CURTAILING his Wiles
Romans 6:6 "know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servant to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Curtailing (devil) wiles. To curtail simply means to shorten or abridged the duration of something.
Wiles simply means strategies or tricks.
One of the greatest gift that God has given to man kind is the ability to choose.
Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursing :therefore choose life, that both thou and they seed may live.
It's very important that we understand that Devil is so crafty and cunning. This was also confirmed in the scripture.
Genesis 3:1 "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden.
It has been established in Ephesians 6:13 how to curtail these wiles of the Devil. So it's very important we know what these wiles are;
- Challenging God's word in Genesis 3 gave us details look into the wiles of the devil that led to the fall of the first man (Adam) in the garden of Eden.
Now let look at his wiles here "Did God really say that "? With those words the devil invite the woman to consider what she understood God to have said. It's very important to always reexamine the clear teaching of God's words.
The devil always invite us to add our own interpretation and thereby nullifying God's stated words. The entire church denominations are falling prey to these wiles of the devil.
Questions like did God really say homosexuality is a sin? Is anything wrong with taking alcohol? Etc.
- Challenging our identity Luke 4:1-13 give a clear details on how devil tempted Jesus Christ. Here the devil try by saying "if you are the son of God ". The devil new exactly who Jesus was... If you read mark 1:34 but in his pretence, tactics and demonic wiles.
He started by saying if you are the son of God. Strategically trying to deprive him of his identity. Another striking things to know over this was that the devil chose to strike when Jesus was physically weak and hungry.
These weakness might come in different forms
Lack
Sickness
Financial problems
Marital problems etc
All this period are times we should be strong and strengthen in our faith because the devil strike at this point with his cunning and craftiness to strike and deprive us of God's blessings and eternal glory.
- Offering a tempting alternative to obedience that we can see in temptation of Jesus Christ. People will say well, technically it might not be wrong to move in with a boyfriend but you can watches you live your faith. All this are tactics of the devil.
Another one is that you don't need to go to church to be spiritual. All are the wiles of the devil. Now how can we overcome them.
Ephesians 6:13 "wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Breast of righteousness : righteousness is a guard that can defend man from every tactics of the devil. It's a shield.
Gospel of peace : consistency in preaching the gospel can prepare our mind and make us sound and be defense for wiles of the devil. It creates our consciousness of God's kingdom. When this is in place every tactics of the devil to deprive us of the kingdom become futile.
Shield of faith : helps us to quench all the fiery of the wicked (devil)
Salvation : it's very important we understand this even in the very first key to being free. If you are not save then you are on the wrong side. He has every authority over such individual.
The word of God : it's the only offensive weapon a believer has. The other ones are defensive. That's why it's one of the best way to overcome and curtail the wiles of the Devil is to be word grounded..
Prayer : consistency in prayer keeps us on fire to tackle the devil when he comes Jude 20. Prayer purifies our mind. It does not allow our hearts to be porous or polluted to accumulate evil thoughts from the devil.
Watchfulness in 1 Corinthians 10:12 "wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed less he fall. We should be watchful and alert. All this temptation will definitely come as a measure of true of commitment and love for God.
Putting all this things in place help us live a triumphant lives and shield us from the wiles of the devil.