Walk By Faith Not By Sight

Your Real Adversary

Bayless Conley

As we continue to think about the reality of trials in our lives, and the challenge it is to handle those trials, I want to point you to another important teaching about trials in today's devotional.

You need to realize who your adversary is.  It is not God; it is the devil.  Look at 1 Peter 5:8-9,

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Some of the trials and sufferings that we experience are the direct result of the adversary's work.
Some people want to blame God for everything, but the Bible says it is the thief— the devil—who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  Jesus came to give us life and more abundantly.

Peter makes this even clearer in verse 10,

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

Our God is the God of grace.  The devil is seeking to devour.

Frankly, I hate the middle part of this verse, After you have suffered for a while….   Clearly, God wants us to understand that suffering is going to happen.  Trials are going to happen.  No matter how much you may say, "I don't receive it!", it is still there!  You are going to go through difficult times.  It is part of the human experience.

But when you go through that time of trial, remember not to blame God.  It is the devil who is your adversary! 

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God

Getting Rid of the Darkness

Pastor Adrian Rogers

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” - John 8:12

If you wanted to get rid of darkness in a room, how would you do it? Would you curse the darkness? Take a broomstick and try to beat the darkness out? Grab a shovel and shovel it out? Or a vacuum cleaner and suck it out? How are you going to get the darkness out of a room?

There’s no way except one: turn on the light. Just turn on the light. The darkness cannot stand the light. When Jesus comes, darkness is going to go. It has to go! And when it goes, everything that loves it will go with it. What a day it will be when Jesus comes and all the wicked, vile, filthy things in the spiritual world flee His light!

When we're faithful, when we live as a Christian ought to, everywhere we go, we’re making manifest the deeds of darkness simply as we let our light shine.

Don't have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness! We're to walk in the light; there is to be godly fruit, godly fellowship, and godly faithfulness as we “walk in the light as He is in the light.”

For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit www.lwf.org.