What The Devil Tries to Stop
[ Extracted and edited from D2Y2 Magazine – Volume 1 Issue 4, June 1997 ]
Four things the devil has tried his best to stop the people of God from doing and had much success throughout church history (except in times of revival of course).
ONE
To keep us from reading the Word of God, that includes studying, meditating upon It, and the most important thing, doing what It says. When he succeeds in this, he also prevents our faith from growing because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17)
TWO
To keep us from praying, this includes our personal devotion, fasting and intercession, giving thanks and waiting upon the Lord.
THREE
He keeps us from evangelizing. It includes the very simple act of sharing what God has done for us to another and being part of a missions team.
FOUR
To keep us from walking with and depending on the Holy Spirit.
Our enemy does his best to deceive us from believing that these are important and should be upheld daily in our lives no matter how we feel. If he fails to deceive, he will then distract. And if he fails to distract, he will then find ways to disrupt, disturb and destroy. Why does he go through all that trouble? Because in these lie the Power and the Purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ.
The important question now to ask is; has he succeeded against you? How far has he made you ineffective? Has it come to a place where he does not even bother with you anymore because you are no threat to him? Whatever the case may be, there is still hope. All you have to do is repent.
Discipline (the key word in discipleship) yourself to make the four above an important part of your daily life. You will see and feel the difference.
D2Y2, which stands for Don’t Despise Your Youth, was an official Asian Youth Ambassador (AYA) magazine birthed out in the late 90s. The printed materials communicated dynamic and effective encouragement to and from the Church, with special emphasis on the knowledge and experiences of our Christian youths, which we believe the content is still relevant and applicable in this current generation.