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October 19, 2024
- By Ed Powell
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"Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12
In basic training to be a soldier, one of the most important lessons our instructors taught us was always be alert to the infiltrating ways of the enemy. In the stillness of a midnight hour, we sat motionless and deathly silent to "listen" to a soldier cocking his rifle, getting ready to fire it 500 yards away. We were to "intensely watch" for any movements at night...to be "alert to everything." The objective of our enemy was to destroy us. That didn't arouse my concern too much at the time, since we were in the security of our U.S. Army base. Months later I was on the front line in Germany and danger was everywhere and my focus changed considerably. There was always an "undercurrent of infiltration." There was an unseen enemy at every turn...the one who sought to "infiltrate" our lines, who tried to "invade" our position in order to gather important information that would enable the enemy to attack our strongholds.
Satan wants to infiltrate where we think we are strong. Our most vulnerable time for Satan to attack is immediately after our greatest victory. It is then that we think we can conquer the world. We have an attitude of self-assurance and self-confidence that we think we can handle any foe. It is then the undercurrent of infiltration is initiated by Satan. Let me illustrate this from an experience by the son of a dear friend of mine.
Bill was brought up in a devoted Christian home. He had graduated from high school with honors, and enrolled at Emory University. In his freshman year he was startled at what he heard from the professor in one of his classes. The professor refuted the biblical account of creation, God, Jesus Christ, and other cardinal truths. When such remarks persisted, Bill began to stand up for his faith and refute the professor. The professor would side step his remarks in his insidious manner. The second year, Bill still stood firm for his faith, but you could see signs of weakness. The liberal ungodly professors were the "undercurrent" that so infiltrated Bill's faith that by his senior year Bill's faith was destroyed! He wasn't aware of the enemy infiltrating his mind and heart with undercurrents of doubt that soon took its toll.
Oswald Chambers had an insightful thought regarding this when he said, "A man's disposition is on the inside, i.e., what he possesses in his personality, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the nature of the one tempted, and reveals the possibilities of the nature. Satan does not tempt us to do wrong things; he tempts us in order to lose what God has put into us by regeneration; namely, 'the possibility of being of value to God.' He does not come along the line of tempting us to sin, but on the line of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil." Where Bill thought he was strong in his faith, Satan cunningly undermined his spiritual strongholds, and it was the means of his fall. How sad, but this can be true in all of our lives. We stand against Satan ONLY in God's strength! Let us ever be aware of the "undercurrent of infiltration" by Satan to destroy our faith. Spiritual discernment is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
© 2007 by Ed Powell. Used by permission.
This page was reprinted by permission from: http://litmin.org/dare.php?date=2024-10-19&print=1
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