The enemy gets in

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When you think about it, in my opinion, it all comes dowm to emotions & feelings. As humans, we relate to everything in life based on them.
Everything from movies, music, alcohol, drugs, relationships, money, food, habits... everything. Everything has some kind of emotion or "feeling" at the root. Even "good" things can be taken to the extreme if we are not careful.
I challenge you to think of anything that can't be tied to feelings & emotions.
With that in mind, it's critically important that we learn to not allow simple human emotion to tempt us, haunt us, or direct our path.
 
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Fish Catcher Jim said:
Greetings Friends,
I would like to start this thread a little different.

I am asking you to reply in how you Think the enemy the devil can get into ones life.

What gives him the ability or Right to do so.

Can he devour a Believer?

Then we All can dig in and See What scripture says about this.

Thank You
Blessings
FCJ
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Hi FCJ - Definitely a good issue. The devil is already guiding (in - Jhn 6:70) the unbeliever (Jhn 8:44) who is yet "dominated" by the old man, same for the believer prior to rebirth. I believe Satan cannot guide but only harass (temporarily influence) the believer and I believe he can only approach us in our old nature, and that this approach is harmless concerning our salvation and can only delay the growth of our faith until we learn that his tempting is only to strengthen it. He cannot approach us in our new nature because it is sinless and cannot sin (1Jhn 3:9).

More than we would think, God initiates the Enemies approach (Job 1:8) for the Enemy, us and others to see and learn. Our old nature is our sin source and is what we are saved from (Rom 8:1), and regardless the source of approach (old man or devil) it has already been pre-planned to benefit the believer's faith (Rom 8:28), esp. when we do not know what to think or how we feel! I believe God teaches us His holiness in us via the evil, which is my understanding for the reason of the forbidden Tree.

Blessings!
 
netchaplain said:
More than we would think, God initiates the Enemies approach (Job 1:8) for the Enemy, us and others to see and learn
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Yes... and No
The nuances are important when studying the enemy. If one is not careful, the enemy will twist things around to make it appear that God is responsible for our sin.

Go does not _initiate_ temptation in any way [James 1:13].
Even in the case of Job, God temporarily refrained from preventing the enemy from attacking Job. It may seem like a slim difference, but it is critical in understanding.

netchaplain said:
egardless the source of approach (old man or devil) it has already been pre-planned to benefit the believer's faith (Rom 8:28)
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God does overcome Satan's devices, especially those regarding believers, and He works all to our benefit. But while the whole is according to His plan, it was never integral to His plan that the enemy revolt, nor that man would fall, nor that I would make choices to do what I thought convieniet rather than what God directed.
 
Siloam said:
Yes... and No
The nuances are important when studying the enemy. If one is not careful, the enemy will twist things around to make it appear that God is responsible for our sin.
Click to expand...
Hi and appreciate your reply and comments to my reply! The way I see it is that God is never the initiator of sin but providentially brings about that from which sin derives--in order to manifest holiness, i.e. why He created Satan even knowing His use of him, etc. Being omniscient, God knew man would partake of the Tree even when He instructed him concerning it, which was planned to reveal His holiness, so we could learn fellowship with Him.

Siloam said:
Go does not _initiate_ temptation in any way [James 1:13].
Even in the case of Job, God temporarily refrained from preventing the enemy from attacking Job. It may seem like a slim difference, but it is critical in understanding.
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I don't see God's initiating the challenge to Satan (Job 1:8) to be temptation-related but to let Satan know how wrong he was, and for the sake of our learning.

Blessings!
 
Thanks everyone. It’s good for me to know in how many ways he sneaks in.
I find this list up to now.
1. Distraction. I never even thought it was him at first as I’m so used to it! I can be reading something really worthwhile and then I get an urge to do something or think of something out of the blue without sometimes catching it. Then before I know it I’m a million miles west of where I was supposed to be heading.
2. assuming things before Asking. Or, and, still not believing when been told something.
4. Taking things personally! Ouch, that’s a big one.
5. Procrastination. Oh I’ll do it tomorrow...
6. Making promises then breaking them.
7. Thinking I know what someone’s reeeeeally up to hah...I’m sure they up to something lol
8. And finally, not thinking I’m good enough, or comparing myself with others.
There might be more but those are the ones that hit me straight off the cuff
X
 
I also never thought of reading romantic novels as a way in for him! I’m single and I enjoy them! And if were married I’d believe it would spice up our love lives. I dont know why that would be bad??
 
Via dolarossa said:
I also never thought of reading romantic novels as a way in for him! I’m single and I enjoy them! And if were married I’d believe it would spice up our love lives. I dont know why that would be bad??
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Something the Lord showed me a long time ago... is that romance books or soap operas, even some movies if we allow ourselves to become attracted to one of the characters... can cause a person to be putting unfair, unrealistic expectations on their mate. They can become so in love with the ways a character does something that they desire for their spouse to be the same way... And then they become dissatisfied with their spouse because they don't act a certain way or treat them the way they have come to expect because of the actor they have allowed themselves to kind of fall in love with. Its all a ploy/distraction from the enemy to create strife or a dividing wall between a couple.
 
Cturtle said:
Something the Lord showed me a long time ago... is that romance books or soap operas, even some movies if we allow ourselves to become attracted to one of the characters... can cause a person to be putting unfair, unrealistic expectations on their mate. They can become so in love with the ways a character does something that they desire for their spouse to be the same way... And then they become dissatisfied with their spouse because they don't act a certain way or treat them the way they have come to expect because of the actor they have allowed themselves to kind of fall in love with. Its all a ploy/distraction from the enemy to create strife or a dividing wall between a couple.
Click to expand...
Oh yes I get it now. Yes your right.
*sticks high expectations in box 8..*
 
Siloam said:
Yes... and No
The nuances are important when studying the enemy. If one is not careful, the enemy will twist things around to make it appear that God is responsible for our sin.

Go does not _initiate_ temptation in any way [James 1:13].
Even in the case of Job, God temporarily refrained from preventing the enemy from attacking Job. It may seem like a slim difference, but it is critical in understanding.
Click to expand...

Thought I would share with you something the Lord showed me awhile back, and it goes along with your thinking in the above quote.

God never initiated the attack on job, or brought him up to the enemy in the way everyone has been taught.... God asked the enemy why he has set his heart against job. This can be seen by reading in the ylt....

And Jehovah saith unto the Adversary, ‘Hast thou set thy heart against My servant Job because there is none like him in the land, a man perfect and upright, fearing God, and turning aside from evil?’
Job 1:8 YLT1898
https://bible.com/bible/821/job.1.8.YLT1898

It surely backs up the image that is portrayed throughout the Bible and confirmed by your Scripture above.
 
I think here that it might be edifying to make a distinction between being tempted into sin and experiencing apersonal calamity.

Consider Jonah.

God certainly and purposley sent a storm and caused Jonahs ship to break up and have the crew throw Jonah overboard. God also prepared and sent a great fish to swallow Jonah. The enemy was not recorded as being in anyway causative, but I am sure he used these things inJonahs thoughts to further separate Jonah from the Lord.

From Jonahs point of view, this was all catastrophic and punative.

But God's purpose was to put Jonah back on the path the Lord had chosen. Looking from our vantage, we can see that God had planned the rescue (by the fish as well as the eventual landfall!) and prepared everything.

This brought Jonah back to the Lord, at least for the present. Look Jonahs prayer at verse 2:7

When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

When we encounter problems, we should not automaticly attribute it to the enemy. It may be more inportant to find out what the Lord is teaching, and learn it well
 
Siloam said:
I think here that it might be edifying to make a distinction between being tempted into sin and experiencing apersonal calamity.

Consider Jonah.

God certainly and purposley sent a storm and caused Jonahs ship to break up and have the crew throw Jonah overboard. God also prepared and sent a great fish to swallow Jonah. The enemy was not recorded as being in anyway causative, but I am sure he used these things inJonahs thoughts to further separate Jonah from the Lord.

From Jonahs point of view, this was all catastrophic and punative.

But God's purpose was to put Jonah back on the path the Lord had chosen. Looking from our vantage, we can see that God had planned the rescue (by the fish as well as the eventual landfall!) and prepared everything.

This brought Jonah back to the Lord, at least for the present. Look Jonahs prayer at verse 2:7

When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

When we encounter problems, we should not automaticly attribute it to the enemy. It may be more inportant to find out what the Lord is teaching, and learn it well
Click to expand...

Actually if you think about all that you said... Jonah's sin(disobedience/rebellion) brought judgement on him. He opened the door to the god of this world (the devil) to bring the storm to try to destroy him, God's grace and His desire for His plan to be carried out...brought the fish to protect him.... Just like job opened the door for the enemy to get in to destroy all he had.

According to the verse in James you referenced, and all we can gather from the Bible regarding God's character... It's not in His character to send destruction to teach us anything for God is love. 2 Timothy 3:16 says God teaches us through His Word. We bring hardships and make things more difficult because of not walking by Father's commands, and by the words we speak. The devil is looking for reasons to bring destruction and he knows that if we release ungodly words (the Bible calls words that dont line up with His Words evil), because he is a legalist... he's got us in the trap that he has set for us.

With all that said... I agree with you that we should be asking God what can I learn through this, and how can I get stronger in your ways through this... what can i change to keep this crom happening again. The devil has created an atmosphere that lot of people take responsibility for their own actions and behavior... And in some ways it started with the church as a doctrine of nothing is our fault because God is in full control of everything... which is incorrect, and the enemy's purpose to bring destruction
 
My underlying point in several posts is that we many times blame the enemy, when we should look within.

"The devil made me do it" is never an excuse.

"The devil is attacking me" is often suspect. The enemy is so devious that you are more likely to detect his actions by examining your heart than looking outward. We are quite capable of sinning on our own.

Looking inward also works to keeping us from being judgemental.

Before finding something / someone to blame, we must make sure our heart is with the Lord.

While it is wise to recognise how the enemy leads us off, our eyes should remain fixed on our Lord.
 
Yay I kinda understand what your saying Siloam and thanks for bringing it up. Yet I’m quite terrible at blaming everything on myself. something goes wrong it’s my fault and only mine. No devil no Lord or nothing. So for me looking inward usually just means someone else could quite rightly get away with murder. And 9 times outa ten I’m no where near knowing whether I’m in Christ or not.
But thanks for your post. When I’m a bit better at my recognizing my boundaries I might stand a better chance at knowing Who I am in Christ...
It can get a bit fuzzy from where I’m standing lol

Xx
 
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