“How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.” (Psalm 119:9 NLT)

 

Nothing scares the devil more than a passion for Christ. So if you’ve recently made the decision to receive Christ as Savior and Lord, or if you’ve recently experienced a personal revival in your relationship with Him, you can expect to be targeted by your spiritual enemy.

The devil will do everything in his power to stop Christians from growing and thriving in our faith. He wants to keep us from living abundant, fulfilling, difference-making, holy lives. He will set traps for us. He will try to trip us up with temptations that exploit our weaknesses. He’s crafty that way.

So what are Christians to do? Can we effectively resist temptation? Or can we only heed the advice of Oscar Wilde, who said, “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” Is that the only way to get rid of temptation? The answer is no.

How can we be spiritually productive in the face of his opposition? How can we live holy lives when he’s so determined to keep us from doing so? The Bible gives us the key in Psalm 119:9: “How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word” (NLT). If we want to live a holy life, we must obey the Word of God. We must get God’s Word into our hearts and minds. That way, when the devil sets his sights on us, we’ll be able to use God’s Word against him.

Make no mistake: The Bible is a weapon as far as the devil is concerned. We see this in the story of Jesus’ temptation in Luke 4. After Jesus was baptized, He fasted for forty days in the desert wilderness. There, the devil appeared to Him to try to persuade Him to sin. Three times the devil tempted Jesus, and three times Jesus quoted God’s Word in response. And what did the devil do? “He left” (verse 13 NLT). Nothing in the devil’s arsenal was powerful enough to withstand God’s Word.

Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (NLT). After you give your life to Jesus, one of your next steps is to begin studying and memorizing God’s Word. Start with passages that give you comfort, strength, and reassurance, as well as passages that speak to areas in which you might be vulnerable—perhaps ones that deal with loneliness, temptation, or doubt. Run them through your mind again and again until reciting them becomes second nature to you.

Once they’re securely hidden in your heart, you can draw on them immediately when you start to feel tempted, lonely, or spiritually vulnerable. You can stop the devil in his tracks by quoting God’s Word, just as Jesus did in the wilderness. The Bible is your best weapon against the devil. The more wisely and skillfully you wield it, the less of a chance he has against you.

 

Reflection question: How can you make Bible memorization a regular part of your daily or weekly schedule? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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