'Looking unto Jesus' are three very important words of salvation, encouragement and direction for daily Christian living. Nicodemus, in his search for the true God and eternal life, approached Jesus for possible understanding. The Lord Jesus made the new birth very plain by using an Old Testament illustration of the fiery serpents of brass put on a pole for the Israelites to look upon as recorded in the book of Numbers 21:8-9.
The fall of Adam and Eve, and the temptation of Jesus Christ, exposes humanity to two important realities among many others. First of all, the devil is out to destroy all human beings without exception. Secondly, the devil cannot do a perfect job at destroying a person without the consensual agreement of that individual. Consequently, the devil seeks the permission of an individual to have the access required to destroy his life. That is why the Bible in Ephesians 4:27, admonishes us not to give way to the devil.
Moreover, the devil does not make this request directly; neither does he require a clear answer from anyone. The language of the devil is always implied and shrouded in ambiguity, such that no one is ever fully aware of the implications of any transaction with the devil until reality dawns on them. For these reasons, children of God should be mindful of their responses to any proposal by the devil because ordinary interest is usually taken as consent or approval by the devil. Men and women who showed interest in various proposals of the devil in the past were soon captured and enslaved to the point of being addicted to such harmful practices like alcoholism, gambling, illicit sex, hard drugs, prostitution, etc. For these reasons, the Bible outlines several ways in which believers should respond to the devil. Evil is to be avoided at all cost as indicated in Psalms 1:1:
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful"
And in Proverbs 4:14:
"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men."
And 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says:
"Abstain from all appearances of evil."
Evil is to be hated with passion and resisted with everything we have in line with Proverbs 1:10:
"My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."
And James 4:7,
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Above all, children of God should pray every day in response to evil, Matthew 6:13 says;
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"
I pray that you will not be a victim of evil in Jesus' name. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.