devil open house in a Christians life and in the life of the church, the devil thrives on this kind of thing, it is his meat and drink, the more anger and resentment, he can sow, the better it is for him. What is the answer?
We are angry and resentful against people who have hurt us.. amen, I won't talk to that person, because they sat in my seat that I've sat on in church for twenty years!.
God's answer to this is deep and passionate Christian love, forgiveness being the start.
Has anyone upset you? Forgive them from the heart.
Has anyone been bitter and angry towards you? Be tender hearted towards them.
Why must I forgive you may say? Well how many sins, has Christ forgiven for you, when he saved you? He washed all our sins away, he did not hold any sins to our account, he took on all your sin.
But I can't forgive you proudly say, what if Christ had said the same thing. We deserve Hell and eternal punishment, but we have received grace Ephesians 2:1-10 1 Timothy 1:12-15. God's gracious has been freely given to us, we need to give grace to others, even though they don't deserve it.
If we leave an open door for the devil, what does that do?, well it breaks our fellowship with God and grieves the precious Holy Spirit, it hurts him, wounds him and says to him, I don't need you.
How many times, have I and you grieved God's spirit?, In my case it is many hundreds of times.
But God has given us guidelines on how to say No to the devil. When the devil comes knocking with any of these temptations:
Anger, Laziness, Bitterness etc, have a sign up saying:
I GIVE NO PLACE TO YOU DEVIL.
May God give us the strength to follow his precious word, it is there to help and guide us. Psalm 119:105
GOD BLESS YOU
KK
EPHESIANS 4
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
The devil is the Christian's enemy, he hates God Ezekiel 14, but he can never hurt God Genesis 3:15. So who does he go after, that's right, he goes after the Christian and the Church.
Every weapon he can muster is targeted on us, we are in the firing line so to speak. He truly, has it in for us, he is like a roaring lion:
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
He wants to devour us, he is seeking those he can devour, how does he do this:
In this passage, we have some of the weapons that the devil uses to trap the Christian, do you notice that he uses our emotions, he gets us to be angry, that's an emotion, it isn't a wrong emotion, if it's focused on the right thing, Jesus was angry at what was happening in the temple, but he did not sin.
Every trap that the devil lays in this passage, is answered by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, God wants you to give no place to the devil, here's how you do it.
In verses 24-25, we have to put something on and take something off, it is like morning and evening, in the morning, you put on new clothes, you take off the old clothes, this is the same with the Christian.
COLOSSIANS 3
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
The putting on and taking off is a continuous thing, just like the filling of the spirit Ch 5:18, every day and indeed every moment, we have to be taking off our old clothes and putting on new clothes, how can we do this:
Romans 12 tells us:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We are to be moulded by God's word. How much time do you spend in God's word each day? Now compare how much time you spend playing on your cell phone and watching rubbish on TV?
We need to have our minds cleansed, by God's spirit using God's word, this is the only formula.
We need to:
Colossians 3
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
We need to let the word of God dwell in our hearts and lives, to dwell, means to take up residence, we are to welcome it, it must be the primary guest in our hearts.
SAY THIS AS YOUR READ YOUR BIBLE
Word of God I welcome you, speak to me as I meditate on your truth.
As we meditate on God's word, it will bring overflowing joy, we will sing aloud of our God and it will touch our fellow believers.
Remember, the devil hates to hear Christians praising God, why? Well it reminds him of his previous job!
So let's examine, all the weapons the devil uses and God's answer.
Lying, everyone tells lies or untruths, so how can we stop this, by speaking truth Ch 4:15 Zechariah 8:16. The more we grow in grace, the more love we have for God, we will grow to be like him
2 Peter 3:18
We are now in a unique fellowship of like minded believers, people who love the truth, being with them will rub off on you.
Anger, how can you be angry and sin not? Surely this is impossible? Jesus was angry at the things, his Father was. So must we be, are we angry at our sin and are we angry at injustice, this is righteous anger and not sin.
Many people let anger fester, they let it hang around for years, and it destroys their lives Psalm 37:8, it means that we have to let it go, don't let it fester. If you have an argument with your wife/husband, do you let it last for days?
Be angry at the things God is angry about.. sin and wickedness.
Laziness, God created work, it is not his will, that people do not work, You work for your own benefit, but also you work so that you can share with others Acts 20:35 Luke 3:11
Corrupt speech. we are not to use our mouths to curse but to comfort Colossians 3:8, our mouths are to be used to edify and not to break down.
Bitterness, Anger, Clamour etc, James 3:16-18 James 4：11
These things left unchecked will give the devil open house in a Christians life and in the life of the church, the devil thrives on this kind of thing, it is his meat and drink, the more anger and resentment, he can sow, the better it is for him. What is the answer?
We are angry and resentful against people who have hurt us.. amen, I won't talk to that person, because they sat in my seat that I've sat on in church for twenty years!.
God's answer to this is deep and passionate Christian love, forgiveness being the start.
Has anyone upset you? Forgive them from the heart.
Has anyone been bitter and angry towards you? Be tender hearted towards them.
Why must I forgive you may say? Well how many sins, has Christ forgiven for you, when he saved you? He washed all our sins away, he did not hold any sins to our account, he took on all your sin.
But I can't forgive you proudly say, what if Christ had said the same thing. We deserve Hell and eternal punishment, but we have received grace Ephesians 2:1-10 1 Timothy 1:12-15. God's gracious has been freely given to us, we need to give grace to others, even though they don't deserve it.
If we leave an open door for the devil, what does that do?, well it breaks our fellowship with God and grieves the precious Holy Spirit, it hurts him, wounds him and says to him, I don't need you.
How many times, have I and you grieved God's spirit?, In my case it is many hundreds of times.
But God has given us guidelines on how to say No to the devil. When the devil comes knocking with any of these temptations:
Anger, Laziness, Bitterness etc, have a sign up saying:
I GIVE NO PLACE TO YOU DEVIL.
May God give us the strength to follow his precious word, it is there to help and guide us. Psalm 119:105
GOD BLESS YOU
KK
