September 24, 2020
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Whenever we had a young grandchild come over to our house, it was almost all good news. The reason I say almost is because of the preparations we have to fly into to get ready for the arrival of like a two-year-old. Yes, I said two-year-old. That's as in "super inquisitive." (Yeah, you know.) See, our little grandchildren...they had a way of exploring and experimenting with every object within their reach. There are two kinds of things that need to quickly disappear before a young grandchild starts his little adventure at Grandma and Granddad's house. Things that can damage either the child or that he could damage. So as we would joyfully anticipate a little one being with us, we would also fly into a frenzied little exercise called baby-proofing our house.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Satan-Proofing."
It's a good idea to remove anything that our grandson could make a mess with. It's a whole lot better than cleaning up the mess or repairing the damage.
There's someone who pays regular visits to your life and mine who is not an angel like our grandkids. It's your enemy, the devil himself. He can do a lot of damage unless you anticipate his coming, look around your life, and remove the things that he could use to mess things up. It's called Satan-proofing your life.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Paul talks about playing defense against our enemy's attempts to bring us down. In 2 Corinthians 2:11, he says we take precautions "in order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes." Okay, eyes wide open, looking around our lives for what our enemy might use to sink us, and getting it out of the way - Satan-proofing your day.
In the instance Paul is talking about here in this verse, there's an issue of a man who did a lot of damage in the church; a man Paul said they need to be sure they had forgiven. Why? Because a grudge, unforgiveness toward someone is something the devil will grab at his first opportunity and use it to poison you and everyone around you. But Paul identifies the area that needs to be dealt with in order "that Satan might not outwit us."
Here's a sentence for you to complete. It will help you defend yourself against the tactics that Satan's used over and over to bring you down. Finish this: "The devil brings me down whenever I ___________." What goes in that blank? That's what needs to go. In a sense, you're analyzing your past defeats so you can remove what your enemy has used to beat you in the past.
So, Satan-proofing your life today might mean praying for someone you've had hard feelings toward, asking God to remove your bitterness and replace it with His love. It might mean staying away from negative people who've made you negative, from friends who lead you where you should never go, or staying away from the music, or the Internet trash, or the TV shows or the movies that wear you down morally, or turning your fears or your worries totally over to God so the devil can't use them again to discourage you or depress you.
When a baby's coming, you baby-proof to avoid damage. When Satan's coming, and he will, you Satan-proof to avoid the damage he wants to do to your life. There have been enough times, haven't there, that you've left out the very things he's used over and over again, and you left them there and he used them to bring you down. You're not "unaware of his schemes."
So start fighting back so that when the devil comes prowling around your life today, he will find what he usually uses to make a mess you have put way out of his reach, because you have given it to Jesus.