Tri-State Youth - Thursday, January 3, 2008 15:12 - 0 Comments

The Devil’s Playbook

Even if you’re not the biggest sports fan you may have heard about the New England Patriots being fined for videotaping signals, taking high-res photos of play charts, and otherwise cheating. (Apparently there was more than skill behind their back-to-back Super Bowls.) It got me thinking — what if we had the enemy’s play book? Would we be able to win big? I went to the Word and was amazed to find the devil’s best plays hidden within:

Play #1: Distract the other team.

In Luke 10:38-42 Jesus visits Martha’s house. While Martha was busy cooking the dinner, cleaning the house, and setting the table, her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet to hear His words.

Martha was upset that Mary wasn’t helping, but Jesus told her that Mary was doing a good thing. See, Martha was so busy getting ready for Jesus that she missed out on the fact that Jesus was already in her house!
The enemy tries to distract us, even when we’re at church, so we’ll miss out on the fact that Jesus is there and wants us to get closer to Him!

Play #2: Divide and Conquer

In Matthew 12:25 Jesus tells us, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”

The devil spends a lot of time trying to get us mad at and fighting against each other instead of going after him! He wants to keep us from praying together and destroy our unity!

Remember the words of Ecclesiastes 4:12, “…if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

If one person can prevail against the devil, you know he’s got to be afraid of being beat down when we’re all together in “one mind and one accord”!

Play #3: Hit ‘em hard and fast with a little guy

As a Vols fan I was pretty excited about the new season. That was until I watched our season opener out at Cal State.

There was a great running back on the other team, Jahvid Best, who has a long string of credits. He’s been All-American, ranked 18th best running back in the country, 11th best NFL prospect, rushed 3,300 yds. last season and found the end zone an astonishing 48 times. That was just in his senior year of high school. To beat that, he’s only 5’ 11” and 185 lbs.

Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines:”

It’s true. Many of us will never be tempted to rob a bank, shoot heroin, or pull a casino heist. We will be tempted to watch things we shouldn’t (Family Guy, anyone?), listen to music we know is bad for us, and go places we don’t belong. But these seemingly little things can cause us big problems.

Keep your eye not just on the big, intimidating things, but on the small things that push through the line before you even notice.

Play #4: Encourage pride, selfishness, and greed.

Proverbs 16:18 warns, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Pride isn’t always about what we think it is. Many times the enemy will try to puff up our pride when it comes to things like leading song service, singing solos, being used in the sign team, and other areas that put us in the spotlight.

We have to resist the urge to feel that our usefulness in the house of God comes from our own ability. God gives us talents to use for His glory — not our own. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to prove how talented and awesome you are. Get up there and show ‘em how awesome Jesus is and He’ll build you up.

Play #5: If all else fails, make them doubt.

Sometimes we begin to question our standards, our church policies, the way we conduct service, and even decisions that our youth pastor and pastor make. We watch TBN, and we see these colossal “mega” churches springing up overnight and we say, “If we would just change this, then we would grow,” or “If we would just give this up, then maybe we could be like that church.”

The enemy tells us that our beliefs are outdated, out of touch, and no longer relevant to the world.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

I can’t tell you why there are churches that say it’s okay to indulge and not live right. All I can say is that we, as Apostolic young people, need to stand for truth even when others don’t! Don’t doubt your faith because someone else lacks conviction!

So what can we do about it? Are we beat before we ever get the kick-off?

No way are we defeated! Read the end of the book! We win! What’s important is that we learn from the enemy’s tricks so we’ll know how to defend ourselves.

But how can we really just kick the devil’s teeth in? We have to be the very best team we can be. We can’t be distracted, divided, attacked, prideful, or doubtful.

1 Corinthians 14:8 says, “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle?”

Now isn’t the time to give up, back down, or let up! If we stop believing and give in to the attacks of the enemy now, we’ll never win.

Let’s see some “D”

A young man in my youth group, Josh Newport, plays as a defensive linebacker for the Clinton Dragons. His job is simple — smack down whoever has the ball.

How does he do it? He practices 3-4 hours every day for his position. When it’s hot? He practices. When it rains? He practices. When he’s tired? He practices.

How can we expect to win with anything less?! We’ve got to practice every day (pray it! Live it!), show up determined to win and keep our head in the game!

Remember, you’ve got to want it to win it, and we want it…well, you know the rest.